Chalmers gets team-record nine steals in win over Sixers

MIAMI -- Dwyane Wade sported a new game-night look, wearing a 4-year-old pair of Converse shoes and pulling his socks nearly to the top of his calves.

"I went retro," Wade said.

So did the Miami Heat, sort of. Wade scored 29 points, rookie Mario Chalmers set a franchise record with nine steals, and the Heat scored 12 straight points in the fourth quarter to pull away and beat the Philadelphia 76ers 106-83 on Wednesday night -- giving Miami its first 2-0 home start since 2004.

"We want to make this a place where teams don't want to come," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "And we want to bring the fans back. This place can be an electric building when you win and play hard and compete and show the energy and effort here at home, something clearly we did not have last year."

There were 4,500 empty seats Wednesday, in a building where sellouts have been the norm in recent seasons.

Those no-shows missed quite a show from Chalmers.

Of Chalmers' nine steals, five were quickly turned into fast-break layups and Miami scored 15 points in all off those takeaways. He set the tone for Miami on defense, and the Heat forced 26 turnovers -- the most in the NBA -- for the second time in two home games this season.

"Anytime we get a steal and a fast break, it's going to be an easy layup," Chalmers said.

Wade added seven rebounds, six assists and five steals. Michael Beasley finished with 17 points, and Shawn Marion -- playing with a hard plastic mask to protect a broken nose -- added 12 points and seven rebounds for Miami (2-2). Yakhouba Diawara scored 11 points and Udonis Haslem added 10 for the Heat.

Thaddeus Young scored 12 of his 19 points in the first quarter for Philadelphia, which got 16 points from Louis Williams and a 12-point, 12-rebound night from Elton Brand. Andre Miller finished with 11 points and six assists for the 76ers (2-3), while Andre Iguodala was held to only two points.

"In the first half we turned the ball over every chance we got," 76ers coach Maurice Cheeks said. "We didn't make shots, we turned the ball over and they got a lot of layups."

The Heat were 9-32 at home last season, but in two games in their building so far, have outscored their two foes by an average of 24.5 points and held both Sacramento and Philadelphia under 40-percent shooting.

Unlike that game against the Kings, though, this one wasn't a blowout the whole way.

Philadelphia got within nine points on three occasions in the second half, but was never able to get any closer. And playing from behind seemed to take a toll on the 76ers, who were outscored 31-20 in the final quarter.

"We kind of ran out of gas," Brand said.

With Wade more assertive offensively than usual in the opening minutes, the Heat jumped out to a quick 11-2 lead and didn't slow down much in the opening half, eventually leading by as many as 24 before settling for a 59-38 lead at the break.

The 76ers gave the ball away 17 times in the opening two quarters and Miami capitalized, holding a 14-0 edge in points off turnovers.

But in the third, the 76ers began looking inside on almost every possession and slowly chipped away. Miller had six points in a 16-2 run over a 5-minute stretch of the quarter, drawing Philadelphia within 65-56, and the Heat seemed very much on the ropes.

That didn't last long.

Wade ended the drought with a driving dunk, Haslem hit back-to-back 15-footers from straightaway, and the lead was back to 17 with 35.6 seconds remaining in the third. Philadelphia got within nine points again early in the final quarter, before Beasley and Wade combined to score the game's next 10 points and keep Miami in control until the end.

"The most impressive thing tonight wasn't getting up by 20," Wade said. "It was how we fought back when they brought it back to nine and we stopped their momentum."

Game notes
The Heat had 12 steals in the first half. Entering Wednesday, only three teams had posted a higher number in a full game so far this year. ... Heat C Mark Blount notched a season high for rebounds after only four minutes -- with two. He finished with five rebounds. ... Tim Hardaway, who was in the building Wednesday, had the former Miami franchise record for steals in a game with eight. ... Miami's football past and present were in the stands, with former Dolphins coach Don Shula and Miami Hurricanes quarterback Robert Marve in attendance.