1. Miami has had many, many games with Philadelphia in recent seasons and we’ve seen all variety of outcomes, clutch games, late blowouts, early blowouts, the works. But we haven’t seen much in the way of weird, wacky and strange until tonight.
The HEAT couldn’t get much of anything going at the open, shots not falling as nothing going towards the rim – the 76ers swarmed the paint anytime the ball got going downhill – with Philadelphia jumping out to a 17-2 lead with a hot start from Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid, who made his return from knee surgery just two days ago. In true Miami fashion, just as soon as things appeared dire they found a new gear, a couple threes getting them back within seven before the Sixers pushed it all the way back to 16.
Then Haywood Highsmith entered the game and Erik Spoelstra dialed up the press-zone, Highsmith forcing two backcourt steals which led to an 8-0 run without Philadelphia even getting the ball across halfcourt. Even more Highsmith – impossibly, incredulously, ludicrously locked in against his former franchise – after that, back-to-back threes, including one off the glass, dropping in, Miami eventually snatching the lead at 46-43. Then Maxey and Embiid (45 first-half points combined) got going again, Embiid working his way into post position and Maxey hunting small-small pick-and-rolls for mismatches, to go all the way backup by 16 again. As is that wasn’t a wild enough ride, the HEAT put together a quick 8-0 run to finish the half, a Bam Adebayo and-one as Embiid pressured him at the top of the arc and a Terry Rozier buzzer beater after a steal mitigating the damage. Still an eight point game after two quarters, but outside of some misses on open threes against the zone Philadelphia had it going in the halfcourt while it was the transition game, particularly those pick-sixes, that kept Miami’s offense afloat.
The second half wasn’t about to cease with the strangeness, Miami still relying – you could sense pace had been emphasized – on their fast-break while Maxey and Embiid worked incredible nights out of more methodical offense. Every time the Sixers made a mistake, the HEAT capitalized. Every time the HEAT made a run, the Sixers answered. Once again, the bench unit and the zone made the greatest impression, finishing the quarter – the end of quarters were their comfort zone tonight –on an 8-0 run, capped off by a Jimmy Butler attack. Miami by one going into the fourth of a livewire, but somewhat stylistically perplexing, contest.
Suddenly, Miami by eight, a 17-0 run in all, which quickly became two after a couple Philadelphia threes against the zone. Then it was the Sixers’ turn to try zone, which Miami was prepared for, scoring on a couple cuts to go up eight again, Spoelstra going with long stretches of Kevin Love and his five-out look. A couple minutes later, following a Kelly Oubre Jr. corner look, Philly was back up one. Back and forth and back and forth. In the end the offense stalled, Maxey extending it just enough, and even though a contested Rozier (22 points on 20 shots) three fell to give Miami life an extended HEAT possession came up empty and that was it. Miami loses an important game in the race to escape the Play-In Tournament, 109-105, as they head to Houston overnight for a back-to-back.
2. While there was a late assist from Oubre Jr., who finished a couple transition plays and hit that big corner three, this one was decided by the combination of Embiid and Maxey. It was Maxey who did the early damage in pick-and-roll as Adebayo had to stay semi-attached to Embiid, then Embiid doing damage for long stretches after whenever he could get a touch against anyone who wasn’t Adebayo. Philadelphia’s half-court offense was so good, so methodical, that Miami wound up playing far more zone than usual even after the initial shock-and-awe of Highsmith’s pressure wore off. Eventually Miami stopped allowing Maxey to hunt switches whenever the coverage flipped back to man-to-man, putting two on the ball to get it out of Maxey’s hands, but Maxey showed a matured approach to floor management, finding the passing seams (11 assists) and never forcing it until he found the looks and space he wanted.
There wasn’t a ton at the rim for Philadelphia – or Miami, both sides with just eight restricted area makes – but Embiid (29 points on 25 shots) and Maxey (37 points on 26 shots) did what the best players do in beating them over the top, combining to shoot 16-of-27 on non-rim two pointers in much the same way a combination like Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic would, hunting the looks they knew they could get rather than being forced into them. In the end the Sixers only scored 112.4 per 100, 92.0 points per 100 plays in the halfcourt, so the defense did its job from a top-down perspective as Philadelphia didn’t get much production outside of its main two, but much of Miami’s stops came when Maxey (+26) sat. Such is life sometimes against great players, the sort that can beat even your best coverages.
3. Part of the reason this was such a strange game is that Miami rarely, if ever, runs with such frequency, such purpose. In fact 22.1 percent of their possessions qualified as transition, in the 95th percentile across the league, and they scored an incredible 161.9 points per 100 transition plays. Some of it was after steals and deflections, as they are wont to do, but the way you suspected a clear gameplanned intention was in how quickly the ball was moving up the floor after every rebound, and sometimes after every make. If a Sixers player missed a layup or anything going to the rim that forced them to the ground, it was Miami scoring on those 5-on-4 and 4-on-3 possessions with elite efficiency, countering their own difficulties in the halfcourt (76.5 points per 100 halfcourt plays).
Oddly enough, the non-transition offense looked best when Philadelphia went to zone, all those cutters ready for their moment especially with Love (+25) spacing out at the five. But in those final minutes, Embiid back in – looking quite switchable in space for someone who just came returned to play – Miami scored just three points in the final six and a half minutes. Transition carried them to the finish line, and they had their opportunities no doubt, but the halfcourt wasn’t able to break through at the close.