LEAD: Wade, James help Heat pull away late to beat Sixers

By Paul Levine Feb 4, 2012, 7:31 GMT

Los Angeles - The surprising Philadelphia 76ers have been posing as legitimate Eastern Conference contenders this season, but the Miami Heat is focused on the bigger picture.

Dwyane Wade scored 26 points, LeBron James had 19 with 12 rebounds and eight assists the visiting Heat went on a late game-breaking 15-0 run Friday night to pull away from the Sixers, 99-79.

'We wanted to come here and make a statement and we did that tonight,' James said. 'If we want to hold ourselves to a championship standard we need to play as close to 48 minutes as possible.

'Tonight was probably the best game from start to finish as far as playing hard and communicating at both ends that we've had this season.'

Mario Chalmers scored 13 points and Chris Bosh had 12 for the reigning Eastern Conference Champion Heat (17-6), which has taken the last nine regular-season games in the series.

Thaddeus Young scored 16 points off the bench, while Jodie Meeks and Lou Williams contributed 13 points apiece for the Sixers (16-7), which had impressive home wins this week against Orlando and Chicago until running into Miami.

'We knew there would be some rough times, but we'll be OK,' Young said. 'We know we're a good team. There won't be any heads down.'

With the game knotted at 61 apiece, James scored Miami's final six points, giving the guests a 67-63 advantage after three quarters.

The Heat blew the game open early in the final frame. Ahead 78-71 with eight minutes left, Miami ran off 15 unanswered points behind eight from Wade, including a pair of ferocious dunks, making it 94-79 with just over three minutes remaining en route to the runaway win.

'We got stop after stop after stop and executed,' James said. 'That what it's all about.'

'They just overwhelmed us in the fourth quarter,' said Sixers coach Doug Collins, whose club was outscored 32-16 in the final frame. 'They put a push on us and we didn't have any resistance, so credit to them.'

Elsewhere: Orlando Magic 102, Cleveland Cavaliers 94: Dwight Howard had 19 points with 16 rebounds and eight blocks, and the Magic beat the visiting Cavaliers for the seventh consecutive time.

LA Lakers 92, Denver Nuggets 89: Andrew Bynum had 22 points with 10 rebounds, Kobe Bryant collected 20 points with nine assists, and the Lakers slipped past the Nuggets in the opener of a season-high six-game road trip.

Al Harrington led Denver with 24 points, but missed the go-ahead three-pointer with two seconds left.

Indiana Pacers 98, Dallas Mavericks 87: Paul George drilled seven threes en route to a career-high 30 points, and the Pacers snapped a seven-game slide at Dallas by beating the Mavericks at American Airlines Center for the first time since 2004.

German juggernaut Dirk Nowitzki paced the reigning NBA Champion Mavs with a season-high 30 points.

Oklahoma City Thunder 101, Memphis Grizzlies 94: Kevin Durant scored seven of his 36 points in the final minute, including the tie-breaking triple, and the Western Conference-leading Thunder (18-4) pulled away to beat the visiting Grizzlies.

Spaniard Marc Gasol topped Memphis with 24 points.

Boston Celtics 91, New York Knicks 89: Paul Pierce scored 30 points while Kevin Garnett added 15 and the Celtics held off the visiting Knicks for their seventh win in the last eight games.

Carmelo Anthony scored 26 points while Tyson Chandler had 20 points and 11 rebounds for the struggling Knicks, who have dropped 11 of their last 13 games.

Minnesota Timberwolves 108, New Jersey Nets 105: Nikola Pekovic scored a career-high 27 points, Luke Ridnour hit the tie-breaking three-pointer with 83 seconds left and the visiting Timberwolves withstood Anthony Morrow's personal-best 42 points to clip the Nets.

Detroit Pistons 88, Milwaukee Bucks 80: Rookie Brandon Knight scored 26 points, and the lowly Pistons (5-20) stopped a seven-game skid by bouncing the visiting Bucks.

Toronto Raptors 106, Washington Wizards 89: Brazilian Leandro Barbosa scored 19 points, while Spaniard Jose Calderon handed out a season-high 17 assists and the Raptors sent the visiting Wizards to their third straight loss.

Houston Rockets 99, Phoenix Suns 81: Kevin Martin scored 16 points to pace seven teammates in double figures and the Rockets rolled the visiting Suns for just the second time in the last nine meetings.