The 76ers have proven they can compete for long stretches with the Miami Heat. Now the next step is doing it for four quarters.

In Friday’s 99-79 loss to the Heat, the Sixers trailed by just four points heading into the final period.

That’s when Miami turned it on, outscoring the Sixers 32-16 in the final period and keeping considerable distance between the two teams.

The Sixers have now lost twice to the Heat this season, by 21 and 20 points. In both games, the Heat settled matters in the final period.

During the Heat’s 113-92 victory on Jan, 21 in Miami, the winners used a 32-23 fourth quarter advantage.

So in two fourth quarters, the Sixers have been outscored by 25 points.

The assessment of Friday?

“Those guys cranked it up a little on us and forced us into taking a few bad shots, but we did just go cold,” Sixers coach Doug Collins said. “We have to find a way to make shots and we couldn’t do it tonight.”

The Sixers shot 7 for 19 in the fourth quarter (36.8 percent) but it looked worse compared to the Heat, who were 12 for 16 (75 percent). The Heat hit all three of their treys in the quarter and were 5 of 6 from the line.

The problem with the Heat is that it’s not just LeBron James and Dwyane Wade who can apply the dagger.

Mike Miller, a terrific player before his career has recently been marred by injuries, scored 10 points in the  fourth quarter. Miller was 4 for 4 from the field and 2 for 2 from beyond the arc.

In fact James only scored two points in the final period, but he had six assists.

And Wade scored nine of his 26 points in the final period.

It’s interesting that before and after the game that Miami talked about how impressive the Sixers balance is.

Yet in this game, Miami had six players scoring in double figures compared to five with the Sixers.

Instead of being predictable with a two-man game between James and Wade, the Heat have other weapons to throw at teams.

As for the Sixers, this ended the longest homestand of the season with a 5-2 mark.

It’s too simplistic to say they can’t beat the Heat, although there also isn’t hard evidence that they can.

So much went the Sixers way in this game, yet they still lost by 20. For instance, the Sixers had 18 fast break points compared to five in the earlier loss. And the Sixers committed just six turnovers. (The fact that Miami had just eight turnovers, was  a major factor in the win).

Actually the Sixers can blame this loss on the Milwaukee Bucks.

Miami squandered an 18-point lead and lost at Milwaukee, 105-97 on Wednesday.

The Heat had a long practice in Philadelphia on Thursday and were truly focused.

So the Sixers hope they can learn from this, but they can’t keep their collective heads too low.

That’s because after Saturday’s game in Atlanta, they have home matchups next week with the Los Angeles Lakers, San Antonio Spurs and Los Angeles Clippers.

It’s a critical juncture so the Sixers have to put the Miami loss behind them and hope that the gap can be closed the next time they meet the Heat, March 16 at the Wells Fargo Center.

The theme of the Miami Heat after today’s shootaround at Temple University is how much respect they have for the 76ers.

Despite a 113-92 win over the Sixers in Miami on Jan. 21, the Heat have been impressed with the Sixers and rightly so since both enter tonight’s game at the Wells Fargo Center with identical 16-6 records.

All-star guard Dwyane Wade, who didn’t play in the Jan. 21 game due to an ankle injury, says he feels the Sixers are competing at the same level he saw during last year’s postseason.

Even though Miami won in five games, the Sixers were competitive in all but one of the games.

“They are a very confident bunch, have great leadership from a coaching standpoint,” Wade said. “They are that same mentality as last season and they have gotten off to a  great start.”

Wade says the Sixers balance and consistency are their greatest traits.

“When you have seven guys in double figures and the style they play, equal opportunity offense, they are consistent,” he said. “They are the Denver Nuggets of the East and a dangerous team.

A key to the Miami win last month was that the Heat limited the Sixers to just five fast break points, yet Wade said the main focus will be on taking care of the ball.

“The key is not turning the ball over,” said Wade, whose team committed 11 turnovers in the earlier win. “If you don’t do that, then you can’t stop their transition game.”

He also feels the Sixers are more than just a running team.

“That was the knock on Pihlly that they were great in transition and not in the half court,” Wade said. “But now with the continuity of guys playing together for a while, they are a lot better in the half court.”

And better overall.

“No question when you think of top teams in the league, you have to think about Philly,” Wade said. “They will put a lot of pressure on you and come to play hard every night. We understand that.”

