Heat beats Philadelphia, stretches lead in East to three games. Details and takeaways
Five takeaways from the Heat’s 99-82 victory against Philadelphia on Saturday night at FTX Arena:
▪ The Heat, flummoxed by Philadelphia’s zone defense, squandered nearly all of a 20-point lead but played exceptionally well in the fourth quarter.
Miami sprinted to a 40-20 lead before Philadelphia went to a 2-3 zone that made the Heat turnover-prone and tentative for a significant stretch of the second quarter and nearly all of the third quarter.
Philadelphia closed to within 70-68 late in the third, outscoring Miami 28-19 in the third and forcing eight Heat turnovers in the third.
But the 76ers never took the lead and struggled offensively in the fourth against a Heat zone. The 76ers shot just 3 for 17 in the fourth, with Miami opening the quarter on a 24-12 run.
The bench brigade gave Miami life in the fourth; Tyler Herro scored two key baskets, Max Strus hit two threes and delivering a bullet pass to Caleb Martin for a layup, and Martin hit a late three and made two steals, including one that he took the distance for a dunk, putting the Heat up nine with under four minutes left.
“Once we got to our zone offense quicker, things opened up,” Martin said. “We got into our spots a lot quicker.”
On the other end of the court, the Heat held Joel Embiid, the NBA’s leading scorer, to 22 points - below his 29.6 season average.
“We played incredibly well tonight,” Jimmy Butler said. “We know how good of a team we are.”
“I like the grit the guys showed in the second half to find a different way to get a stop,” coach Erik Spoelstra said.
Butler, coming off a 2 for 14 shooting game in Milwaukee, looked much better after skipping the Brooklyn game with an injury to his left big toe.
Playing against his former team, Butler was an efficient 4 for 6 from the field and 5 for 6 from the line in a 14-point first half, which ended with the Heat leading by 14.
He shot just 2 for 9 in the second half, finishing with 21 points, four rebounds, five assists, two steals and another very good defensive effort.
Meanwhile, Herro scored 21, becoming the first player in franchise history to score at least 20 points off the bench in six consecutive games.
Gabe Vincent, thriving as a starter in Kyle Lowry’s absence, chipped in 16 points, including a three just before the third-quarter buzzer, pushing the Heat ahead 73-68 after three, and another three to extend Miami’s lead to nine in the fourth.
Vincent shot 4 for 6 on threes.
P.J. Tucker (two points) and Bam Adebayo (six points) didn’t do much scoring, but were wizards defensively.
And Martin (14 points) offered his usual contribution.
The Heat (43-22) moved a season-high 21 games above .500.
The 76ers scored a season-low 82 points and shot just 34 percent from the field and 17 percent (7 for 41) on threes.
Spoelstra wasn’t overly concerned about the Heat’s second- and third-quarter struggles against the zone.
The Heat’s offense against the zone “was better as we started to get more organized and into our offense a little quicker,” Spoelstra said. “I’m glad we had to manage through that. Maybe we’ll start to see more of that going forward. We handled zone pretty well throughout the year.
“Tyler is great [against the zone] because he can put the ball on the floor, make plays in between, also has three-point range.”
With both teams missing key players, this wasn’t exactly a preview of a potential playoff series.
The 76ers rested James Harden because he missed time previously with a hamstring injury “and he’s played a lot of games,” coach Doc Rivers said.
Harden has averaged 26.8 points and 12.0 assists while shooting 59.2 percent in his first four games for Philadelphia after his trade from Brooklyn.
A Harden/Tyrese Maxey backcourt could pose problems for anyone, even a team as defensively skilled as the Heat. Maxey scored 17 on Saturday.
The Heat, meanwhile, played without Lowry, who remains out because of a personal issue, as well as Victor Oladipo - who’s expected back as early as Monday against Houston - and Markieff Morris, who continues to shoot before games.
Spoelstra said he would speak with trainers before deciding whether Oladipo would be active for Monday’s game. “He’s close,” Spoelstra said.
▪ Defense prevailed in the Embiid/Adebayo matchup, but Embiid did damage at the free throw line.
Embiid, often facing double teams, shot just 2 for 10 in the first half and 4 for 15 for the game. But he got to the line 14 times and made all 14 free throws.
