The Philadelphia 76ers (4-23) have pulled off the upset over Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat (13-16). In a game where the Sixers trailed 32-19 after the first quarter, and 57-42 at the half, Philadelphia was able to outscore their opponent by a 19-point margin in the latter-half of the contest to eek-out a 91-87 victory.
Point-guard Michael Carter-Williams and power-forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute provided much of the offense for the Sixers tonight, respectively scoring 20 and 19 points. Nerlens Noel hit the double-digit mark in rebounds (5 defensive, 5 offensive) in 29 minutes of work, however going 0-5 from the field and 1-4 from the line yielded him just one scored point.
Small-forward Robert Covington hit four key free-throws in the final third of the fourth quarter to help seal the Sixers just their fourth win of the season. After subbing-in for Jerami Grant, who had 11 points and 7 rebounds tonight, with 4:47 to go in the fourth, Covington was immediately fouled after securing an offensive rebound off of a missed-shot by Mbah a Moute. Hitting both free throws, Covington expanded the Sixers' lead to 87-82.
Dwyane Wade hit a 20-foot jumper with three minutes to go, shrinking the Sixers' lead to 87-86. Mbah a Moute came up with a huge driving layup to give his team a three-point lead on the next possession. Except for a made free-throw by Heat power-forward Chris Andersen with 2:19 to go, the game would go back-and-forth with nine combined missed shots from both clubs. Covington was able to finish-off the Heat after extending the lead to four points, 91-87, with just seven seconds to go.
Despite dressing the league-minimum eight players for the game, Philadelphia had enough stamina to out-rebound, out-steal, out-shoot, and out-block the Heat. Carter-Williams led the Sixers in points (20), assists (5) and steals (6), which played a huge role in giving the team their first consecutive win streak of the season. Tonight's win also provided the Sixers' their first win streak in Miami, after having lost 13-straight at the AmericanAirlines Arena prior.
The Sixers will head to Portland to take on the Trail Blazers Friday night. Tip-off is set for 10:00 pm EST, and the game can be seen on CSN and heard on 97.5 The Fanatic.
Matt Rappa (@mattrappa) is a contributor to Sixerdelphia.com.
