Chalmers returns to lineup

--With point guard Mario Chalmers back in the starting lineup Friday against the Wizards after missing Wednesday's game against the Orlando Magic with a sprained left hand, it moved rookie Norris Cole back to the bench.

Cole had an uneven starting debut in Orlando.

"It wasn't perfect," he said. "I made some good plays, some plays I wish I would've done better. Like I said, I wish we would've won."

It is an appearance Cole said he would file away, in case he is called upon to start again.

"I think it will help," Cole said. "It really wasn't that much big of a difference, though. The only difference I was starting the game off with D-Wade and LeBron. Normally, I'm in the game with one or two of them... Instead of waiting to the second half, I started off."

Cole came around with eight points Friday against the Wizards.

--Having allowed the most three-pointers in the NBA this season, the Heat insist they merely have to play better defense, rather than changing the approach.

"We just got to do everything hard," forward Udonis Haslem said. "There's really no shortcuts. If we don't do it hard enough, it looks bad and we get exposed."

Forward Chris Bosh said the goal is to not even allow the attempts.

"That means we're not running them off," he said. "What we do is run teams off the three. It's difficult, but winning a championship is difficult at the same time. I think it's just more effort.

"If guys are confident shooting threes, we have to make them miss, get out there and run them off, make them pump fake, make them dribble inside the three or do something else."

The Wizards promptly came out and converted a Nick Young three-pointer on their first possession Friday, but then went on to shoot 4-of-21 from beyond the arc.

QUOTE TO NOTE
"Any time we're coming off a loss against a rival team like Orlando, they handed it to us, we didn't play like the way we wanted to, we wanted to come in here and bounce back." -- Forward Chris Bosh, on going from Wednesday's loss in Orlando to Friday's victory in Washington, on the second stop of this six-game trip.

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