Embiid had nine rebounds in the first quarter but just six the rest of the night.
Not only did Adebayo do his usual good work defensively, but Tucker and Butler were quick and disruptive as second defenders, forcing Embiid into uncomfortable positions and difficult shots.
In one sequence, Adebayo, Tucker and Duncan Robinson pinned Embiid on the sideline.
And after Adebayo picked up his third foul less than four minutes into the third quarter, Tucker briefly handled the defensive assignment on Embiid before Adebayo resumed defending the 76ers’ MVP candidate.
Dwayne Dedmon also did solid work on Embiid, who drew several legitimate fouls but also a couple of questionable ones.
Embiid did the Heat a favor by taking six three-pointers; he missed all of them.
He entered shooting 52.5 percent on two-pointers and 36.2 percent on three-pointers this season.
“He’s just so clever and so skilled,” Spoelstra said. “You have to be mindful of bringing a second defender. You have to play him with force because of his size. It requires incredible focus and concentration to be disciplined enough not to foul and have your hands not be where they’re not supposed to be. We continued to stay with it.”
On the other end, Embiid prevented Adebayo from driving to the basket or developing any kind of an offensive rhythm.
Adebayo opened 1 for 7 before Herro found him for a dunk midway through the fourth quarter. He finished with six points on 3 for 10 shooting, with 10 rebounds and two assists.
▪ Herro said he would use his All Star snub as motivation. It’s working.
Herro entered averaging 26 points in five games since the All Star break, and he was masterful again on Saturday.
He displayed the full offensive arsenal in a 13-point second quarter, including a pullup three, a beautiful crossover layup, a nifty pull-up jumper and a lightning streak to the basket for a layup.
And when the 76ers zone flattened out the Heat in the third quarter, Herro gave Miami’s offense a lift with two running jumpers, lofting both above Embiid.
Two Herro baskets - a driving layup and a jumper - doubled the Heat’s lead from four to eight early in the fourth.
“I continue to play my game,” Herro said. “The break definitely helped. I had a couple extra days with my knee. It helped rejuvenate my energy. I feel good.”
Not only does Herro lead all NBA reserves in scoring, but the player second on that list - Kelly Oubre Jr. - is averaging 4.2 points per game less than Herro’s 20.6. Jordan Clarkson is third among NBA bench scorers at 15.3.
Herro - who also had seven rebounds and three assists on Saturday - now has a franchise-record 44 career 20-point games off the bench, 20 more than Goran Dragic, who ranks No. 2 on the list with 24.
▪ The Heat, kicking off a seven-game homestand, continued rolling at FTX Arena.
The Heat entered tied with Phoenix and Golden State for the fewest home losses with seven.
On Saturday, Miami won its 22nd home game, an auspicious start to a stretch in which it will play 11 of 12 at home.
The Heat’s 11 home games this month are tied for the most the Heat has ever played at home in a single month.
Miami has 12 home games and only five road games remaining.
The remainder of this ongoing homestead - the Heat’s longest of the season - includes one more elite team (Phoenix on Wednesday, in a game recently picked up by ESPN), two other good teams (Cleveland and Minnesota) and three-lottery bound teams (Houston, Detroit and Oklahoma City).
As usual, the arena was full; Miami has sold out 480 consecutive games (regular season and postseason), which is the sixth-longest streak in NBA history and the second-longest ongoing streak.
Dallas’ ongoing 852 game home sellout streak is the longest in NBA history.
▪ The Heat moved three games ahead of No. 2 Philadelphia and 3.5 games ahead of Milwaukee and Chicago.
Here’s the ideal scenario for the Heat if Miami finishes first in the conference:
If Brooklyn (currently eighth) beats No. 7 Toronto in a play-in game, that would move the Nets to seventh and leave the Heat playing either Toronto, Atlanta or Charlotte – whichever of those teams should emerge from the play-in round to secure the eighth seed.
If the Bulls and Celtics stay fourth and fifth, that would mean Miami would face one of those teams in the second round, instead of Philadelphia or Milwaukee.
The Heat isn’t afraid of anyone, but that would be the most favorable path, at least on paper.
But the East remains bunched, with just three games separating the second and sixth seeds in the East.
This story was originally published March 5, 2022 at 10:24 PM.
