Heat 112, 76ers 102
PHILADELPHIA -- Dwyane Wade had 21 points and Hassan Whiteside added 19 points and 19 rebounds as Miami beat the short-handed Philadelphia 76ers 112-102 on Friday night, the Heat's fourth straight victory.
Goran Dragic collected 15 points and 11 assists for Miami (36-26), which has won 13 of 18 to assume the lead in the NBA's Southeast Division. Luol Deng had 13 points and nine rebounds
Miami also improved to 7-2 without Chris Bosh, out indefinitely with a blood clot in his calf.
Ish Smith had 26 points and Robert Covington contributed 25 for the 76ers (8-54), who dropped their 11th straight. Philadelphia, the NBA's worst team, dressed only nine players because of injuries to Jahlil Okafor (bruised right shin) and Nerlens Noel (bruised right knee), as well as the illnesses of Nik Stauskas and Kendall Marshall.
The 76ers reeled off 13 straight points to assume a 72-69 lead with 5:20 left in the third quarter, only to see Miami go on a 15-2 blitz featuring five points from Wade and four from Deng.
That put the Heat up 84-74 in the final minute of the period. The 76ers sliced the deficit to five early in the fourth quarter, but Green salted the game away by notching all 12 of his points in the final 10:54, enabling the Heat to extend its lead to as many as 18.
Wade, who also had eight rebounds, four assists and three steals, did not play in the fourth quarter.
The Heat scored 20 of the game's first 24 points, eight of those by Amar'e Stoudemire, and were up 40-29 after a quarter, their highest-scoring quarter of the season.
By halftime the Miami lead was 59-49. Wade had 12 points at that juncture, and Whiteside had 10 points and eight rebounds.
Covington and Smith had 15 each for Philadelphia.
The Heat was still up 10 early in the third quarter, 69-59, before the 76ers went on its 13-0 run to take a 72-69 lead. Hollis Thompson and Jerami Grant capped that surge with a 3-pointer and three-point play, respectively.
NOTES: The 76ers signed C Christian Wood to a 10-day contract earlier in the day. Wood, a rookie, was playing for the Delaware 87ers, the club's NBA Development League affiliate. He began the season with the 76ers but was cut Jan. 4 to make room for F Elton Brand on the roster. ... Philadelphia coach Brett Brown said player development assistant Chris Babcock spent eight days in Turkey scouting F Dario Saric, who was acquired in a 2014 draft-day trade. Saric can opt out of his contract after this season and Brown said he has a "gut feel" that the young forward will be in Philadelphia in 2016-17. ... F Elton Brand made his season debut for the 76ers, contributing eight points and four rebounds in 13 minutes.