NEW YORK (Reuters) -- The Miami Heat withstood a fourth-quarter barrage to beat the Detroit Pistons 98-83 on Saturday and take a 2-1 lead in the Eastern Conference finals.

Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O'Neal teamed up for 62 points as the Heat made headway early on but saw their lead whittled down to a single point as the Pistons started to fire in the closing stages in Miami.

But in the end the Pistons simply had no answer to Wade (35 points) and O'Neal (27 points and 12 rebounds), who combined for 24-of-32 from the floor.

O'Neal had complained about not getting the ball enough after Game 2, but that was not an issue on Saturday.

"The guys were looking for me and I just try to do what I do," O'Neal told reporters.

Apart from the opening four minutes of the fourth quarter when the Pistons clicked into gear, the Heat carried the play and found a way to breach Detroit's much-vaunted defense. "We just hit a sour note in the game," O'Neal said. "We just kept our composure and we went on to win the game."

Chauncey Billups scored 31 points for Detroit and Richard Hamilton added 20, but the Pistons faded down the stretch after closing to 74-73 midway through the fourth quarter after scoring the first 11 points. Wonderful Wade

Miami shot 58 percent to just 42 percent for Detroit, with the Heat shooting close to 70 percent for most of the first half.

Wade was in brilliant form, shooting 13-of-17 from the floor and making nine of his 11 free throw attempts. He also had eight rebounds.

Antoine Walker added 11 points, four rebounds and four assists for the Heat, while Udonis Haslem had 10 points and seven rebounds.

Rasheed Wallace had 11 points and 10 rebounds for Detroit, while it was a tough night for Ben Wallace, who was deliberately fouled numerous times in the fourth quarter to get him to the foul line.

Wallace made just two of his 10 free throws and had just two points and six rebounds in the game.

Miami led 49-38 at the half and had a double-digit lead for most of the third quarter before the Pistons' 11-0 run at the start of the fourth quarter brought them to within one.

But the Heat were not to be denied and finished the quarter on a 24-10 run.

Game 4 in the best-of-seven series is in Miami today.

In the Eastern Conference finals last year, Miami also led Detroit 2-1 but the Pistons rallied to win the series in seven games.