MIAMI – Mindful of Shaquille O’Neal’s playoff history, the Nets wanted to limit his touches.

And while their plan kept O’Neal’s numbers down, Dwyane Wade and Damon Jones took advantage of all the extra open space.

Wade had 32 points and Jones made seven 3-pointers and scored 30 – playoff career-highs for both – as the Heat defeated New Jersey 116-98 yesterday in the opener of their first-round series.

Wade connected on 12 of 18 shots and had eight assists, while Jones was 10-for-12 from the floor – including 7-for-9 from 3-point range – as the Heat set franchise playoff highs in scoring and field-goal percentage (.592).

“I had a conversation with D. Jones and D. Wade and told them if I wasn’t 10%, I’d need them to give a little extra,” said O’Neal, who missed the final week of the regular season with a bruised thigh. “They both stepped up and shot the ball well. I didn’t have the explosiveness I usually do. I didn’t have ‘The Diesel’ explosiveness. Today I had ‘The Firecracker’ explosiveness.”

O’Neal graded himself “an F” health-wise. He had 17 points and 11 rebounds in 32 minutes, well off his 27.1-point career playoff average and the 36.3-point pace he had against the Nets in the 2002 NBA finals.

“I don’t think we’ll see Shaq at his absolute best until probably until late in this series or into the next series,” Heat coach Stan Van Gundy said.

Vince Carter had 27 points and 10 rebounds for New Jersey, which won 15 of its final 19 games to get the East’s no. 8 seed but is now 0-4 against Miami this season.

“We knew they could score a lot of points if we didn’t defend the 3-point shot and just left them open,” Carter said. “He attracts a lot of attention. We just have to do a better job, that’s all, of trying to run them off the 3 a little bit.”

Jason Kidd added 18 points for the Nets, who have won just one playoff series – a first-rounder against Indiana in 2002 – after dropping a Game 1. Game 2 is Tuesday night in Miami.

After Jones and Wade made consecutive jumpers to give Miami its largest lead, 20 points, with 7:48 left, Carter’s deep 3-pointer with 6:37 left capped a 7-0 run that drew the Nets within 99-86. But O’Neal scored the game’s next three points, the sellout crowd exhaled, and the outcome was sealed.

New Jersey forward Richard Jefferson, who missed the final 49 games of the regular season with a ruptured ligament in his left wrist, returned and had nine points on 3-for-7 shooting in 23 minutes.

“I feel fine, surprisingly,” Jefferson said. “I didn’t have my lateral quickness. It’s tough trying to guard an All-NBA player like Dwyane Wade when you don’t have that.”

With Miami mired in an early 1-for-9 slump, New Jersey hit eight of 10 shots and took an 18-11 lead when Kidd made a lay-up with 4:38 left in the opening quarter. The Heat, however, quickly got back on track.

Wade hit two jumpers in the final 32.4 seconds of the quarter to give Miami a 22-19 lead, and Alonzo Mourning – playing against the team he opened the season with – had consecutive baskets, including a two-handed slam of a miss by Wade, early in the second quarter to fuel a 20-3 run that put Miami up 31-21.

The Nets missed 16 of 17 shots over an 11 1/2 -minute stretch of the half and trailed by as many as 16 late in the second quarter before going into halftime down 54-42.

New Jersey got within 10 points on four separate occasions in the third quarter, yet never cut the Heat’s margin into single digits and trailed 87-73 entering the fourth.

“We played hard,” Nets coach Lawrence Frank said. “We just have to do a few things better.”

***

NUGGETS 93, SPURS 87

Andre Miller scored 31 points and Denver held San Antonio without a field goal for more than 10 minutes of the fourth quarter yesterday as the Nuggets defeated the Spurs 93-87 in the opening game of their first-round playoff series.

Glenn Robinson made a 14-footer with 10:20 left in the game to put San Antonio up 81-76, but it would be the Spurs’ last basket until Robert Horry hit a 3-pointer with 9 seconds left. In between, San Antonio missed 17 consecutive shots – including seven by Tim Duncan.

Despite the offensive futility, the Spurs stayed ahead until Earl Boykins made a high-arching jumper over 7-footer Nazr Mohammed with 1:56 remaining to give Denver an 85-84 lead. The Nuggets then got a short jumper from Marcus Camby and three free throws from Miller to build a seven point lead in the final minute.

Carmelo Anthony had 14 points, Camby 12, and Kenyon Martin 11 for Denver. Camby, who missed the final three games of the regular season with a hamstring strain, also had 12 rebounds

Game 2 in the best-of-seven series is Wednesday night in San Antonio.

Manu Ginobili led the Spurs with 23 points, his career playoff high, and Duncan scored 18 with 11 rebounds. Mohammed added 15 points and 15 rebounds for the Spurs, who led by as many as nine points in the first half, and Tony Parker finished with 12.

Duncan quickly dispelled any notion that he would go easy after missing a dozen late-season games with a badly sprained right ankle. He made three baskets in the game’s opening minutes, ran the floor in transition, and bumped bodies at both ends with Martin and Camby as the Nuggets consistently double-teamed him.

***

BULLS 103, WIZARDS 94

Ben Gordon scored 12 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter yesterday, lifting the short-handed Bulls to a 103-94 victory over the Washington Wizards and giving Chicago its first playoff victory since the dynasty days.

Fellow rookie Andres Nocioni also had a huge game, scoring 25 points and grabbing 18 rebounds.

Gordon has reached double figures in the fourth quarter 22 times this season, but none was bigger than this show. Already short-handed without ailing starters Eddy Curry and Luol Deng, the Bulls looked like they were in trouble with Tyson Chandler in foul trouble and Washington holding a 82-77 lead going into the fourth quarter.

But just as he’s done all season, Gordon was there to carry the Bulls. Gordon scored 10 points as the Bulls opened the fourth quarter with a 13-4 run. The loss spoiled a superb night by Larry Hughes, who scored 24 of his 31 points in the first half on 10-of-12 shooting.