Heat dominates second half, beats Philadelphia 76ers to advance to Eastern Finals
For the second time in Jimmy Butler’s three years in Miami, the Heat is headed to a conference finals.
And fittingly, it was a concoction of Butler’s brilliance, suffocating defense and a Heat developmental success story at the epicenter of this series-clinching 99-90 win in Philadelphia.
No team does better work finding and nurturing undrafted, overlooked players, and one of them, Max Strus, helped spearhead this close-out victory with 20 points, 11 rebounds and 5 assists.
With Butler scoring 32 and the Heat at the height of its game defensively, Miami closed out the 76ers in six games despite playing again without injured Kyle Lowry.
The Heat will play Boston or Milwaukee in the Eastern Conference Finals, with Game 1 set for 8:30 p.m. Tuesday and Game 2 at 8:30 p.m. Thursday, both at FTX Arena.
Every Eastern Finals Game will start at 8:30, and the teams will play every other day beginning Tuesday. Games 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7 will be on ESPN. Games 3 and 4 will air on ABC.
The Bucks lead the Celtics 3-2 in their conference semifinal series, with Game 6 on Friday.
This will be the Heat’s ninth conference finals; Miami has made six of the last 12 Eastern Finals.
“We have been doing this 27 years since Pat [Riley] came back to South Florida, nine [conference finals],” Erik Spoelstra said. “It’s not easy in this league. And I wanted everyone in the locker room to acknowledge that. It’s not everything, but it’s something.”
The difference Thursday was a maniacal, defensively-dominant 19-4 run to open the third. Butler scored 12 points in that third quarter spurt, stretching a one-point Heat halftime lead to 68-52.
The Heat began the third making 8 of 12 shots, while the 76ers opened the quarter 2 for 16.
Spoelstra said in the third, the Heat was “trying to wear on them, do what we do. This is not an easy place to play. You can’t hear anything in the huddles, but we had great poise and responded. We have competitors who respond to this type of environment.”
Butler ended up scoring 14 in that third quarter, which ended with the Heat ahead 74-63.
And instead of allowing the 76ers to hang around, the Heat shut the door on Philadelphia, unleashing an 8-0 run to start the fourth, stretching the lead to 17.
After Philadelphia pulled to within 11, Gabe Vincent hit a three with just over two minutes left.
Beyond Butler and Strus, credit Bam Adebayo, PJ Tucker and Vincent for impressive work, on both ends, in that dominant second half.
Adebayo - who took only one shot in the first half - closed with 10 points and 8 rebounds, shooting 5 for 5 from the field, with two steals and a block.
Tucker added 12 points, 9 rebounds and 2 blocks, with most of those numbers coming in the second half.
Meanwhile, the Heat improved to 6-0 in the playoffs when Vincent starts in Lowry’s absence.
Before Tuesday, Strus, on a minimum contract, had never produced a double-double in 119 NBA games.
Now he has double doubles in consecutive high-stakes playoff games, with Thursday’s effort following his 19 point, 10 rebound performance in Game 5.
Strus called Thursday’s game “one of the biggest moments of my life.”
Butler, meantime, ended up scoring 33, 40 and 32 points in three playoff games at Wells Fargo Arena, which was his home gym before his 2019 sign-and-trade to the Heat.
“I have a lot of love for guys in that locker room, but any time you have a chance to beat a former team is special,” Butler said, adding later: “Now I’m where I belong, where I should have been a long time ago.”
Butler - who shot 13 for 29 in Game 6 - added eight rebounds, four assists, two blocks and a steal on Thursday.
Philadelphia center Joel Embiid, the MVP runner-up, took only 12 shots in Game 5, but reached that total midway through the second quarter, despite facing frequent double teams, and even triple teams at times.
Though Embiid was more aggressive and somewhat productive (20 points, 12 rebounds), he wasn’t efficient, closing 7 for 24 from the field.
He shot 5 for 14 in the first half and 2 for 10 in the second half, tumbling to the court on at least six occasions while trying to play through two significant injuries (an orbital fracture and ligament damage to his thumb).
James Harden (11 points) went scoreless in the second half, missing his only two shots and committing three turnovers after intermission.
Tyrese Maxey - who torched the Heat in Games 4 and 4 in Philadelphia - shot 1 for 7 in the third quarter, closing with 20 and four turnovers.
The 76ers lost Danny Green to a knee injury during that first quarter when he collided with Embiid. Green was carried off and replaced by a combination of Matisse Thybulle and Shake Milton.
With Strus scoring 16 in the first half, Miami went to the break ahead 49-48.
But once the third quarter began, the Heat looked even more dominant than it did in its 120-85 drubbing of the 76ers in Game 5.
The Sixers scored just 15 in the third, committing five turnovers and shooting 6 for 22 from the field and 1 for 8 on threes.
Overall, Philadelphia shot 4 for 16 on threes and committed eight turnovers in the second half.
Erik Spoelstra went 10 deep, giving four first half minutes to Duncan Robinson and five to Caleb Martin. Robinson missed his only shot (a three) and fouled Maxey on a drive-by. And Miami was outscored by 9 during Martin’s minutes.
The Heat entered 17-0 all time after taking a 2-0 lead in a best-of-seven series. The 76ers, in their history, have never won a series that it trailed 0-2.
This story was originally published May 12, 2022 at 9:32 PM.
