heat won 76ers at the first game of NBA

It's clearly the signature highlight so far in this Miami Heat post-season. LeBron James taking off on the fast break, reaching more than a foot above the rim, controlling a perfect lob from Mario Chalmers and delivering a powerful one-handed dunk.

Almost forgotten in that crowd-thrilling moment: That it started with defence.

Joel Anthony blocked a shot by Philadelphia's Thaddeus Young, and when Young got the ball back and tried to shoot again, Anthony erased that try as well. Dwyane Wade controlled the rebound and quickly passed to Chalmers, who in one motion sent the pinpoint feed to James for a slam that he punctuated with a long scream.

"We've been a confident bunch all year," James said.

Perhaps never more so than right now, having won 17 of 20 games since March 10 and leading the 76ers 2-0 in their Eastern Conference first-round series, which resumes in Philadelphia on Thursday night.

Miami's offence has been far from perfect. But its defence over the last seven quarters has been stifling, with Philadelphia — which raced to an early 14-point lead in Game 1 — shooting 34 per cent and getting outscored by 43 points in the last 83 minutes of the series.

Since Philadelphia had that 33-19 lead in the opening moments of the second quarter of Game 1, Andre Iguodala has shot 3 of 13, Elton Brand 4 of 12, Jrue Holiday 7 of 21, and Jodie Meeks 3 of 10. Collectively, outside the paint in this series, the Sixers have made 29 of 90 attempts.

source: google news