Heat crushes 76ers in Game 5 behind balanced attack, elite defense to take 3-2 series lead
The Miami Heat wasted two incredible performances from star Jimmy Butler in a pair of losses in Games 3 and 4. But the Heat didn’t need another epic night from Butler in Game 5.
Using its usual formula of balanced scoring and elite defense, the Heat came away with a much-needed 120-85 blowout win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday at FTX Arena. Miami, which is 6-0 at home this postseason, now holds a 3-2 series lead and is just one win away from punching its ticket to the Eastern Conference finals for the second time in the last three seasons.
The 35-point margin of victory matched the second-largest in Heat postseason history.
Even with starting point guard Kyle Lowry sidelined again by a strained left hamstring, seven Heat players finished with double-digit points, including the entire starting lineup.
“I feel like we’ve been practicing that all year long with guys in and out of the rotation, in and out of the lineup,” Butler said after the Heat improved to 17-7 this season in games without Lowry. “It’s always that next man up mentality. More than anything, making shots. You call it what it is. When we make shots, we tend to get stops. We don’t got to worry about getting back in transition as much. That was the game.”
Butler, who averaged 36.5 points on 59.5 percent shooting from the field in Games 3 and 4 in Philadelphia, didn’t cross the 30-point threshold on Tuesday. But he was still excellent with 23 points on 9-of-15 shooting from the field, nine rebounds and six assists.
“Our whole team feels a great sense of confidence when the ball is in Jimmy’s hands and we leave the decision up to him,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.
Max Strus turned in his best performance of the series for the Heat with 19 points on 4-of-10 shooting from deep and 10 rebounds.
Bam Adebayo contributed 12 points, six rebounds and stellar defense on 76ers All-Star center Joel Embiid.
With Adebayo anchoring the unit, the Heat’s defense turned out to be the star of the night. The 76ers were limited to 85 points on 36.5 percent shooting from the field and 9-of-32 (28.1 percent) shooting on threes.
There was a scary moment for the 76ers and Embid in the middle of their loss. Embiid, who is playing with a protective mask after suffering a right orbital fracture in the first round of the playoffs, went down to the ground in obvious pain after being hit in the face by a loose ball with around six minutes left in the second quarter but he was able remain in the game.
Embiid finished with 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting, five rebounds and two assists.
76ers star guard James Harden, who scored 31 points in Game 4, was held to 14 points on 5-of-13 shooting from the field on Tuesday.
The Heat was the better team on Tuesday from the start, outscoring the 76ers by 12 points in a dominant opening period. Miami bounced back from its shooting woes in Games 3 and 4 right away, shooting 50 percent from the field and 5 of 11 (45.5 percent) on threes in the first quarter.
The second quarter wasn’t much better for the 76ers, as the Heat extended its lead to 18 points in the period. Philadelphia was able to make a small run late in the quarter to trim the deficit to 12 entering halftime.
But the 76ers were never able to claw their way back in the second half, as the Heat was able sustain a high level of play throughout the game. Miami pushed its lead to as many as 20 points in the third quarter and 37 points in the fourth quarter.
The Heat pulled ahead with 7:28 left in the first quarter and led the rest of the way on Tuesday.
76ers coach Doc Rivers said the Heat was the “much more engaged and physical” team in Game 5.
“I’ll have to watch the tape, or burn it. I’m not sure which one,” Rivers said.
It was the kind of night the Heat needed after two straight losses in Philadelphia in Games 3 and 4. Things went so well that rapper and producer DJ Khaled, an avid Heat fan who often sits courtside at FTX Arena, gave Spoelstra a shoulder rub that drew a loud cheer from the crowd during a stoppage in play in the third quarter.
With Lowry out, the Heat made the most of its quality depth in Game 5. Spoelstra used a 10-man rotation that included a bench rotation of Tyler Herro, Dewayne Dedmon, Victor Oladipo, Duncan Robinson and Caleb Martin.
Robinson had logged a total of only 55 seconds of playing time through the first four games of the second-round series. He re-joined the Heat’s rotation to a loud ovation when he first entered Tuesday’s game with five seconds left in the first quarter, scoring four points and making one of his three three-point attempts in 13 minutes off the bench.
Gabe Vincent, who started in place of the injured Lowry, finished with 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field, five rebounds and two assists. It marked the first game that Lowry, who sat out four games earlier in the playoffs because of a strained left hamstring, has missed after re-aggravating the injury in Sunday’s Game 4.
With Tuesday’s important win, the Heat earned two opportunities to close out the 76ers. The Heat’s first chance will be in Game 6 on Thursday in Philadelphia.
“It’s a hard place to play,” Butler said of heading back to Wells Fargo Center for Game 6. “I’ve played there before, being in a Sixers jersey. I know how that crowd gets. But we got to go in there. We need this, we do.”
This story was originally published May 10, 2022 at 9:51 PM.
