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Streaking Heat stops 76ers 108-100
Looking nothing like a team playing its fourth game in five nights, Miami got 32 points from Dwyane Wade and 25 more from Shaquille O'Neal to beat the Philadelphia 76ers 108-100 on Monday night.
Wade made 18 free throws to set a franchise record; he got to the line 23 times. Shandon Anderson had 13 points, and Udonis Haslem had a 12-point, 10-rebound night for Miami (46-16), which has an eight-game lead over Detroit in the Eastern Conference.
Allen Iverson, who missed the morning shootaround, scored 27 points on 8-for-19 shooting for Philadelphia, which saw its modest two-game winning streak end. Samuel Dalembert scored 21 points for the 76ers, who got only 10 points in 26 minutes from Chris Webber.
Wade and O'Neal scored 26 of Miami's 28 third-quarter points, and helped the Heat build a 22-point margin in the period. Willie Green had six late points to draw Philadelphia (28-30) within eight, but the 76ers got no closer.
Miami shot 68.6 percent and had its highest-scoring first half of the season, opening a 63-50 lead at intermission behind 17 points from Wade and 11 from Anderson — who had 11 or more points in only four of his previous 42 games.
The Heat's early effort was largely without O'Neal, who missed much of the half with foul trouble and went to the bench with 4:34 left. From there, Miami put together a 14-8 run to end the half.
Iverson had 15 points in the half for Philadelphia, which managed to stay within striking distance thanks in large part to Dalembert's 13 first-half points — 12 in the first 9:55 of the game.
O'Neal made Miami's first four shot attempts of the second half, all from close range to push Miami's margin to 73-55. The lead got up to 79-59 with 6:51 left, before Dalembert keyed a 7-0 run.
He scored to start the burst, then blocked an O'Neal shot — Shaq's first miss in nine tries — setting up a 3-pointer from Kyle Korver. And when Korver scored again on the next trip, Philadelphia was within 13 at 79-66.
But Miami put the game away with an 11-3 run over a 2 1/2-minute stretch, taking a 90-69 lead. O'Neal scored the first five points, Wade followed with consecutive baskets, and O'Neal finished the burst by catching a three-quarter-court pass from Damon Jones and throwing down a monster dunk.
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