MIAMI (Ticker) -- It appears that Miami Heat rookie Dwyane Wade is adjusting just fine to NBA competition.
Wade scored a season-high 32 points and had eight assists to help the Heat cruise to their fourth straight victory, a 97-79 win over the Atlanta Hawks.
"I was just attacking," said Wade, who made 15-of-22 shots. "I got to the basket on a couple of nice attack moves, that's the way I play. I play aggressive and have a little deceptive speed."
The fifth overall pick in the draft, Wade's previous high was 27 points against Phoenix on November 22. He has scored in double figures in nine straight games.
"Dwyane is awesome," Heat forward Lamar Odom said. "It's fun playing with him. During the game he does stuff that makes me go 'Whoa'."
Eddie Jones scored 22 points and Odom added 19 and 12 rebounds to help the Heat extend their home winning streak to three games.
Shareef Abdur-Rahim contributed 19 points and Jason Terry chipped in 13 for Atlanta, which dropped its fourth straight game and seventh in a row on the road. The Hawks are 3-12 away from home.
"(To end the streak) it is not going to be one guy. We are a team that has to rely on each other," Hawks coach Terry Stotts said.
The Heat opened the third quarter with a 21-9 run to build a 71-57 lead with 3:57 left.
"The first three minutes of the third quarter really hurt us," Abdur-Rahim said. "They came out with a few threes. We got out on a good run in the first half, but I don't know what happened."
Atlanta was playing without rookie Boris Diaw, who missed his third straight game because of a left ankle sprain and is doubtful for Wednesday's contest. Jacque Vaughn started in his place and had four points and nine assists.
Odom reached double figures in rebounds for the fourth time in as many games since being moved to power forward.
"I'm just trying to stay in focus on making plays and when the shot is not going to go in I want to get to the glass and create some plays," Odom said. "I've been able to do that for a nice stretch of games and I'm going to try and keep that up."
Heat second-year forward Rasual Butler scored four points in his first game of the season after being sidelined with a broken left hand.
