And despite many charges by Miami (8-4), they were able to maintain their lead for most of the game.
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The struggling Sixers once again took control by scoring 10 of the game’s next 12 points, pushing the advantage back into double-digits.
After their 116-109 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Thursday night, the Miami Heat (8-4) kept the lowly Philadelphia 76ers (0-14) out of the win column on Saturday with a 96-91 victory at American Airlines Arena. Bosh finished with 13 points on 3-of-11 shooting while center Hassan Whiteside had 13 points, nine rebounds and eight blocks. The 76ers started 0-17 last season, and this 0-14 start is the ninth-worst in league history. At the half, Wade was the team’s only player with double-digit points at the time. The Sixers also defeated the Heat at home at least once in each of the past two seasons.
As a team, the Heat blocked 14 shots. “We have been telling him for weeks, ‘Focus on making winning plays.’ Tonight, it happened to be defensive stops, and he … knocked down his free throws down the stretch”. For him, the biggest moment against the Sixers was a fourth-quarter alley-oop pass to rookie guard Justise Winslow. “And maybe that extra pass would have been better for us at times”.
The closeness of the game was a surprise, given the reputations and records of the two teams. Yet, they blew an 11-point lead with 7:15 remaining.
In the third quarter, the Heat came out with a lot of energy on both ends of the floor and quickly cut the lead to five points. On Saturday night, they’ll play the second game of a back-to-back when they visit the Miami Heat.
Heat: Miami had 32 points at halftime with 17 from Wade and 15 from everyone else…. For the still winless Sixers, Canaan and Robert Covington combined for 43 points of the bench and Jahlil Okafor had a solid double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds.
Down 74-67 entering the final period, the Heat needed a strong fourth quarter in order to escape an embarrassing loss.
One of the only first-half Heat highlights came when Wade passed 19,000 points, moving past Dale Ellis for 50th place on the National Basketball Association career scoring list. Memphis Zach Randolph was in uniform, but did not play in his second straight game due to right knee soreness.
“We were in position to get our first win, but we couldn’t get into anything (offensively) at the end of the game”, Brown said.
The Heat will host the much improved NY Knicks Monday to conclude a season-long seven-game homestand.
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Sixers: F Richaun Holmes (hamstring) is questionable; SF Carl Landry (wrist), C Joel Embiid (foot), PG Kendall Marshall (knee) and PG Tony Wroten (knee) remain out. The average age of the Sixers starting lineup – Okafor, F Nerlens Noel, F Jerami Grant, G T.J. McConnell and G Nik Stauskas – is 21.2.
