MIAMI – The story line didn’t change, nor did the outcome. Once again, the Nets held Shaquille O’Neal in check, yet couldn’t find a way to beat his Miami Heat.

And former Nets center Alonzo Mourning did the most damage of all.

Mourning, who wanted out of New Jersey so he could play for a title contender, had 21 points, and Dwyane Wade had 17 points and 10 assists last night in the Heat’s 104-87 win for a 2-0 lead over the Nets in their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.

O’Neal, Eddie Jones, and Damon Jones each finished with 14 points for the Heat, which moved to 38-5 at home this season.

Nenad Krstic had 27 points for the Nets, who also got 21 points from Vince Carter, 14 from Richard Jefferson, and 10 from Jason Kidd. The series shifts Thursday to New Jersey, where the Nets have won 10 of their last 13 playoff games.

In five games against the Nets this season – all Miami victories – O’Neal has been merely mortal, averaging 16.4 points and 10 rebounds. And the Nets still haven’t come close to winning; their average margin of defeat against Miami this season is 19.8 points.

Carter hit a short leaner with 7:32 left to bring the Nets within 79-67. But O’Neal, who was in danger of a playoff career low, converted a three-point play on Miami’s next possession. It gave O’Neal nine points; as a Los Angeles Laker, he had seven in a first round win over Houston last season.

Wade, his star running mate, also had an off night, going 6-for-17 from the floor and even missing a dunk. Perhaps his best highlight was one that left him sitting with the Heat dancers.

He saved a ball from going out of bounds, tossing it to Damon Jones as his momentum sent him toppling to the court. Sitting along the sideline with the dancers, Wade watched the ball go to Eddie Jones, who dunked it to put Miami up 63-47.

It was part of a 16-5 run, capped by Mourning’s hook shot to put his team up 69-49.

New Jersey missed 13 of 14 shots in the run, a huge offensive drought once again dooming its chances of snapping what’s now a six-game losing streak in Miami. The Nets missed 19 of 20 shots at one point in their 90-65 loss here on March 12, then went 1-for-17 in a first-half stretch of their 116-98 loss in Game 1.

The momentum from the 15-4 run New Jersey went on to end the season seems gone. Only eight NBA teams have won a best-of-seven series after losing the first two games; the last was O’Neal’s Lakers, who rallied from 0-2 last year to oust San Antonio in the Western Conference semifinals.

The stars canceled out each other in the first half, and were anything but super. Carter and Kidd combined for 14 points at halftime, exactly matching the total put up by Wade and O’Neal.

The Nets trailed only 48-39 at the break after a most unlikely source came up with the best half of his young career. Krstic had 18 points, matching or exceeding his total from 71 of the 75 regular-season games he played in.