The NBA schedule can be unforgiving at times.

Sure, the docket read that the Sixers had two days off before playing just their second game after the All-Star break on Saturday.

But that likely did little to relax a struggling Sixers team with the defending-champion Miami Heat and their nine-game win streak coming to town for the first game of a back-to-back set.

That time to rest meant even less once both teams took the floor, as the Sixers were blown away in a 114-90 defeat at the Wells Fargo Center (see Instant Replay). The loss was the Sixers’ fourth in a row and dropped them to nine games below .500 at 22-31.

“That team is big-time good. They’re a great, great team,” Sixers head coach Doug Collins said of the Heat. “I don’t see any weaknesses.”

The Sixers certainly made the Eastern Conference-leading Heat (39-14) appear at least slightly vulnerable early on.

The starting backcourt of Jrue Holiday and Nick Young found a rhythm right from the opening tipoff, combining for 27 points on 12-for-16 shooting in the first half. As a whole, the Sixers moved the ball crisply to open shooters and knocked down attempts to the tune of 53.8 percent shooting in the half.