Thursday night the HEAT had the early game vs the Philadelphia 76ers in the city of brotherly love.
Opening with the same squad🤝The 1st quarter started with the Sixers playing to their co-mvps strengths as Joel Embiid & Tyrese Maxey sparked Phillys offense to an early lead. Bam Adebayo was playing aggressively to start which held the HEAT close.
76er Center Joel Embiid looked gassed after about 7 minutes as he wasn’t running the floor on defense but had had 11 points & put a lot of pressure on the HEAT like he usually does.
The HEAT took more of a whole team approach to their offense & at times it looked like they were struggling but this HEAT team is resilient. Jaime Jaquez jr came in filling his role as a bucket getter.
It’s always a competitive match up against Philly. It started to feel like a mid April Play In qualifier as both teams are very similar & know each other well from previous playoff competition. Tyler Herro came off the bench but was in his bag early.
76ers G Tyrese Maxey couldn’t be stopped offensively since he activated to beast mode scoring 20 points off (5) 3s in the first quarter. He was playing with lots of confidence shooting the long ball & getting to the rim which controlled the offensive flow for the sixers.
It was 76ers 36, Heat 35 after the first quarter.
In the 2Q, Miami played really sloppy losing the ball & taking poor shots. The Sixers controlled the boards & got out on the fast break scoring with almost no resistance from the HEAT defensively. Miami played ok offensively, but they need to play better defensively.
Mid way thru the 2nd quarter Joel Embiid went to the locker room with an apparent injury. Go figure, that man is bubble wrapped & Philly can’t afford him to miss any more time than he already has. He returned to the bench within a few moments after leaving.
The Sixers busted the game open off too many HEAT turnovers. Philadelphias dynamic backcourt, with Maxey leading & Vj Edgecombe getting over the top of the HEAT defense was an X factor. The Sixers pushed their lead to 16 & Miami looked beat already.
Norm Powell left in the 2nd quarter & was ruled out for the rest of the game.
Couper Moorhead tweeted, “Heat getting beat 15-2 in fast-break points in the first half is not something we've seen often this year, if at all.”
The score was 76ers 73, Heat 57 at halftime. Bam Adebayo had 16 and 10. Joel Embiid had 21, and Tyrese Maxey had 20 for Philly.
In the 3Q the HEAT needed to step their game up. The Sixers dominated the heat in the first half and It would be a big challenge for Miami just to get back in the game. The HEAT were able to put a run together going through HEAT Captain Bam Adebayo’s steady shooting.
Tyler Herro finally woke up offensively as the HEAT stormed back into the game & took their first lead of the game on a 24-7 run to start the 2nd half. Soon after the HEAT took the lead, Philadelphia took it back in a game that heated up.
Bam got hot & hit 3 in a row
Miami pushed back from a 16-point halftime deficit to lead in third, but then went into the fourth quarter down 98-91.
In the 4Q both teams were getting after it in hopes to get a win.
Tyler Herro hit some clutch shots in the final minutes to put the HEAT up briefly down the final few minutes of the 4th. Although the offense was there for Miami even as limited as it can get, the defense & rebounding need to get better. Miami fell at the end from the lethal offensive combo of Embiid/Maxey & Kelly Oubre had an upper hand in rebounding, physicality & hustle to close the game out.
FINAL: HEAT 117, 76ers 124
Adebayo: 29pts, 14rebs
Herro: 25pts, 7asts
Jaquez: 19pts
Wiggins: 18pts
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