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The Philadelphia 76ers have been one of the surprise teams this season. On Friday they had a chance to show that they were for real with a home game against Eastern Conference favorite Miami. It did not go well. Dwayne Wade scored 26 points and Lebron James added 19 to lead the Heat to a rather easy 99-79 win.

The game was tight for three quarters but a 15-0 spurt in the fourth by the Heat, led by Lebron at the point, busted the game open. “When he’s out there and we’re all on the same page on what we’re running offensively,” Wade said, “it makes us a dynamic team.”

“Tonight was probably the best game from start to finish, as far as playing hard and communicating on both ends, that we had all season,” James said. “So it was a good win.”

The Sixers were led by Thaddeus Young with 16 points as they watched their four game win streak end. “They started to crank it up and we took a few bad shots,” Young said. “We went cold and didn’t play together. We knew there would be some rough times, but we’ll be OK. We know we’re a good team. There won’t be any heads down.”

In other Eastern Conference action on Friday, the Celtics beat the Knicks in Boston 91-89. Paul Pierce had 30 points to lead the Celtics. Ray Allen scored 14 including 9 in the fourth quarter for the C’s.

“I just said, `Guys, our defense is bailing us out. This is going to be a defensive win,”’ Celtics Coach Doc Rivers said. “You rarely say you `steal a game’ at home, but that’s how it felt.”

Kevin Garnett finished with 15 points also for Boston who have won seven of the last eight.

Carmelo Anthony led the Knicks with 26 points and Tyson Chandler chipped in 20 for New York. The Knicks have lost 11 of 13. “They were doubling and doing a good job. That’s why other guys had to step up and make shots.” New York coach Mike D’Antoni said about his team’s final two shots, which could have tied or won the game.

“It’s good when you find way to win,” Pierce said. “Things really weren’t going our way.”

In Orlando, the Magic held off a furious fourth quarter rally from Cleveland to win 102-94. Dwight Howard had 19 points and 16 rebounds to lead Orlando. Jason Richardson also had 19 and Hedo Turkoglu added 18 for the home standing Magic, who have won two straight after losing four in a row.

“We did good job of spacing the floor out, moving the ball and getting each other involved,” Richardson said. “It was really good for us tonight. Everybody was involved, did a good job on both ends and got the win.”

Alonzo Gee led the Cavs with 20 and Kyrie Irving added 18.