Instant observations: Sixers crater in final minutes, lose playoff seeding tiebreaker to Heat
For the second time in three nights, the Sixers played a critical game in the Eastern Conference playoff race that came down to the final minutes. After notching a huge road win over the Charlotte Hornets on Saturday, they fell to the Heat in Miami, 119-109, losing the season series to one of their strongest competitors in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
The first 42 minutes were comprised of the two teams trading runs, with brief flashes of brilliance from the Sixers clouded by stretches of three-point shooting discrepancies in Miami’s favor, more struggles on the defensive glass and issues with Miami’s predictably unusual defense.
The Sixers appeared primed to trade in three immature quarters for a very adult-like finish just as they did in Charlotte but proved to have not given themselves enough margin for error. A torrid Miami run in the final three minutes of the game sunk the Sixers, who were handed a brutal loss in the most important game remaining on their schedule.
Takeaways from a wild game with an unfortunate ending for the Sixers:
Sixers can’t overcome issues with funky zone, defensive rebounding
For many years now, Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra has utilized zone defenses as much as any other coach in the NBA. It is a way to compensate for bad matchups on paper – like, for example, not having the manpower to cover Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Paul George with viable one-on-one defenders at the same time – and also a way to throw a change of pace at offenses that are so used to the standard defensive concepts that dominate playbooks around the NBA.
The Sixers nearly lost a postseason game to the Heat two seasons ago because Miami’s zone flustered them, and on Monday night a similar scheme was responsible for some of their offensive struggles. At times, the Sixers found ways to infiltrate it by getting the ball in the middle of the floor with multiple Miami defenders in rotation. When that happened, good things came from it. But far too often, the Sixers found themselves unable to find quality looks in time, having to force up contested triples and cross their fingers.
It was very much a game of runs on Monday night, and when those runs worked in the Sixers’ favor, it was because they were generating those quality three-point looks. Paul George was their best three-point shooter by far; others struggled to knock down some shots they often knock down. Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey, oftentimes killers of zone defenses, both struggled to ever find a true rhythm. This was Embiid’s worst game since returning from a 13-game absence by quite a bit, while Maxey filled up the box score but was inefficient for his standards.
But when the Sixers were on the wrong sides of Miami runs, it was not just about their offensive lulls. Once again, their defensive rebounding was problematic.
The Sixers gave up 21 offensive rebounds in three quarters to the Charlotte Hornets on Saturday night, then escaped with a win because they forced 17 misses in the fourth quarter and did not allow any offensive rebounds. Even without one offensive rebounder as brilliant as Moussa Diabaté dominating on their own, Miami put on a terrific collective effort on the offensive glass, pummeling the Sixers inside thanks to a combination of superior effort and a noticeable size advantage in certain lineups.
Once the Sixers were able to stage a run early in the fourth quarter, all of the lopsided pushes had coalesced into an even fight. They knotted the score at 101 with six minutes left after Embiid finally got going. Maxey put the Sixers ahead with a 32-foot bomb, and Embiid added a triple of his own. Then, in a span of about 90 seconds, Miami went on a 10-0 run, blitzing the Sixers and taking a six-point lead.
It all had unraveled, and the Sixers learned the hard way what they did not in Charlotte: beating good teams consistently requires focus and execution for 48 minutes. They could have come close to eradicating Miami’s chances of passing them in the standings; now the Heat are a very real threat to pass the Sixers in the standings.
Final Sixers two-way tiebreakers
With their slate of games against nearby Eastern Conference competitors over with, the Sixers’ outlook in terms of two-way tiebreakers is now complete:
• The Sixers split their season series with the Toronto Raptors, 2-2, but would win a two-way tiebreaker due to their superior division record.
• The Sixers lost their season series with the Atlanta Hawks, 0-4, and would lose a two-way tiebreaker.
• The Sixers won their season series with the Orlando Magic, 2-1, and would win a two-way tiebreaker.
• The Sixers won their season series with Charlotte, 2-1, and would win a two-way tiebreaker.
• The Sixers lost their season series with Miami, 1-2, and would lose a two-way tiebreaker.
All in all, the Sixers are in a good place for potential two-way tiebreaker, though their losses to Atlanta loom especially large as the Hawks have earned the inside track on the No. 6 seed.
Odds and ends
Some additional notes:
• For the first time in about three months, Sixers head coach Nick Nurse went to Embiid and Adem Bona on the floor at the same time. It has worked a few times during the regular season and swung a game back near the end of December. Nurse appeared to aim to use it for the final minute of the first quarter, but a chance arose for offense/defense substitutions, so it only lasted about 30 seconds. It is something to file away – Embiid and Bona starting together in the former NBA MVP’s lone preseason appearance feels like it was many years ago.
• As was hinted at in 5 Sixers thoughts, Nurse removed Cam Payne from his rotation on Monday, using Edgecombe as his backup point guard.
• This was something of a homecoming game for VJ Edgecombe; Miami is a very short flight from The Bahamas. Edgecombe grew up cheering for the Heat – he was a kid when LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh teamed up in Miami. They were one of the only teams consistently on television in The Bahamas. The 20-year-old rookie had a terrific start to the game, and it sounded like Edgecombe was part of the home team whenever he scored. The Heat were running a promotion for Bahamian fans, who were of course partial to Edgecombe.
Up next: With their two most important road games of the season in the rearview mirror, the Sixers will conclude their three-game trip with a matchup against the lowly Washington Wizards on Wednesday.
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