MIAMI -- Tuesday's Miami Heat game versus the Philadelphia 76ers had all the makings of a trap game.
LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers make their long-awaited visit to AmericanAirlines Arena on Christmas Day but first there was business to take care of against the lowly Sixers.
Surely the Heat wouldn't struggle against an opponent who has been the laughingstock of the NBA with just three wins in their first 27 games. Not with Dwyane Wade returning from a one-game absence to help build off their win against the Boston Celtics on Sunday.
Miami looked good at the start with Mario Chalmers leading the team in the first quarter with nine points and Wade taking over with 11 second-quarter points. They were up by as many as 23 points in the third quarter before everything imploded on them.
A 27-9 Sixers run to close the quarter pulled them to within 78-73 and the Heat's meager nine points in the final quarter weren't nearly enough -- even against such a weak opponent -- to hold them off down the stretch.
"We really struggled getting into offense," said head coach Erik Spoelstra. "They stepped up their pressure. We didn't have a lot of answers for the pressure -- just to get it into something where we could get to the next layer of offense. Once we started turning it over, it became a landslide from there. We did not get to anything comfortable and you have to credit them."
Both Spoelstra and Dwyane Wade refused to acknowledge that the team let their guard down when they had their large lead in the second half. Whether they were caught looking ahead to their next opponent the Cleveland Cavaliers in a nationally televised game on Christmas or not, they allowed the Sixers to control the game over the course of the rest of the game and it was an unacceptable outcome for a team desperate to collect wins after struggling with so many injuries.
"You have to credit their defense," Spoelstra said after dismissing the notion that the Heat were distracted by James' impending return to Miami. "They really threw everything at us."
The Heat still had several chances to take the lead back in crunch time but misfired on four 3-point attempts. Wade only had six points in the second half, including back-to-back jumpers with three minutes remaining as they tried desperately to re-claim the lead. Unfortunately it would be the team's last field goals of the game with seven missed shots in the closing moments of the game.
"Yeah, it doesn't get any worse than this," said Wade after being asked how frustrated he was after the loss. "It's a game of runs. We had an unbelievable first half and they had an unbelievable second half. They found a way to beat us, so the level of frustration will not be more than this one."
And as for what was going through his mind at the moment?
"It's not made for TV," said Wade with a blank, expressionless face.
He would then laugh off any suggestion that the team was distracted by the Christmas Day game.
"Us looking ahead?" said Wade. "13-15 coming into this game, we're not looking ahead. We lost the game. They played very well."
With a golden opportunity to enter their heavily-anticipated game against the Cavaliers with momentum now lost, the Heat must rally together -- likely without Chris Bosh for a seventh straight game -- to face a considerably stronger opponent. With Tuesday's blowout victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Cavaliers have now won four of their last five games and have gone 12-3 after beginning the season 5-7.
They will be heavily favored to beat a shorthanded Heat team that's clearly struggling, but then again who would have figured the Sixers could have pulled out this win? There is nothing like the drama of unscripted sports and the Heat on this forgettable night were the victims.
You can follow Surya Fernandez on Twitter @SuryaHeatNBA or email him at SuryaFoxSports@gmail.com.
