Heat defense continues dominant playoff display, other takeaways from Game 1 win vs. 76ers
Five takeaways from the top-seeded Miami Heat’s 106-92 win over the fourth-seeded Philadelphia 76ers on Monday night at FTX Arena. The Heat leads the best-of-7 second-round series 1-0, with Game 2 set for Wednesday in Miami:
The Heat’s defense put together another masterful performance to begin the second round.
After shutting down a quality Atlanta Hawks offense in the first round, the Heat’s defense suffocated a Joel Embiid-less 76ers offense Monday. The All-Star center and MVP candidate didn’t play because of a right orbital fracture and mild concussion, and he’s also expected to miss Game 2.
In the Game 1 loss, the 76ers shot just 43 percent from the field and a dismal 6 of 34 (17.6 percent) from three-point range. Philadelphia also committed 15 turnovers that Miami turned into 22 points.
Things were especially bad for Philadelphia in the second half. After shooting 42.2 percent from the field in the first half to enter halftime with a one-point lead, the 76ers shot 38.5 percent from the field and 3 of 17 (17.6 percent) from deep in the second half.
Similar to the Heat’s defensive strategy against Hawks guard Trae Young in the first round, the Heat pressured 76ers star guard James Harden all the way down the court. Miami sent multiple defenders his way throughout the night to force the ball out of his hands and close potential driving lanes.
Heat veteran forward P.J. Tucker spent most of the game on Harden, who finished with just 16 points on 5-of-13 shooting from the field and 2-of-7 shooting on threes, five rebounds and five turnovers in 35 minutes.
“I think I could be a little more aggressive,” Harden said. “They did a really good job of showing their bodies, crowding the ball. We’ll watch film and find ways to get better.”
Of defending Harden, Tucker said: “They need him to be him. It’s my job to try to make it tough. But he’s going to score and he’s going to take shots and be aggressive, and I’m just going to try to make it tough.”
76ers guard Tyrese Maxey was limited to 19 points on 6-of-15 shooting from the field and 1-of-6 shooting on threes.
Forward Tobias Harris was the only player on the 76ers’ roster who had an efficient night with 27 points on 11-of-18 shooting from the field. The rest of the team combined to shoot just 37.7 percent.
The offensive struggles were just too much for the 76ers to overcome, as their one-point halftime lead turned into a 21-point hole in the fourth quarter. The lopsided score allowed Heat star Jimmy Butler to sit out the entire fourth quarter, which was welcome with Butler battling right knee inflammation in recent days.
When it was over, the 76ers finished with an underwhelming offensive rating of 97.9 points scored per 100 possessions that would have been the worst in the NBA among teams in the regular season. Philadelphia is 1-10 this season when posting an offensive rating worse than 100 points scored per 100 possessions
“I thought their physicality affected us tonight,” 76ers coach Doc Rivers said. “I thought they got into us and that had an impact.”
The Heat’s defense has been the story of its playoff run, so far. Miami has allowed just 103 points per 100 possessions through its first six postseason games, which is the NBA’s second-best defensive rating in the playoffs behind only the Milwaukee Bucks.
Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro were shaky offensively for most of the first round, but they were the Heat’s two best offensive players in Game 1 of the second round.
With starting point guard Kyle Lowry missing his third straight game with a strained left hamstring and Butler totaling an inefficient 15 points on 16 shots, the Heat’s offense needed big nights from Adebayo and Herro.
Adebayo and Herro didn’t disappoint, combining for an ultra-efficient 49 points on 17-of-27 (63 percent) shooting.
Adebayo finished with 24 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field, 12 rebounds and four assists. He averaged 12.4 points on 52.4 percent shooting from the field and eight rebounds in the first round.
“It was just his activity, his relentlessness, his assertiveness,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of Adebayo. “Our guys were finding him in the paint and then when the ball was up there, he was just going after it really trying to work to get us extra possessions. It’s all those extra efforts that really can make a difference.”
Herro ended the night with a team-high 25 points on 9-of-17 shooting from the field and 4-of-6 shooting on threes, one rebound and seven assists. He averaged 12.8 points on 39.1 percent shooting from the field and 17.9 percent shooting on threes in the first round.
“I think it was just a matter of time before he was going to get into his rhythm,” Spoelstra said of Herro. “He’s a great player. He’s so skilled.”
Adebayo and Herro’s performances were needed on Monday, with the rest of the Heat’s roster combining to shoot just 35.4 percent from the field.
The Heat’s offense had some rough moments along the way, especially late in the first half when it scored just four points over the final 5:59 of the second quarter. With Philadelphia turning to zone defense for much of the second quarter, Miami shot 8 of 20 (40 percent) from the field and 1 of 6 (16.7 percent) from three-point range while committing five turnovers in the period.
