Heat's Wade too much for Sixers to handle

There should be some better reward for the 76ers than their imminent dismissal from the NBA playoffs, the postseason tourney that will continue for nearly another two months with barely a recollection they were once involved.

Teams don't get what they deserve at this time of the year, however. They get what they are able to take and, after three games of their opening-round series against the Miami Heat, the Sixers haven't been able to take nearly enough. The good news, for what it's worth, is they don't have to take much more.

The tough part is they were hanging around enough to win two of the three games thus far, but hanging around is a long way from winning, and now they could be swept away by a Sunday loss.

There were moments early in Thursday's 100-94 loss when it appeared the Sixers could - if not take control of the game - at least build a large enough lead to make the Heat more uncomfortable than they had been so far in the series.

Aside from the opening quarter of the first game, when the Sixers rang up 31 points and then were promptly punched in the nose the following quarter, there hasn't been that much discomfort for Miami. Annoyance, certainly, because the Sixers are an annoyingly persistent little team. Frustration, every now and then, because even dream teams can have fitful nights.

But real discomfort, when the game seemed perilously close to getting away? No, not really. The Sixers had that opportunity on Thursday night, however. They built a 26-16 lead late in the first period and then kept doing all the things that got them that lead.

They kicked the ball successfully to the shooters, ran neat and effective pick-and-pop jumpers for Elton Brand, and they took great care of the ball. If this matchup presents a lot of questions for any opponent lining up against the Miami Heat, the Sixers brought a lot of the answers. The defense was good, the calls were going their way, and if the second quarter could have approximated the first, there was the possibility of holding a halftime lead that would make Miami have to extend itself.

There was one answer they didn't have, though, and it was a costly oversight. There wasn't much they could do with Dwyane Wade.

"[Dwyane had an] attack mentality right from the beginning," Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said. "Getting to the rim, putting the ball on the floor, turning the corner on pick-and-rolls. A lot of what he did opened up because of our execution, but his aggressive mentality is something that kept us in it."

LeBron James was just all right in the first half, Chris Bosh was shaky with the ball, and the rest of the Heat players were mostly running around without much purpose. But every time Miami needed a basket to stop a Sixers run or to start one of their own, there was Wade and there went the hope for building a wall too high to climb.

"We've tried to do as good a job as we can getting back to defend the paint on [Dwyane] and LeBron, and keep them off the free-throw line, but that's an incredible chore," Sixers coach Doug Collins said. "They've got a lot of ways they can go. And Dwyane Wade is such a smart player, he can pick and choose what he thinks his team needs on a given night."

On this given night, what the Heat needed wasn't the Wade that gets his teammates involved and does all the little things. They need the Wade that gets himself involved and does the big things.

"He's so quick to the ball," Collins said.

By the half, Wade had 18 points, and the Sixers' lead had diminished from double digits to just two points, 52-50. During his 12-point second quarter, Wade got to the basket and either put the ball through or got to the line. He backed in and made a delicate fadeaway off the glass to cut the margin to three and then finished the half with a reverse layup that turned into a three-point play.

It wasn't even what he did, although that was plenty. It was that his teammates needed every bit of it from him to keep from letting the game slide deeply in the Sixers' favor. This wasn't going to be one of those nights in which Miami played with unconscious greatness. It was going to be a grinding win, and Wade made it happen.

The third quarter was even, and the Sixers went into the final period holding the same two-point lead. What the Heat did then wasn't pretty. It was just efficient. They turned up the defense, and suddenly the Sixers couldn't find a scorer. At the other end, it was Wade again, cranking out numbers that would read like this when he was finished: 32 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists, and 12-of-12 shooting from the line. When he drove the lane, pulled up, and delivered a perfect pass to James, streaking in along the baseline, Miami had a 10-point lead with less than five minutes to play, and that was that.

Ten points wouldn't turn out to be the difference. There were details left to fill into the box score, but nothing more than that. And whatever the final score was going to be, the difference on this night wasn't measured in points. It was head to foot Dwyane Wade.