MIAMI — Dwyane Wade scored a season-high 27 points, the last of those coming on a jumper that gave Miami its only lead of the fourth quarter with 5.9 seconds left, and the Heat rallied to beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 102-101, on Tuesday night (Wednesday Manila time).
Wade had 15 of his points in the fourth quarter, and the Heat won a game where they never led by more than three.
Goran Dragic scored 21 for the Heat, who got 16 points from Tyler Johnson and 15 points and 11 rebounds from Hassan Whiteside.
Joel Embiid scored 23 points for Philadelphia, which got 21 from Dario Saric. The 76ers led by as many as 10 in the fourth and had a chance to win at the buzzer, but JJ Redick's wide-open 3-point try bounced off the rim.
Redick finished with 15 for the 76ers.
Wade was absolutely vintage down the stretch, and Miami needed him to be just that.
Redick got fouled shooting a 3 with 1:47 left, made all three free throws and put Philadelphia up 98-95. With 27 seconds left, Wade got fouled on a busted Miami play while trying a 3 from the left corner — making all three to tie the game at 100.
Then Miami rolled the dice — twice.
The first came when Wade intentionally fouled Simmons almost immediately after the ensuing inbounds pass. Simmons missed the first and made the second, and the Heat were down one with 23.8 seconds left.
The second was not calling timeout to set up the next play. Wade kept the ball for the entirety of the next possession, connecting on a 21-footer that ultimately was the deciding shot.
Philadelphia used a 16-3 run to open a 33-20 lead in the first half, and Miami answered with an 18-2 run to go up 38-35. From there, a 12-minute stretch of back-and-forth commenced with neither team ever leading by more than three.
The 76ers eventually broke through, going up nine late in the third. But they saw the margin cut to 75-73 going into the fourth, after Wade hit a step-back 3 to end the quarter. In the fourth, Philadelphia went up again, this time by 10 — and Miami clawed back again, using an 11-1 run to knot the game on a layup by Wade with 4:57 left.
And in the end, Wade won came through in a bigger way.