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 MIAMI (AP) - After one particularly hard foul sent Shaquille O'Neal tumbling, the 7-foot-1 center rolled into a backward somersault before bouncing to his feet. "I'm known as The Big Baryshnikov," O'Neal said afterward, proud of his newest self-dubbed moniker. Suffice to say, no ballet ever called for Mikhail Baryshnikov to take this kind of punishment.
O'Neal shook off double- and triple-teams — and incessant hacking nearly every time he got position down low — to score 22 points, passing Reggie Miller for 12th on the NBA's career list and leading the Miami Heat to a four-game season sweep of the Atlanta Hawks with an 106-89 win on Monday night.
The win, combined with Washington's loss at Utah, put the Heat — who were 7 1/2 games behind the Wizards on Jan. 30 — alone in first place in the Southeast Division by a half-game, and vaulted the defending NBA champions from sixth to third in the Eastern Conference standings.
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