1. If you enjoy early offense, this was the game for you. At least in the first half.
With Miami on a back-to-back following their rousing victory in Milwaukee last night and Philadelphia missing just about half their rotation, this wasn’t a game for defense despite the efforts of both coaches to mix in a variety of coverages. The first open look available was going up and, more often than not, in.
Philadelphia opened up a three-possession lead fairly quickly on the strength of Buddy Hield and Tyrese Maxey getting to their spots and making jumpers, but even as Miami trailed they never appeared to be struggling to find good opportunities. Just as he did against Milwaukee, Tyler Herro was able to walk into pull-up threes or otherwise explore the real estate ahead of him with the 76ers playing a ton of drop coverage – Duncan Robinson also linked up with Bam Adebayo for consecutive lobs against the same look – just about any drive had an open kick option and with Philadelphia’s backline defenders hitting the snooze button there was cut after cut after cut for easy two pointers. It’s not often that Miami goes 14-of-17 at the rim in a half, but all you had to do was watch a handful of possessions to understand why it was happening.
Hield and Maxey never quite slowed down, though, combining for 34 points – Hield even launching 1-on-5 threes before any of his teammates were back and canning them – to keep the home team out front by two at the break. Philadelphia’s attempts weren’t quite as obvious at the HEAT’s with more scattershot possessions mixed in, but talent does as talent does.
Miami opened the second half in zone as the 76ers opened up another seven-point lead, only for the game to change when Maxey had a teammate step on his foot and roll his ankle leading to Maxey going back to the locker room. Miami, cooling off from three, didn’t exactly capitalize on that period with Philadelphia lacking in ballhandling as Paul Reed finished inside, still down three when Maxey returned later in the quarter, but Duncan Robinson’s perfect night (4-of-4 from three at that point) tied it up anyway as part of an 11-0 run. Miami by one at the break, the rhythm of the game broken down but the vulnerability in the interior unchanged, an offense-first game starting to lack in offense.
Plenty of Sixers fouls early in the fourth to put Miami in the bonus even as the Sixers had gained the lead again, all that early offense gone the way of drag-it-out zone. It looked like Miami might cruise in the final minutes as Philadelphia struggled to find looks, Herro creating sufficient offense on the other end, but a quick burst closed things to three with just over 50 seconds to play before Jaime Jaquez Jr. enjoyed a free run to the rim to dunk in a Robinson miss. One Adebayo (23 points on 14 shots, 14 rebounds) offensive rebound later, Miami takes it 109-104 as they head into the All-Star break.
2. It wasn’t Herro’s most efficient night, dropping in 23 points on 23 shots to go with seven rebounds and seven assists, but it was a necessary one as one of Miami’s few remaining high-usage playmakers available – especially after Robinson, who finished with 20 on 7-of-11 shooting, started to see more pressure and switches coming off handoffs than he had in Milwaukee. Miami needed Herro to create and he stepped up.
One of Herro’s most interesting quotes this season came during preseason, when he noted how devastating his broken hand in Game 1 of the Bucks series was because he knew he could punish the drop coverage played by not only the Bucks but the New York Knicks and Denver Nuggets as well. Since then, he’s only made his point stronger, working all that free space in the middle of the floor to get to his pull-ups, his floaters and to find teammates, often Adebayo, when the defense commits. He’ll face better defenses than what Philadelphia offered tonight, but as always you make the plays that are ahead of you and Herro regularly found the cutters who cut, the shooters who relocated to open space and his big man in Adebayo who rolled hard and often to the rim. Then, when Philadelphia again back off in drop in the last couple minutes, Herro once again rose up to drain another two that kept Miami out in front. After playing more of an off-ball role during those few games when the HEAT were fully healthy, Herro has been more than willing and able to step back into a on-ball role to get Miami through the last couple road games.
3. Another night, another game the zone completely changed. Sure, we’re repeating ourselves a couple dozen times over, but when your opponent was generally scoring at will only to score 42 second-half points after a significant coverage change, that coverage is going to get a huge chunk of credit for the victory.
After Hield and Maxey got just about whatever they wanted in the first half – Maxey did miss a chunk of the third period with the ankle injury – the switch to nearly full-time zone essentially took the ball out of their hands as the perimeter defenders on the edges of the zone pushed up to take away the three and stacked an additional defender behind the primary to take away the drive, with more bodies pinching into the driving lanes as necessary. Hield, not a dynamic driver or passer, only scored five points the rest of the way and while Maxey still got to 30 points on 23 shots, he did so forced to pick up his dribble at the free-throw line and finish tough floaters. Throw in a few sloppy turnovers that Miami took the other direction and once again the zone did its job, being disruptive while cutting off access to the rim. And with only Reed available to work the middle of the zone – Hield flashed there a few times, to no avail – where Adebayo was happy to let him shoot jumpers, the Sixers lacked the requisite offensive playmaking and shooting outside of their starting backcourt to take advantage. One of these days we’ll look back at Miami’s record when they use 25-plus zone possessions in the second half, but the bet is its pretty good barring nights when opponents have outlier shooting nights.