For Marc Narducci's earlier preview of Friday's Sixers-Heat match-up, click here.

Video: The 76ers host the Miami Heat on Friday. Can the Sixers' NBA-best defense slow LeBron James and the Heat? The Inquirer's Marc Narducci and CineSport's Brian Clark discuss the matchup.

It’s not often that a coach comes to the defense of Philly fans. However, this is exactly what 76ers associate coach Michael Curry did on Thursday.

Curry, who took the Detroit Pistons to the playoffs in 2009, spent 11 seasons in the NBA, four of them as president of the NBA Players Association. Whenever Curry – in his second year as an assistant with the Sixers – visited here as a player or coach, it struck him that the fans were more knowledgeable and less curmudgeon and angry, as depicted by the national media.

You know the stories: booing Santa; popping Jimmy Johnson with snowballs.

“Fans here get a bad rap. Any time you visited Philly, the thing you always heard was that the Philly fans were really hard. But being here these two years I realize that Philly fans are very knowledgeable. They want to win and they want to win in the worst way.”

He might be on to something. Think about it. When Eagles fans were calling for Andy Reid’s firing, it was mostly because he’s been here 13 years and has nothing to show for it in terms of Super Bowls. Eagles fans want Reid Gone probably because of the 11 Super Bowl victories owned by the NFC East – and it could be 12 if the Giants win at Indy this weekend – and the barren trophy case over at Novacare Complex.

“You can’t fool Philly fans - you can’t fool them,” Curry said. “You can promote one thing and say one thing but if they don’t see it they don’t believe it. They believe what their eyes show them. They have to see it with their eyes. And if you show them with your play, then you will make them believers.

“They are not going to believe it just because someone writes it or that’s how it should be or that’s how you’re projecting it to be,” Curry continued. “They don’t move on those things. They move on what they see and what they’ve seen these last two years is a team that plays together, plays extremely hard every night and plays to win.”

Curry pointed out when Allen Iverson was here he played alongside a bunch of workmen players like fellow assistant Aaron McKie and George Lynch, Iverson was the only star playing alongside guys who were “just grunt guys that played extremely hard every night.

“They have been great fans for us the last two years, and I think it’s because they like the fact that our guys play hard every night.”

So how much different are these 76ers when they have center Spencer Hawes in the lineup rather than on the bench?

Drastically.

Sixers coach Doug Collins has been pointing out the offensive slippage of his team to the press corps. And if you take a look at some of the Sixers’ numbers as Hawes mends from his strained left Achilles’ tendon injury, you kind of get the picture of what he’s talking about.

The biggest differences are in scoring numbers and shooting percentages with some key player in the rotation.

As a whole, it goes without saying that they are not as good, averaging just 90.7 points in Hawes’ absence as opposed to the 102.6 they have put up with him healthy and on the floor.

Taken individually, the guy who looks like he’s missing Hawes’ presence the most is reserve guard Lou Williams. In the 12 games with Hawes, Williams is averaging 17.3 points per game and making 45 percent (68 of 151) of his field goals.

But take the big man out of the mix and his numbers come down sharply. Williams has averaged 13.0 points per game without Hawes on the floor. His field goal percentage? A measly 36.5 percent (38 of 104).

Jrue Holiday is missing him, too. With Hawes, Holiday is averaging 15.2 points. Without him, Williams averages 13.0. However, it’s his shooting percentage which, while not as grand as Williams’, falls noticeably from 45.0 (72 of 160) to 40.3 percent (48 of 119).

Andre Iguodala’s play has improved – he’s registered a triple-double in Hawes’ absence – but he’s also having more trouble with his shot without Hawes. Iguodala averages 14.7 playing alongside Hawes, 10.4 without him.

Of course, if the team is scoring fewer points it stands to reason that the point totals would decline. However, the shooting percentages seem to plummet. Iguodala’s field goal percentage drops from 47.7 percent (61 of 128) to 41.2 percent (35 of 85) sans Hawes. Iguodala has been lethal from behind the 3-point line with Hawes (43.5 percent), connecting on 20 of 46 treys. Meanwhile, he’s shooting a pretty pedestrian 5 of 21 (23.8 percent) as Hawes continues to mend.

The saving grace for Sixers continues to be their play at the defensive end, where they are actually slightly better without Hawes. In the nine games without Hawes, the Sixers have held opponents to 86.3 points. With him they allow just 85.9.

