PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania – The Miami Heat squandered a 29-point lead but held on to beat the Philadelphia 76ers 84-78 on Friday to end their four-game road losing streak in the NBA.
Forward Udonis Haslem helped Miami survive, scoring eight points in the fourth quarter, but said after the Heat must do better.
“If we’re talking about winning a championship, that second half wasn’t good enough,” Haslem said.
Miami leapt out to a 16-point lead in the first quarter, led by LeBron James who made his first six shots.
They led by 27 points at halftime and stretched the advantage to 29 points before Philadelphia closed the third quarter on a 14-4 scoring run to whittle the gap to 69-56.
Evan Turner netted 13 points with eight rebounds and five assists for Philadelphia. Andre Iguodala added 11 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and three steals for the 76ers, who got the deficit down to single digits in the fourth quarter.
Williams’ basket pulled Philadelphia within 82-78 with 29 seconds remaining.
James then converted two free-throws to complete the scoring.
He finished with 29 points with eight assists and seven rebounds. Dwyane Wade added 12 points with 11 rebounds and six assists, but Wade, too, said the Heat’s second-quarter performance just wasn’t good enough, especially in rebounding.
“We’ve got to do a better job of trying to get position,” Wade said. “Because you don’t win a championship without rebounds.”
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said Miami lost intensity in the second half.
“We played with a great energy in the first half,” Spoelstra said. “In the second half, we got away from that.”