PHILADELPHIA -- On a night when either team might have been able to win for losing, the Miami Heat beat the Philadelphia 76ers 105-101 on Wednesday in the final game of the season for both teams.

Forward Michael Beasley scored a season-high 34 points and forward Henry Walker hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with nine seconds left for Miami (37-45).

Despite winning its season finale Miami finished with the NBA's 10th-worst record, one game behind Brooklyn, which topped Orlando. Had the Heat finished with the 11th-worst mark, they would have had to cede their first-round pick in June's draft to Philadelphia, under the conditions of a prior trade.

Rookie guard JaKarr Sampson finished with a career-high 22 points for Philadelphia (18-64). It is the Sixers' worst record since 1995-96, when they also went 18-64.

Philadelphia, which started the season 0-17, dropped its last 10 games of the season.

Sampson's steal and dunk with 23.7 seconds left capped a 7-0 flurry and gave the Sixers a 101-100 lead.

Walker, who finished with 21 points, then took a pass from Beasley on the right wing and buried his go-ahead 3-pointer.

After Sixers forward Robert Covington missed a 3-point attempt, Miami guard Tyler Johnson converted a fast-break dunk to close out the scoring.

Playing the game with such lottery implications, Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said beforehand, is "probably (one of) the worst scenarios you can be in as a coach." He vowed that his team would be "true to the competition," though he rested guards Goran Dragic, Mario Chalmers and Dwyane Wade, as well as center Chris Andersen and forward Luol Deng.

Center Hassan Whiteside (right hand laceration) also sat out, and the Heat started a lineup that included guard Zoran Dragic and Beasley for the first time this season, Johnson for the second time and forward James Ennis for the third.

Sixers coach Brett Brown also said before tipoff he was uncomfortable with the ramifications swirling around the game.

"I just try to avoid everything and just go coach the guys," he said. "That's all I know and that has been going for a while. So you're going to go out on the court and I'll take the people that are healthy and then coach 'em up and try to put them in a position where they can play well."

The Sixers were without center/forward Nerlens Noel (right ankle sprain), guard Ish Smith (groin strain), center Furkan Aldemir (right foot plantar fasciitis), forward Luc Mbah a Moute (left shoulder strain) and guard Isaiah Canaan (right foot sprain).

Rookie center Joel Embiid, who missed the entire season following foot surgery, also drew up a play for Philadelphia during a third-quarter timeout.

Miami moved to a 29-21 lead late in the first quarter behind 10 points from Zoran Dragic. The Sixers reeled off 10 straight points, including two 3-pointers from guard/forward Hollis Thompson, to go up 31-29 early in the second quarter.

The Heat outscored the Sixers 33-11 to take a 62-42 lead with 1:47 left in the quarter. Ennis had 10 points and Beasley eight in that stretch.

By halftime Miami was up 64-46, and Beasley had 16 points. Walker added 15 and Ennis and Dragic 13 each.

Thompson led Philadelphia with 12.

The Sixers then limited the Heat to 5-for-18 shooting while outscoring them 25-11 in the third quarter, cutting the gap to 75-71. Thompson had seven points in the period for Philadelphia.

The Sixers continued their rally into the fourth quarter, taking their first lead of the second half, 84-83, on a dunk by forward Jerami Grant with 6:41 left.

NOTES: Sixers principal owner Josh Harris said before the game that this season his team "made progress against (its) long-term goals" -- i.e., to become one of the NBA's elite clubs. "The bottom is behind us, and we're on the way up," Harris said. "I expect to get bett