MIAMI (NBA.com exclusive) --  Dwyane Wade loves to see the Washington Wizards on the schedule.

And Washington center Brendan Haywood probably can't wait to see the Heat again.

Wade, the Miami Heat's dynamic All-Star guard, scored a season-best 41 points, including 15 in a decisive third-quarter outburst, to lead Miami to a 90-76 victory Tuesday over Washington at AmericanAirlines Arena.

Wade, the league's leading scorer last season with a career-best 30.2 points per game, scored 40 points against the Wizards in last week's 93-89 victory at Washington.

"Both games it was having to do what we had to do to get the win," said Wade, who is now averaging 29.9 ppg.

Somewhat surprisingly, Miami (6-1) has the second-best record in the Eastern Conference behind Boston (7-1).

But despite Wade's impressive performance, the Heat's defense was the real hero Tuesday. The Heat turned Washington's season-worst 22 turnovers into 27 points. And, Miami, which has held five opponents to fewer than 90 points, held Washington to a season-low point total, 40.3 percent shooting, and a total of 27 second-half points. As a basis of comparison, Wade had 29 second-half points.

"We're a lunch-pail defensive team," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.

Washington (2-6), meanwhile, continues slipping into the abyss. The injury-wracked Wizards have scored 90 or fewer points in four consecutive games, and five of eight games this season.

It didn't help matters that Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas (21 points, eight assists) committed a career-worst 12 turnovers while shooting a woeful 7-for-20.

It appeared Arenas would sit out the game with a calf injury, but apparently at the last minute he decided he was well enough to start. He went on to play the entire first quarter, ending with eight points and three assists, including a 3-pointer right before the buzzer to give the Wizards a 27-21 lead.

Still, he had no explosiveness. He rarely made an attempt to use his crossover dribble to get to the basket, and as a result of the calf limitations, one of the Wizards' offensive strengths, using Arenas on the high pick-and-roll play, was out off the arsenal.

A few Wizards players had decent numbers. Haywood (13 points, 11 rebounds, four blocks) and forward Andray Blatche (13 points, 10 rebounds) recorded double-doubles, and forward Caron Butler had 19 points and seven rebounds.

But when the game got tight in the second half, Arenas tried to do too much and he and his teammates paid the price. Arenas had seven of his turnovers in the third quarter.

"It's just that when things go bad, individuals try to do too much," Washington coach Flip Saunders said.

And while Arenas overcame his calf ailment, Washington's injury situation still isn't under control. Guard Randy Foye sprained his right ankle in the second quarter. He had an X-Ray, didn't return to the game and left the arena wearing a walking boot. Washington already has injury problems among starting forward Antawn Jamison (shoulder), who hasn't played all season, starting guard Mike Miller (shoulder), and little-used guard Mike James (finger).

Here's an example of how badly things went for Washington: the game was tied at 73 with five minutes left before a Jermaine O'Neal jumper and a Wade breakaway dunk gave the Heat a 77-73 lead. Butler got called for an offensive foul, Washington's 20th turnover, before the Heat extended its lead to 79-73. Then came Arenas' errant pass to Blatche followed by guard Mario Chalmers' 3-pointer (Washington hit one free throw in the meantime) and Miami's lead climbed to 82-74.

For all practical purposes, that was it for deciding the game's outcome. But there was still a bit of action remaining.

The lasting image of this game might be Haywood yapping at Heat forward Quentin Richardson after the final buzzer. Richardson, who had an on-going verbal exchange throughout the second half with Haywood, mockingly smiled and waved goodbye. Richardson didn't seem concerned, however.

"I think he wanted to give me a big hug," he said dismissively. "I couldn't see him wanting anything else."

Said Haywood, "He said something disrespectful about me and I had to let him know what it was."

Notes: Beasley, who grew up in Washington, D.C., opened the game with a thunderous left-handed dunk in traffic. But once again Beasley wasn't on the court down the stretch as the Heat opted to go with forward Udonis Haslem's veteran experience...Haywood had an active first half, registering 12 points (5-for-7 shooting), five rebounds and four blocks. Haywood, who only played six games last season due to injury, entered Tuesday's game averaging 11.7 points, 13.3 rebounds and 3.7 blocks in his previous three games (Miami, Indiana and Phoenix). Haywood has grabbed at least 10 rebounds in his last three games...This was the second of three meetings between Miami and Washington in the season's first month...Arenas' 12 turnovers was a franchise record by a Heat opponent. The previous mark was 11 by Jerry Stackhouse on March 5, 2001.