Dwyane Wade regains his legs, sparks Heat over 76ers

PHILADELPHIA —

For the Miami Heat, this essentially is a surrogate exhibition schedule, games such as Wednesday night's 97-87 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers.

Ditto for Sunday's game at the New Jersey Nets, as well as next week's visit by the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Robbed by injuries of the opportunity to establish cohesion in the preseason, the Heat instead will have to take advantage of moments such as these, against overmatched opponents, with Wednesday's lead cresting at 26 and the final score not nearly indicative of the dominance.

---

Customized. Optimized. Pocket sized. Buy the new Baltimore Sun iPhone app.

---

"We saw a tangible difference," coach Erik Spoelstra said.

An opponent that starts Spencer Hawes and Jason Kapono is exactly what the Heat needed Wednesday at Wells Fargo Center, allowing Spoelstra's team to play through an early turnover binge and uneven execution.

Not only did it result in the first victory of the LeBron-Wade-Bosh era, after Tuesday's humbling 88-80 season-opening loss to the Boston Celtics, but it also afforded Dwyane Wade the opportunity to regain his legs.

"He was less anxious and letting the game come to him," Spoelstra said. "He was very poised and patient."

A shaky 4 of 16 against the Celtics after sitting out the previous three weeks with a strained right hamstring, Wade essentially created his own opening night against the 76ers, shooting 10 of 20 for 30 points, with seven rebounds and four assists.

"I always pride myself on learning from what I did the night before," Wade said. "Today, I was very aggressive."

Wade's breakthrough allowed LeBron James to step back from Tuesday's season-opening 31-point performance to a more mundane 16-point effort, albeit amid continued turnover trouble, this time with nine, after committing eight in Boston.

"You could see we're getting closer, but we still have a ways to go," said James, who also had seven assists and six rebounds.

Still finding his way in an offense that seems to have little patience for establishing a low-post game, Chris Bosh added 15 points and seven rebounds.

The Heat turned the game in the second quarter, when forward James Jones turned up the volume with four 3-pointers.

Against the 76ers, that was about all that was required.

Jones added two more in the third quarter for good measure, closing 6 of 9 from behind the arc in a 20-point performance.

"When Mike Miller went out," Wade said of the versatile forward who is sidelined until at least January with a thumb injury, "we said we need someone else to step up."

Spoelstra said Jones' success was "a residual of ball movement."

Jones, who has missed most of the past two seasons following surgery to his shooting wrist, relished the moment.

"It was good to be emotional," he said.

Against the Orlando Magic in Friday's home opener at AmericanAirlines Arena, more will be required, with continuity and chemistry still an issue, as well as ongoing concerns at center and point guard.

Wednesday, the lack of cohesion meant Udonis Haslem going up for an expected alley-oop opportunity when James instead was attempting to shovel a pass into the paint, or Wade and James misconnecting on what would have been a tour-de-force one-handed alley-oop slam by James.

"We have to fast-track this process every minute we have an opportunity," Spoelstra said.

For now, the offense is rudimentary, the bench rotation limited to confidence in Jones, Haslem and Eddie House, and James continues to be avoiding heavy labor with his chronically troublesome right elbow.

But after a nine-point first quarter and 30-point first half Tuesday in Boston, this was a decided step forward. Against the majority of the NBA, it won't have to be both Wade and James, but merely one or the other.

"But," Wade said, "we don't want to have to say, 'It's his turn' or 'It's my turn' or 'It's your turn.' "