MIAMI (AP) – On his first day in Miami last summer, the newly acquired Shaquille O’Neal wanted to stop a controversy before it started.

“It’s Dwyane Wade’s team,” O’Neal said.

Wade has been dazzling during this postseason, carrying the scoring load for the Miami Heat – who finished off their second straight playoff sweep Saturday night, ousting Washington 99-95 in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series.

Wade had 42 points in the series-clincher, 22 in the third quarter when he was a perfect 7-for-7 from the floor and 8-for-8 from the foul line during Miami’s 40-25 momentum-swiping run.

His heroics assured the Heat at least a full week off before opening the East finals against either Indiana or Detroit – a critical rest period for Miami, which has gone without the injured O’Neal in each of the last two games because of a nagging thigh bruise.

“I can use this break just as much as anybody,” Wade said Saturday night.

Heat coach Stan Van Gundy gave his club Sunday and Monday off. They’ll return to the practice floor Tuesday, when they’ll begin walking the fine line of trying to stay sharp while getting O’Neal, Wade and other nicked-up players some time to heal their pains.

He’s averaging 28.6 points, 8.4 assists, 6.6 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 1.3 blocks in the postseason. In the eight games, he’s scored 30 or more points five times – and now even the Wizards appear to be among his biggest fans.

“He’s one of the best right now,” Washington guard Gilbert Arenas said. “He’s proving and he’s showing it. … He’s done a great job of taking his team on his back.”

Appearances aside, Wade hasn’t had to fend off all postseason rivals alone.

O’Neal averaged 18 points and 8.2 rebounds in his six playoff games, numbers that most NBA centers would consider spectacular yet ones that have left the three-time NBA champion “depressed,” Van Gundy said.

Eddie Jones and Damon Jones, the team’s two biggest perimeter threats, have combined to score 31.5 points a game in the playoffs.

, and Udonis Haslem has averaged 9.6 points and a team-best 11.5 rebounds in the postseason.

“People want to look at us as a two-man show,” Van Gundy said. “But it hasn’t been. … We just keep finding guys to step up all year. Hopefully that will continue.”

Wade is slowly beginning to accept his role as the team’s leader, a considerable honor considering O’Neal’s locker is only a few feet away. And although O’Neal wasn’t in uniform, Wade gave his center plenty of credit for the two wins in Washington.

“Shaq wasn’t out there on the court,” Wade said, “but with his knowledge and telling us what we had to do, he did as much as anyone who was out there playing.”

Still, the Heat know that they cannot win the franchise’s first NBA title if O’Neal isn’t healthy. Wade, perhaps more than anyone else, simply cannot wait for the league’s most dominant force to return to form.

“We know he’s going to come back hungry and mad,” Wade said. “And everybody knows what a mad Shaq is like.”

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AP Sports Writer Howard Fendrich in Washington contributed to this report.

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