Wade's frustration was because the Heat, with six new faces in the offense, would sometimes forget about Wade. Then he'd either get the ball late in the shot clock, or he'd force a bad shot because the ball didn't swing to him in the offense's rhythm. So he spoke to Spoelstra about the problem.

"One of the things me and coach always had before he was the head coach and before I was the face of the franchise (was) great communication," Wade said.

Wade and Spoelstra used to work on Wade's game for hours by themselves in the gym. Wade credits Spoelstra with developing his jump shot. Wade would even confide in Spoelstra during the days when Spoelstra was an assistant coach under Pat Riley and Stan Van Gundy.

"Sometimes going through a season and going through stuff you don't always want to go to the (head) coach and say different things," Wade said. "But he wants me to. So I told him some things I feel more comfortable with on the court, and he's told me some things he wants me to do as well."

HEAT 106, 76ERS 83: Mario Chalmers, the rookie second-round pick, had a franchise-record nine steals, which set the tone for an aggressive, ball-hawking Heat defense. Miami had 18 steals as a team and turned Philadelphia's 26 turnovers into 32 points.

In two home games (Miami defeated Sacramento, 103-77, last week) the Heat has never trailed, turned 52 turnovers into 73 points, and scored 86 points in the paint. But Chalmers, who played against Philadelphia's Andre Miller, was the hero Wednesday. On Friday and Saturday he gets San Antonio's Tony Parker and New Orleans' Chris Paul, respectively.

"I'm not going to be scared of anybody," Chalmers said. "I've just got to compete with them."