Miami (17-6) held the Sixers (16-7) to just 39.5 percent shooting from the floor. Thaddeus Young led the Sixers with 16 points. Jodie Meeks and Evan Turner both had 13 for the Sixers. Elton Brand was held scoreless in 23 minutes. Tony Battie, starting for injured Spencer Hawes, was also held scorless.
Miami's Dwyane Wade led all scorers with 26 points. LeBron James added 19 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists for the Heat, and Chris Bosh added 12 points. Miami held the Sixers to just 32 points in the second quarter while scoring 32 points in the fourth quarter
The Sixers trailed for almost all of the first quarter but never more than five points, which came early in the period.
If there was a bad sign for the Sixers it was that the Heat, the top scoring team in the league, seemed to get the shots that they wanted on the way to making 10 of 19 field goals (52.6 percent) in the quarter.
The Sixers led briefly in the first when Andre Iguodala found a cutting Thaddeus Young for a layup, giving the Sixers a 21-20 lead with two minutes left in the quarter.
That lead didn't last very long but it never grew any larger than six points in the half, which is what it reached when Bosh scored on a layup to give the Heat a 51-45 lead.
Down by 34-28 following a basket by Miami's Norris Cole, the Sixers used a 10-3 run capped by Young's reverse layup with 5:04 left in the half for a 38-37 lead.
The Sixers never let the Heat get out of their range in the third quarter, and after Iguodala fed LaVoy Allen for a 17-foot jumper to pull the score even at 61-61, it looked as if this game was going down to the wire.
