The Sixers dusted off some early-season lineups, introduced a couple of new ones, and retired a few old ones.

Green was listed as "did not play - coach's decision" while Dalembert played 20 minutes, 32 seconds. Kapono scored 17 points in 24:43, starting the second half in place of Lou Williams.

Although the Sixers (23-43) trailed by as many as 17 points in the third quarter and 16 in the fourth, for the majority of the game, they kept within 10 points of the Heat (35-32).

The difference between these two teams is, essentially, Miami guard Dwyane Wade, who scored 38 points and made at least a half dozen highlight-reel passes.

Whenever things began looking a little sticky during Wade's bench time, Miami coach Erik Spoelstra would send him to the scorer's table, pushing the game back out of reach.

Swingman Andre Iguodala said the Sixers did not struggle against Wade one-on-one, saying they were beaten via the pick-and-roll, which Wade tends to run off in pendulum fashion, one after another.

But the truth was, Wade hurt the Sixers everywhere: in transition, in the halfcourt, with the ball, and without the ball.

"We tried our best to put two on the ball on him," Jordan said. "We just couldn't put a handle on him."

Tonight's loss was the Sixers' fourth in a row and ninth in their last 10 games.

"Your guess is as good as mine," Green said of his 'DNP.' "But I was happy to see some of my teammates get some good playing time. J.K., I was happy for him to get out there after sitting for so long and having a good game like he did. Unfortunately, it was tough that we lost. As far as my playing goes, I didn't know anything."

After the game, Jordan said he sat Green to free up playing time for others.

"It felt great; I'm not even going to lie," said Kapono, who hadn't hit a three pointer since Dec. 31. "It [stinks] to lose, we could have played a little bit better down the stretch, but me personally, yeah, it felt good. I was a little shocked I started the third. . . . He wanted to change the lineup for some reason and he threw me in."

Meeks played 8:40, finishing 0 for 1; Smith played 12:22, finishing 2 for 5.

"I didn't know they were going to get that many minutes, but they came in and they were ready to play and that is a good thing," said Iguodala, who scored 15 points on 5-for-15 shooting. "I was surprised to see Jodie get in there early. The first play he was out of sync, but then he settled down."

Contact staff writer Kate Fagan at 856-779-3844 or kfagan@phillynews.com.