Dwyane Wade had 23 points, eight assists and six rebounds, LeBron James added 20 points and the Miami Heat pulled away in the fourth quarter to beat the Philadelphia 76ers 99-90 on Friday night, snapping a three-game losing streak.
Chris Bosh scored 18 points and Carlos Arroyo had a season-high 17 for Miami, which struggled for large stretches against the team with the worst record in the Eastern Conference. James had eight rebounds and six assists.
Jodie Meeks scored a season-high 21 for Philadelphia (3-13), which overcame a dreadful start but was outscored 12-2 over the first 3 minutes of the fourth quarter and couldn't recover.
Andre Iguodala scored 20 points and grabbed nine rebounds for
Philadelphia, which got 12 from Elton Brand and 11 from Thaddeus
Young.
The 76ers were down just eight with 3:30 left when Brand missed a 10-footer from the left baseline, and that was their last gasp. Wade scored the game's next five points, first a three-point play, then a finger-roll after stealing the ball from Meeks to make it 99-86.
It was Miami's first win since leading rebounder Udonis Haslem had surgery to repair a torn ligament in his left foot earlier this week, a malady that could keep him out the rest of the season.
The start was promising for Miami, which led 11-3 quickly and forced Philadelphia into misses on six of its first seven shots. Then, in what's been a puzzling pattern, the Heat went from rolling to reeling without warning, giving up 10 straight points and setting the tone for another harder-than-expected night.
Sports
In partnership with NBC Sports Philadelphia
There's been a trend recently where an unexpected opposing player _ like Paul Millsap did for Utah, Darrell Arthur did for Memphis, Brandon Rush did for Indiana and Brandon Bass did for Orlando _ just goes wild for a stretch against the Heat, and winds up playing a key role in Miami getting beaten.
Meeks did his part to add his name to that list.
He played 8:38 of the second quarter, instantly becoming a one-man wrecking crew.
Meeks shot 7 of 8 in the quarter, connected on all four of his tries from 3-point range, finishing with 18 points _ two more than Wade, James and Bosh had combined in the period.
Miami led 33-21, its biggest cushion to that point, before Meeks took his first shot. By the time he took _ and made _ his last of the quarter, Philadelphia was within 49-45, and the margin stayed at four entering halftime.
The Heat got the lead back to eight early in the third, and even then, the 76ers weren't phased. Meeks' 3-pointer with 3:23 left got Philadelphia back within 67-65, and the 76ers had four chances later in the quarter to either tie the game or take the lead. They misfired on every one, and Miami took a tenuous 73-71 lead into the fourth.