Miami scored just 86.4 points per 100 half-court plays in Game 1, which is only in the NBA’s 19th percentile when compared to all playoff games this season.
But the Heat was able to overcome its issues on that end of the court with another great defensive display. Miami is 18-1 this season when allowing fewer than 100 points per 100 possessions.
Playoff games are won in the margins, and the Heat won Game 1 behind a dominant performance on the offensive glass and by capitalizing on the 76ers’ mistakes.
With the 76ers missing the rebounding presence of Embiid, the Heat finished with a 15-9 edge in offensive rebounds to outscore the 76ers 18-14 in second-chance points. Through the first three quarters before the game got out of hand, Miami outscored Philadelphia 14-6 in second-chance points behind a 13-4 advantage in offensive rebounds.
“There were inspiring offensive rebounds and extra possessions,” Spoelstra said. “Just those extra efforts just ignited everybody on the team. That was P.J., Bam, both of those guys again were just terrific.”
Tucker was a force, finishing with 10 points with the help of 2-of-4 shooting on threes and seven rebounds.
Tucker grabbed a team-high five offensive rebounds, and earned a loud ovation from the crowd with his relentless effort on one third-quarter possession when he grabbed two offensive rebounds and then fought off Harris so Adebayo could grab the Heat’s third offensive rebound of the possession that led to free throws.
The Heat also outscored the 76ers 22-9 in points off turnovers.
By grabbing more offensive rebounds and committing two fewer turnovers, the Heat finished with 13 more field goal attempts than the 76ers. That helped negate the fact that Philadelphia (43 percent) shot nearly the same percentage as Miami (43.5 percent).
“They shot 43 percent, that’s the positive,” Rivers said. “But they still scored 106 because they had more shots. Very similar to the Toronto series in that we told our guys they can’t have more rebounds than us. ... We’re working with a small margin of error, so we can’t give a team 13 extra shots on the road without Joel and think we’re going to win a game.”
The Heat went with a rotation that did not include sharpshooter Duncan Robinson, which has been rare over the last three-plus seasons when he has been available.
Robinson saw his role shrink as the first round went on. He logged 23 minutes off the bench in the first game of the series but ended up playing just seven minutes in Game 2, 14 minutes in Game 3, nine minutes in Game 4 and 13 minutes in Game 5.
To start the second round, Robinson was completely out of the Heat’s rotation. It marked his first DNP-CD in more than three years, as the last time he did not appear in a game despite being available was on April 7, 2019.
“It literally can change next game. It’s a playoff rotation,” Spoelstra said of not playing Robinson on Monday. “He’s stable enough, he’s ready enough and it might just be some moments where he really can change a quarter or a game and just be ignitable. It’s just the way we went tonight.”
What did the Heat’s rotation look like on Monday without Robinson?
With Lowry out, the Heat started Gabe Vincent in his place alongside Max Strus, Butler, Tucker and Adebayo.
Then the Heat went with a four-man bench rotation of Herro, Dewayne Dedmon, Victor Oladipo and Caleb Martin.
Herro and Dedmon have been fixtures in the bench rotation this season, but Spoelstra opted to play both Oladipo and Martin over Robinson in Game 1.
How did the 76ers fill the void at center left behind by Embiid? It seems like Rivers is still trying to figure out that answer.
The 76ers started veteran DeAndre Jordan in Embiid’s place on Monday. After playing just one second in the first round, Jordan recorded four points, two rebounds and two blocks in Game 1.
Philadelphia’s defense was awful with Jordan manning the middle, as the 76ers allowed 159.4 points per 100 possessions in the 17 minutes he played on Monday.
Then Paul Reed entered off the bench to play some minutes at center in the first quarter before veteran Paul Millsap got his opportunity at center to open the second quarter.
Eventually, the 76ers went small and used three-point shooting forward Georges Niang (6-7, 230 pounds) at center late in the second quarter.
By halftime, the 76ers had already used four different players at center in search of an answer without Embiid: Jordan, Reed, Millsap and Niang.
Jordan and Reed played most of the minutes at center for the 76ers in Game 1.
Reed actually produced positive minutes, finishing Monday’s loss with four points, nine rebounds and four assists in 13 minutes. The 76ers outscored the Heat by four points per 100 possessions with Reed on the court.
The small-ball lineups with Niang at center were also effective for the 76ers. The five-man combination of Harden, Danny Green, Harris, Niang and Maxey outscored the Heat by 49.2 points per 100 possessions in seven minutes on Monday.
Playing Reed more minutes and going back to the small-ball look for stretches seems like the way to go for Philadelphia, but Rivers said following the loss that he plans to keep starting Jordan.
“We like DeAndre and we’re going to keep starting him, whether you like it or not,” Rivers said. “That’s what we’re going to do because our guys believe in him.”
This story was originally published May 3, 2022 at 12:03 AM.
