MIAMI, April 5 (Ticker) -- No Shaq? No problem.

Even without Shaquille O'Neal and facing a team that had won nine straight games, the Miami Heat again looked unbeatable at home.

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Dwyane Wade matched a career high with 39 points as the Heat won their 18th straight game at American Airlines Arena and clinched home-court advantage throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs with a 104-86 triumph over the undermanned Chicago Bulls.

O'Neal, the Heat's superstar center and a leading MVP candidate, sat out with a stomach ailment. It didn't matter as the Heat - who have not lost here since Jan. 21 vs. Indiana - rolled to another home victory.

"It doesn't get any better than this," Heat coach Stan Van Gundy said. "The (Florida) Marlins win their home opener, we play great, and I'm going to the baseball game tomorrow.

"We played really great with a lot of energy against a team that works hard. I'm not going to say that we outworked them, but our guys played with a lot of intensity."

For most of the night, it was all about Wade. The second-year guard, an All-Star selection this season, notched his third straight 30-point game, joining Glen Rice as the only other player to do that in the Heat's 17-year history.

Wade made 13-of-20 shots and 13-of-17 free throws with seven assists.

"I felt I had to take more responsibility on my shoulders and to get everybody involved," Wade said.

With O'Neal missing his fifth game this season, the Heat seemed unaffected by his absence in the first quarter, shooting 80 percent (12-of-15) from the field to race to a 38-24 lead. Damon Jones scored 12 points and Wade 11 in the period.

Miami pushed its advantage to 64-44 at the break, finishing the half at 68 percent (23-of-34) from the floor. Wade had 17 points at intermission and Jones 15 on 5-of-5 shooting from the arc.

With the Heat holding a 95-82 lead with 2:52 left, Bulls rookie Andres Nocioni committed a hard foul on Wade with 2:52 remaining, then shoved the All-Star guard to the floor. Miami forward Udonis Haslem, who collected 16 points and 15 rebounds, shoved Nocioni into the crowd. The pair was slapped with a double technical, while Haslem was ejected.

"It was a stupid foul on my part," Nocioni said. "The game was over at that point. I apologize because what happened next is both bad for the game and bad for me."

Wade declined to comment on the hard foul from Nocioni, but his teammates and coach came to his rescue.

"It was ridiculous. It was an absolute punk play," Van Gundy said. "If you're going to flagrant-foul somebody in this league, do it to (Heat center) Alonzo Mourning. Just because you can't guard the guy doesn't mean you can take free shots at him. The league needs to crack down on this."

"The (hard) foul wasn't necessary," Haslem said. "The foul is part of the game, but the push afterward is not. We're not going to back down from anybody. That's the third time in the last four games that someone has done that to Dwyane, and we can't afford to let our best player get hurt over silly plays like that."

Nocioni and fellow rookie Ben Gordon scored 14 points apiece to pace the Bulls, but point guard Kirk Hinrich was held scoreless on 0-of-7 shooting in just 16 minutes. The Bulls shot just 36 percent (32-of-88) and allowed the Heat to connect on 54 percent (37-of-68).

"We lacked the awareness defensively that we have had for most of the season," Bulls coach Scott Skiles said. "We could not stop people from penetrating, and we could not challenge any shots at the basket. That's a bad combination."

Earlier Tuesday, the Bulls placed rookie forward Luol Deng on the injured list with a torn ligament in his right wrist, an injury that will keep him out for the rest of the regular season. Starting center Eddy Curry missed his fifth straight game with an irregular heartbeat, while power forward Othella Harrington was with his pregnant wife in Chicago.