The Orlando Magic are 12-8, but have struggled recently as they head into Monday’s matchup at the Wells Fargo Center against the 76ers.

Sunday’s 106-85 loss to the visiting Indiana Pacers was the Magic’s fourth in the past five games.

To top it off the Magic will be without point guard Jameer Nelson, who missed Sunday’s game and won’t play Monday due to concussion-like symptoms. A Magic official said that beyond Monday, Nelson remained day to day.

In the loss to Indiana, the Magic led by three at halftime, only to be outscored by 24 in the final two quarters.

Chris Duhon stated in place of Nelson and had 14 points and five assists, but also committed four turnovers.

Dwight Howard had 24 points, shooting 10 for 13 from the field, but only 4 of 15 from the foul line.

Think the Sixers might foul him if the game is close in the fourth quarter?

This is a Magic team that hasn’t enjoyed the best of weeks. It began last Monday when they scored 56 points in a loss to Boston. Then on Thursday the Magic squandered a 27-point lead in another defeat to the Celtics. The next night they lost to New Orleans, which was 3-15 at the time. That was the game Nelson got hurt.

It’s never easy beating a team with Howard, but one has to admit that the Sixers are facing a Magic team that is playing its worst basketball of the young season.

An Orlando Magic official confirmed earlier reports that point guard Jameer Nelson of St. Joseph’s University and Chester High won’t play against the Sixers.

Nelson, who also didn’t play in Sunday’s home game against the Indiana Pacers, is suffering from concussion-like symptoms.

He was injured in Friday’s loss to New Orleans.

Nelson is averaging 8.1 points, and 5.1 assists this season.

The Magic official said nobody else has been ruled out against the Sixers at this time. Beyond Monday, the official said that Nelson is day to day.

Indiana beat Orlando, 106-85, dropping the Magic to 12-8.  

The numbers come at you so quickly, they are sometimes difficult to decipher. This season the 76ers are 10-2 at home following Saturday’s 95-74 win over the Detroit Pistons.

Each of the 10 wins has been by double figures and the average margin of victory has been 21 points.

Both home losses were in overtime, to the Denver Nuggets and New Jersey Nets. So there is not much separating the Sixers from being 12-0 at home.

To demonstrate how much progress the Sixers have made, the quality of the opposition which has invaded the Wells Fargo Center has been questioned, and rightly so.

It used to be that the fans would be satisfied against a win over anybody, but the Sixers are past that point.

So in looking at their 10 home victories, only two have cone over teams with winning records, a 96-86 win over Indiana and a 90-76 triumph over Atlanta.

The Sixers have two home wins each against Detroit and Washington, which are a combined 8-33.

Yet despite this week where Orlando, Chicago and Miami will come to town, Sixers coach Doug Collins isn’t apologizing for the home record or the competition to date.

“You play the teams in front of you,” Collins said. “We’ve got 10 home wins. It doesn’t matter if you get them in April, February, March, doesn’t matter.”

And apparently it doesn’t matter who they are against.

Collins doesn’t have blinders on. He understands what is coming up, but before the game he talked about the parity in the NBA, saying that other than the top two or three teams, little separates many of the others.

One could beg to differ with that assessment since there are a few teams at the bottom who will help most opponents' home or away record.

Yet Collins talks about the task at hand and he says it’s imperative that the Sixers keep it up, regardless of the opponent.

“Win at home and that’s what we’ve got to try to keep doing,” he said. “We know we’ve got some great teams coming in. We’ve just got to be ready to play.”

That is the key. Beat the teams that are supposed to be defeated and fight the others as hard as possible.

In looking at it, the Sixers (14-6) have lost to just two teams that have losing records – New York and New Jersey.

Few would have thought that New York would be 7-13 at this point, while New Jersey has actually exceeded expectations by being 7-13 as well.

Good teams will always lose to opponents with inferior talent.

How can one explain Washington defeating Oklahoma City?

It’s just that the most successful teams limit this type of unforeseen damage.

So far the Sixers have done this, which is why they have gotten off to such a good start.

In short, they have done what good teams have to do. Now we will see this week if they are able to take it up a notch, against a noticeably different home schedule.

Video: An early lead allowed the Sixers to rest some key players during their 89-72 win over the Charlotte Bobcats on Friday. John Mitchell of the Inquirer reports from the Wells Fargo Center.