PHILADELPHIA – It apparently was all about winging it Friday night at Wells Fargo Center.
Earlier in the day, Takeru Kobayashi found a way to eat 337 chicken wings in a local radio promotion that packed the arena.
Then Erik Spoelstra decided to wing it in the fourth quarter, for the first time this season going with the lineup that in the 2010 offseason was projected as the Miami Heat's lineup of the future: Chris Bosh at center, Udonis Haslem at power forward, Mike Miller at small forward, Dwyane Wade at shooting guard and LeBron James at point guard.
No true point guard. No true center.
Just pure relief and a 99-79 victory Friday night over the Philadelphia 76ers.
Until Spoelstra pulled the trigger on a lineup the Heat briefly sampled in last season's playoffs, when Haslem and Miller still were recovering from injuries, the Heat looked like a team that just might make it consecutive road losses to the Milwaukee Bucks and 76ers.
Instead, James seized control of the offense and the Heat went from an eight-point lead when he was reinserted with 8:07 to play to a 23-point edge when Spoelstra finally pulled the plug on the group at the end of the staggering 15-0 run.
"That was the lineup we were all brought here to play with," Wade said after leading the Heat with 26 points. "It was the lineup we all sacrificed to play with."
For his part on the front end of the day's competitions at Wells Fargo Center, Kobayashi earned $20,000.
For their part, the Heat's winning lineup sacrificed considerable salary in the 2010 offseason to make the combination possible. The payoff came Friday.
"That was a long time coming," James said.
"It was great," Miller said. "We fed off each other."
"We all knew it was coming," Haslem said.
And, with that, with James supporting Wade with 19 points, the Heat made it consecutive routs of the emerging 76ers. Philadelphia's two losses to the Heat have come by a combined 41 points; their remaining five losses have been by 24 total points.
Reserves Thaddeus Young and Lou Williams scored 16 and 13, respectively, to lead the 76ers, while Andre Igoudala had 10 points, seven rebounds and six assists.
The Heat had only nine turnovers and a 47-38 rebounding advantage.
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