James on fire as Heat extend winning run

Miami: LeBron James scored 25 points and the Miami Heat’s club-record win streak reached 17 games, matching the longest in the NBA this season, with a 102-93 home victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday.

Dwyane Wade scored 22 points while Chris Bosh contributed 16 and Ray Allen added 12 for the defending NBA champion Heat, who improved the best record in the Eastern Conference to 46-14 while dropping the 76ers to 23-38.

The Heat pulled even with an early season run by the Los Angeles Clippers for the season’s longest win streak and can seize the mark for themselves alone with a home victory Sunday against Indiana.

James, the reigning NBA Most Valuable Player, also contributed 10 rebounds and five assists for the Heat.

Thaddeus Young scored 25 points in a losing cause as Philadelphia lost for the fourth game in a row.

The 76ers led 51-47 at half-time but Miami battled back in the third quarter and led 76-75 entering the final period.

James sparked a 17-6 Heat run to open the fourth quarter and seal the triumph. He and Wade each made two lay-ups in the deciding spurt.

Miami last lost on February 1 at Indiana, and the Heat last dropped a home game on January 4 against Chicago.

Deron Williams scored 42 points and set an NBA record by making nine 3-point shots in the first half to lead the Brooklyn Nets over the Washington Wizards 95-78 on Friday.

Williams made 15-of-24 shots from the field, including his first eight 3-point attempts of the game, and finished 11-of-16 from 3-point range as the Nets improved to 36-26 while the Wizards slumped to 19-41.

The 28-year-old guard set an NBA mark for the most 3-pointers in one half, breaking the former record of eight shared by five players, including Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami’s Ray Allen.

But Williams finished one shy of the NBA record for 3-pointers in a single game, the 12 made by Kobe Bryant in 2003 and matched by Donyell Marshall in 2005, although his 11 3-pointers were a club record.

Williams sank seven 3-pointers in the opening eight minutes to serve notice he had more magic than the Wizards, who went 3-of-17 from 3-point range as a team and connected on just 36 percent from the field overall.

The Nets led by as many as 27 points on their way to snapping a three-game long streak. Reggie Evans grabbed a career-high 24 rebounds for Brooklyn.