Miami ? When Dwyane Wade dislocated his left shoulder nearly five weeks ago, there was considerable sentiment around the NBA that the Miami Heat would be hard-pressed to simply make the playoffs.

That sort of talk isn’t happening now. Wade’s still hurt, yet somehow, the defending NBA champions have clawed their way into sole possession of first place in the Southeast Division for the first time all season.

Miami (38-32) got there Monday night, when it beat Atlanta and Washington (37-32) lost at Utah to fall a half-game behind the Heat. That series of events also pushed Miami to third in the Eastern Conference standings, a spot it’ll seek to keep on Wednesday when a three-game road swing opens in Toronto.

“We’ve got something in front of us right now,” Heat coach Pat Riley said. “Now we’ve got Toronto, Minnesota and Detroit, so we’ve got big games coming up. They all mean something now, and I just hope our guys will come with a sense of urgency.”

Since Wade got hurt, the Heat typically have brought the type of urgency Riley is seeking.

When Washington won at Detroit on Jan. 30, the Wizards were eight games ahead of Miami in the standings. Miami won later that night to get within 71â2 games, and was still six games behind Washington on as Feb. 23, two days after Wade dislocated his left shoulder.

Wade hasn’t played since – he’s rehabbing and hoping to be back next month – but the margin between the teams has vanished.

The Heat are 12-4 since Feb. 23, the Wizards 6-11. And Orlando, which also led the division for a time in the early portion of the season, has also spiraled down over the last 41â2 weeks; the Magic, who were ahead of Miami for much of the season, are now 51â2 games behind the Heat and down to seventh in the East.

But there was no raucous celebration in the Heat locker room Monday night. No celebration at all, actually, as some players said they didn’t even know they were in position to reclaim first place.

“You can’t get wrapped up in watching other scores,” Heat forward James Posey said. “When that happens, you can have some slippage, so you just worry about what you’ve got to do.”

True, but for the first time all year, the Heat controls its seeding fate.

When the three-game road trip ends in Detroit on Sunday, a second matchup with Toronto – the Atlantic Division leader also vying for the No. 3 seed in the East – awaits in Miami on April 3. From there, the Heat will have road games in Cleveland, Boston, Charlotte and Orlando still to play, plus home matchups with Charlotte, Indiana, Boston and an April 11 showdown with Washington that will likely go far in deciding the division title.

Of the 12 remaining games, seven are against teams with sub-.500 records.

“I’m a firm believer that in order to be a true championship team, you have to win at home and win on the road,” Heat center Shaquille O’Neal said. “I’ve had home-court advantage throughout, I’ve had the No. 4 spot, I’ve had the No. 5 spot. So we just have to play these next 12 games and whatever spot we get, we have to formulate a strategy and stick to the strategy.”