After picking up their first road win of 2008-09, the Heat on Saturday travel to New Orleans to face a Hornets squad that's looking to avoid their first three-game skid of the season.

Miami's 99-83 win over the Spurs on Friday was its first in San Antonio since 1996, but the accomplishment was somewhat overshadowed by the Spurs losing Tony Parker to a sprained left ankle in the first quarter.

"No question (Parker's injury) impacted the game big time," said Dwyane Wade, who just missed his fourth career triple-double with 33 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists. "He's a guy that can turn it up at any moment and put pressure on the defense and make it hard on you."

Miami, which leads the league in steals (11.6 per game), had 11 against the reeling Spurs. Shawn Marion led Miami with four while Wade had three, but rookie Mario Chalmers had one after recording a franchise-best nine on Wednesday in a win over Philadelphia.

In the Heat's first two road games, New York and Charlotte shot a combined 50.6 percent from the floor and averaged 110.0 points. Miami held the Spurs to 37.6 percent from the field after they came in ranked second in the NBA at 49.8 percent.

Rookie Michael Beasley had 20 points and eight rebounds, and Udonis Haslem and Chris Quinn scored 15 apiece for Miami, which led by as many as 24 before a fourth-quarter Spurs spurt cut it to nine.

"We knew they were going to make their run," Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said. "We showed the maturity to take their hit and throw the punch back."

After opening the season 3-0, New Orleans fell again on Friday as it lost 92-89 to Charlotte. In the second quarter, the Hornets (3-2) missed 14 of 17 shots - including all five 3-point attempts - and were outscored 21-7.

North Carolina native Chris Paul, who was averaging 21.8 points and a league-high 11.8 assists coming in, was scoreless with one assist in the first half.

"They did a good job of closing off the lane," said Paul, who is averaging 16.3 points and 10.5 assists in six career games against Miami. "I wasn't able to get in there as easy and create shots for our shooters."

James Posey was 2-of-4 from 3-point range and scored 11 off the bench, while Peja Stojakovic had 20 on 6-of-12 shooting from beyond the arc. His final 3-pointer pulled New Orleans within 90-89 with 14 seconds left.

Paul finished with 20 points, 10 assists and six steals, but missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer as time expired.

New Orleans swept the two-game season series against Miami in 2007-08, winning by an average of 27.5 points. Paul had 16 points and 16 assists on Jan. 11, as the Hornets defeated the Heat 114-88 in New Orleans.