By BRIAN MAHONEY
AP Basketball Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — Joe Johnson jumped right into Miami’s starting lineup and right into the playoff race.
He looked completely comfortable in both.
Dwyane Wade scored 26 points, Johnson made a 3-pointer on his first shot in a Heat uniform during a big game-opening run, and Miami beat the New York Knicks 98-81 on Sunday night.
Johnson was in the starting lineup a day after signing with the Heat and contributed to their 13-2 burst to start the game, a lead they never relinquished.
"You get a guy a caliber of, a player like him, you normally get that in the offseason," Wade said. "So to be able to get it right now, as you’re going into a playoff run, is very important for this team, especially with everything that we’ve been dealing with."
Hassan Whiteside added 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Heat, who matched a franchise record with their fifth straight victory in New York. Luol Deng scored 15 points and Johnson finished with 12.
Miami had dropped two in a row but made a nice pickup during that stretch Saturday with the signing of Johnson, a seven-time All-Star who had been waived by the Brooklyn Nets after agreeing to a contract buyout.
Playing on one of the worst teams in the league a few days ago, he now fortifies one battling for home-court advantage in the postseason.
"This is kind of new, but I’m up for it, man," Johnson said. "It’s a challenge. I’m looking forward to it, and every game from here on out is going to be a playoff-type game for us. We’ve got to have that mentality."
Carmelo Anthony scored 25 points for the Knicks, who have lost 14 of 17. Robin Lopez had 14 points and 14 rebounds.
"We just couldn’t get any sort of consistent rhythm because we couldn’t make the shots we normally make," interim coach Kurt Rambis said. "It breaks your momentum, it breaks your confidence and guys couldn’t just get momentum, get the fans involved in the ballgame."
Johnson picked the Heat in part because of his relationships with fellow veterans such as Wade and Amare Stoudemire, and because Wade talked to him about a future with the team beyond this season. Johnson fit nicely in the lineup with them while the bench got big contributions from Whiteside and Justise Winslow, who grabbed 13 rebounds.
Some loud "Let’s go Heat!" chants broke out at Madison Square Garden, where the Heat built a few big leads, let it get close a couple times, and finally pulled away to improve to 14-0 when holding opponents below 90 points.
The Knicks shot 37 percent and thought they put too much pressure on Anthony, who shot 9 for 24. Anthony said that’s understandable when players are missing shots.
"A lot of them (were) wide open that they missed," Anthony said. "But when you’re not making, who else is there to look to to make shots and try to make shots and try to make plays? I don’t look at it as putting too much on me."
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