Dwyane Wade never had a chance to play at the Spectrum, which will be gone by year's end. Unfortunately for the Miami Heat and their new all-time leading scorer, there are no plans to get rid of the Wachovia Center.
Coming off perhaps his best game of what has been an outstanding season, Wade looks to help the Heat earn a rare win at Philadelphia when they face the 76ers on Sunday.Wade topped Alonzo Mourning on Miami's all-time scoring list Saturday, matching a career high with 50 points while adding 10 rebounds and nine assists in a 140-129 triple-overtime win over Utah.
"It feels great," said Wade, who passed Mourning on a dunk with 11:05 left in the third quarter and also set new personal bests in field goals made (19) and attempted (39). "I have a lot of people that have helped me get to this point."
Wade has 9,489 points in 380 games. Mourning scored 9,459 in 593.
The All-Star guard is having a career season, posting an NBA-leading 30.0 points and 7.7 assists per game to help put Miami (36-29) in position to return to the playoffs after a one-year absence.
Wade is averaging 25.2 points - slightly better than his career average of 25.0 - in 10 road games against the 76ers (32-31), but the Heat have lost nine of those contests.
Miami has dropped 15 of 17 in Philadelphia after winning its first six games at the Wachovia Center, the Sixers' home since the start of the 1996-97 season.
Philadelphia played one last game at the Spectrum - scheduled for demolition by the end of the year - on Friday night, paying tribute to past Sixer greats such as Julius Erving in a 104-101 win over Chicago.
It was Philadelphia's first victory at the 42-year-old venue since beating Miami 90-86 on April 17, 1996.
The latest matchup in this series at Philadelphia features two teams fighting for playoff position in the Eastern Conference. The Sixers, in seventh place, are three games behind the fifth-place Heat.
Philadelphia has won two straight and three of four, thanks partly to a couple of Wade-like performances from Thaddeus Young.
The second-year forward has set a career high in scoring each of the last two games, finishing with 31 against the Bulls two days after a 29-point effort in a 115-106 win over Toronto. Young has scored at least 20 in three straight games after doing so nine times in his previous 60.
"He's just growing every game," Sixers coach Tony DiLeo said. "He has the desire to be a great player. His shot is just getting better and better. When he is hitting his outside shot, he's so hard to guard because guys have to get on him and he's so quick getting to the basket. ... He just finds a way to help you win."
Young was held to 10 points in Philadelphia's last matchup with Miami, a 97-91 loss Feb. 21. The Heat are 2-1 against the Sixers this season after losing the previous five matchups.
