Heat Burn Sixers Late

James, Wade lift Heat past 76ers 111-99

One huge run got the Miami Heat back into the game.

A second one put it away.

Dwyane Wade scored 39 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, LeBron James finished with 32 points and 10 rebounds of his own, and the Heat went on two huge scoring runs to beat the 76ers 111-99 on Friday night in Miami.

Chris Bosh added 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Heat, who went on a 23-2 run in the second quarter to erase what was a 16-point deficit, then sealed it with a 24-5 burst in the fourth.

Lou Williams scored 24 points for Philadelphia, which got 15 more from fellow reserve Thaddeus Young. Jodie Meeks added 14 for Philly, which was outscored 34-17 in the fourth quarter.

For Miami, it's now the seventh time in franchise history with 50 wins, the last of those coming in the 2005-06 championship season. It's the seventh time the Heat have gotten to the 50-victory mark.

And that wasn't even the biggest reason for the Heat to celebrate: Boston lost at home to Charlotte, pulling Miami (50-22) within a half-game of the Celtics for the No. 2 spot in the Eastern Conference. The Celtics (50-21) hold the tiebreaker over Miami, however.

Wade tied it for Miami twice midway through the fourth quarter, and then the Heat pulled away. James set up James Jones for a 3-pointer with 6:37 left that put Miami up for good, Wade added a three-point play a minute later, then the 2006 NBA finals MVP knocked the ball away from Elton Brand and dunked for a 100-92 Heat lead.

James got loose for another steal and dunk to make the margin 11 shortly afterward, and in a flash, it was over.

Spencer Hawes and Jrue Holiday each scored 13 for Philadelphia, which remained two games up on the Knicks, who also lost, for the sixth seed in the East.

The Sixers controlled the first quarter, and Williams' 3-pointer with 1.2 seconds left in that period started what became an 18-6 run that gave the 76ers a 42-26 cushion with 6:19 left in the half. The Heat were getting run out of their building, and by their hand -- the 76ers forced 12 turnovers for 16 points in the game's first 18 minutes, and not coincidentally, that separated the teams over that span.

So when the turnovers stopped, the game changed, and quickly.

The Heat made their next eight shots, seven of them either layups or dunks, on the way to a 23-2 run over the next 51/2 minutes to take a 49-44 lead. Wade had 13 points during the run, while Bosh and James combined for the other 10, and that essentially was the story of the first half for Miami: Wade had 19, Bosh and James each had 14, Erick Dampier scored four, and seven other players combined for zero.

Meanwhile, the 76ers were getting production from all sides. Williams and Young had 23 points by halftime off the bench, while Miami's six reserves in uniform managed none in a combined 34 minutes.

And in the third, Philadelphia showed it had more than recovered from the Miami blitz to close the half.

But late the Sixers seemed to run out of steam and run out of time as they dropped to 37-35 on the season.


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