Wade scored 12 first-quarter points and added eight in the final period to win a shootout with Wolves guard Randy Foye, who had 14 of his 29 in the fourth.

"He does so much for us, and we don't take it for granted," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of Wade. "We realize that's his greatness: to be able to close out games after playing 38 minutes already and to make big plays on both ends of the floor."

Wade got 13 of his points at the free-throw line on 16 attempts as the Heat hit 30 of 38 tries compared with just 9 of 13 for the Wolves.

"I don't think I got there at all," said Foye, who hit 5 of 10 attempts. "I was aggressive. I was just trying to make the refs blow their whistle, but I didn't get there."

Wade didn't do it alone for Miami, which got 17 points and 10 rebounds from Udonis Haslem and 16 points and 11 boards from Shawn Marion.

When it came down to crunch time, though, there was no question where the ball was going.

"You have to know the right time to attack and when to go," Wade said. "At the end, I just had to be aggressive."

Private lessons: Jefferson got in a little extra work after the morning shootaround with Love, trying to pass along a few veteran tips.

"Al is great because I think Kevin gets a little bit technical," McHale said before the game. "Believe me, Al is not throwing technicalities at him. ... It's great because it's a good blend of Kevin being a little bit analytical and Al just being a free-wheeler."

Jefferson's unorthodox shooting style isn't easy to emulate, but McHale said he wasn't worried that it might mess Love up.

"Actually, all that stuff works," he said. "You've just got to be free to do it. ... It's hard to teach, but it's all very effective if you can ever get it."

Full-speed ahead: The Wolves had a couple of careless turnovers down the stretch, but they said they won't change their style of play.

"That's just the way we play," Foye said. "We get the ball out quick and try to push it right back at them. Obviously, sometimes there's going to be some mistakes when you try to throw the ball out like that, but at the same time, that's the way we play."

Briefly: Rashad McCants did not play for the fourth time in the past five games.

The Wolves made 11 three-pointers, the first time in team history they have had three straight games with at least 10.

No excuses: Wolves center Al Jefferson took an inadvertent shot to the right eyebrow from rookie teammate Kevin Love at the end of the first half that required seven stitches, but he said it had nothing to do with his nine-point, 4-for-14 performance.

Coach Kevin McHale agreed.

"Al's been our workhorse all year long," he said. "Al got great shots. They just didn't go. Some nights they don't go in."

Jefferson's nine points were his second fewest of the season, behind an eight-point game Dec. 1 at Charlotte.

Rookie wars: In addition to getting the victory, rookie Heat forward Michael Beasley finished with a slight edge on Love in their first NBA meeting.

Beasley scored 14 points and grabbed seven rebounds in nearly 23 minutes, while Love had eight points and nine rebounds in 24-plus.