MIAMI — As the final moments ticked away in the greatest scoring show of his career, Dwyane Wade was summoned to the New York Knicks' bench for a quick word.

"It's kind of ridiculous," Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni told him, "that you're this good."

Get ready, Atlanta: Wade looks primed for the playoffs.

Wade scored 55 points, one shy of the franchise record, and the Miami Heat wrapped up the No. 5 spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs by beating the Knicks, 122-105, last night. The Heat will visit fourth-seeded Atlanta when the opening playoff round starts this weekend.

"I came in early and I was very focused," Wade said. "My teammates thought something was wrong with me because I wasn't talking."

Nothing was wrong. Not even close.

Wade shot 19-for-30 from the field, set a career high with six 3-pointers, and nearly topped Glen Rice's record of 56 points before leaving with 1:06 remaining. Some in the crowd — even at least one member of the Heat coaching staff — wanted Wade to get one more chance at the record, but Heat coach Erik Spoelstra chose not to take the risk.

"He's broken every other record," Spoelstra said. "Let's leave one of them to Glen Rice."

Michael Beasley finished with 28 points and 16 rebounds for the Heat, who also got 15 points from Mario Chalmers.

Al Harrington and Wilson Chandler each scored 21 points for New York. Quentin Richardson finished with 14 and David Lee had an 11-point, 11-rebound night for the Knicks.

Wade scored for the final time with 5:31 remaining. Only then did the Knicks figure out how to stop him, well after it was too late.

"He just made them all tonight," Harrington said. "When he is hot, you are in for a long night."

Wade's MVP candidacy is so important to the Heat that the franchise took the step — rare for them — of campaigning for the award. Last week, the team sent out a promotional DVD to postseason award voters, along with a T-shirt and paperweight bearing an "M-V-3" logo, a nod to Wade's jersey number.

Now, the DVD is already outdated. This might have been his best show of the season.

He was diving on the floor for loose balls, finished with nine rebounds, and dominated the Knicks in Miami for the second time this season.

"He just has a remarkable way of rising to the occasion," Spoelstra said.

It was the 11th 50-point game in the NBA this season, the third by Wade — matching Cleveland's LeBron James for the league's high — and the third against the Knicks. Kobe Bryant got the NBA season-best point total with 61 in Madison Square Garden on Feb. 2.

HORNETS 102, MAVERICKS 92:

Chris Paul narrowly missed his seventh triple-double with 31 points, 17 assists and nine rebounds, and David West scored 31 points to help host New Orleans (49-31) move a game ahead of Dallas for the sixth playoff seed in the Western Conference. Each team has two games left in the regular season.

Dirk Nowitzki had 29 points and 14 rebounds for the Mavericks, who had pulled even with New Orleans on Friday by beating the Hornets in Dallas. Josh Howard added 15 points for the Mavericks.

RAPTORS 111, 76ERS 104:

Chris Bosh scored 22 points, Jose Calderon had 11 points and 11 assists, and host Toronto handed Philadelphia its season-high fifth straight loss.

Anthony Parker scored 18 points, Andrea Bargnani had 17 and Shawn Marion had 14 for the Raptors, who won for the first time in five games.

Louis Williams had 23 points and Andre Iguodala had 21 for the 76ers, with Samuel Dalembert adding 18 points and 12 rebounds.

Andre Miller and Marreese Speights each had 10 points for the 76ers, who have their first five-game losing streak since dropping seven in a row between Jan. 2-14, 2008.

SPURS 95, KINGS 92:

Michael Finley's 3-pointer with 1.3 seconds left counted despite his apparent shot-clock violation and won the game for San Antonio against host Sacramento.

Tony Parker had 25 points and nine assists for the Spurs, who moved into a tie with Houston atop the Southwest Division with two games left.

San Antonio kept Tim Duncan out of uniform to rest his sore knees, and the NBA-worst Kings led for most of the night before Finley's winner — even if television replays appeared to show the ball still in Finley's hands with the shot clock at :00.

Referee Dan Crawford's crew explained that shot-clock violations are unreviewable to irate Sacramento coach Kenny Natt, whose Kings lost their eighth straight.

LAKERS 92, GRIZZLIES 75:

Andrew Bynum scored 18 points in his third game back from a knee injury and host Los Angeles rolled over Memphis.

Kobe Bryant took just nine shots, made seven, and finished with 16 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Pau Gasol, often matched against his brother Marc in the middle, scored 12 points and had 13 rebounds.

The 7-foot Bynum, who missed 32 games after tearing the medial collateral ligament in his right knee Jan. 31, played 25:03 against the Grizzlies. He went 6-of-10 from the floor and had five rebounds.

O.J. Mayo led the Grizzlies with 20 points, and Marc Gasol had 14 points, eight rebounds and four assists.