Heat Stay Hot And Roll Past 76ers, 125-98
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MIAMI (AP) — Tyler Johnson scored 24 points off the bench, and the Miami Heat never trailed in a 125-98 win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night.
Wayne Ellington made six 3-pointers for 18 points for Miami, which has won 10 of its past 11 at home. Hassan Whiteside, Dion Waiters and Goran Dragic all scored 15 for the Heat, and Whiteside also grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds.
Robert Covington scored 19 for the 76ers, who learned earlier Wednesday that center Joel Embiid will miss the remainder of the season with a left knee injury.
Richaun Holmes scored 15 and T.J. McConnell added 14 for Philadelphia, which lost its third straight.
Miami shot 54 percent and topped 120 points for the third time this season, with two of those coming against Philadelphia. The Heat also made 13 3-pointers, giving them 65 in their past five games — a first in franchise history.
The Embiid news came in the same week that a pair of All-Stars — Toronto's Kyle Lowry (wrist) and Golden State's Kevin Durant (knee) — were lost by their teams for likely the bulk of the remaining regular-season games, at least.
Lowry had wrist surgery, and Durant hurt his knee in Washington on Tuesday night.
"It's horrible," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "I hate looking at the news and seeing another player out. We're in a competitive business but you don't want to see players out."
TIP-INS
76ers: The 76ers called their first timeout just 49 seconds after tip-off, after Waiters grabbed a rebound at one end and went in for an uncontested layup at the other. ... Gerald Henderson (left hip soreness) missed the second half. ...
Heat: Miami paid tribute to the cast of "Moonlight" — the Miami-based film that won Best Picture at this year's Oscars — during a timeout in the second quarter. Some of the children involved with the film met with Heat forward Udonis Haslem pregame. ... The Heat play 10 times at home in March, with the next one being a visit from LeBron James and Cleveland on Saturday.
"SPO" HONORED
Spoelstra was the Eastern Conference coach of the month for February, his seventh time winning the monthly honor. As was the case with the first six, Spoelstra shared the credit between his staff and the players. "I think it's a John Wooden quote: It's amazing what you can accomplish when nobody cares who gets the credit. That's the way this staff is," Spoelstra said.
REVOLVING DOOR
Because of injuries and trades, the 76ers used four starting lineups in four games against Miami this season. In all, 10 different 76ers started at some point against Miami — with only Henderson starting all four times. Dario Saric and Jahlil Okafor started for the first time in a 76ers-Heat game this season on Wednesday.
UP NEXT
76ers: Host New York on Friday. Both 76ers-Knicks games this season were one-point decisions.
Heat: Visit Orlando on Friday. Road teams are 3-0 in the Heat-Magic series so far this season.
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