Neither the Sixers nor the Heat had anything close to a full-force team for Tuesday night’s game at the Wells Fargo Center.
For the first time in their last three disputes, however, the Sixers had a manpower advantage. They were able to capitalize dramatically, defeating a team of eight Heat men in overtime by 137-134 points and improving to 8-4 this season.
Bidirectional player Dakota Mathias hit the three-point ball with 26.1 seconds remaining in overtime, his only points in the game. He then protected Tyler Herro well, forcing Guard Heat to lose a tough three on the right wing.
Eight Miami players were sidelined for health and safety reasons. The Sixers had 10 players available, including Ben Simmons, who returned after losing the last two games with swelling in his left knee. However, Tony Bradley and Paul Reed did not play, meaning it was effectively an 8 on 8 game.
Here are the remarks about the Sixers’ wild victory over the Heat:
Great second half of Embiid (and OT), Simmons fights
Veterans Danny Green and Mike Scott, who combined to shoot 0 to 12 from long range in Atlanta, were actually the most productive offensive players in the Sixers in the first half, totaling 25 of the team’s 55 points. Green continued after the break, scoring 29 points and making 9 of 21 trios in the game. He’s been doing this long enough not to be discouraged by a bad night or two of filming.
Simmons created three-point opportunities for his teammates, as he usually does, but it was otherwise bad offensively in the first half. He only tried a basket, turned five times and suffered three fouls, including two charges. We cannot reap much from a single game in which 18 players in total were active. Still, even with his recent injury in mind, it is obviously fair to say that Simmons was nowhere near his best on this particular night. He missed with 3:29 remaining in the regulation and ended up with five points, six rebounds and 12 assists.
Joel Embiid took over in the third quarter, scoring 20 points in the period. The great man finished inside, drained the jumpers, committed fouls and did almost anything he wanted. The clashes against rookie Precious Achiuwa and Chris Silva were clearly favorable to Embiid, but he was still very impressive, especially on the second consecutive night.
During a chaotic streak at the end of the regulation, Green missed a potential green light of three and Embiid was fouled after grabbing the offensive rebound. Coach Doc Rivers then isolated Embiid against Achiuwa at the top of the key in the ensuing off-field move and jumped up on his left elbow to tie the game.
In overtime, Embiid again played at the superstar level he had reached in the third quarter, hitting tightly fought jumpers and leading the Sixers’ attack. His final line of statistics: 45 points, 16 rebounds, five steals, four assists.
Defensive errors
We assumed that the Sixers would stifle the Heat’s attack with Simmons and Embiid in the lineup. The team had a strong defensive score of 102.7 when its two stars were on the pitch this season for Cleaning the Glass, and Miami was losing important players like Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and Goran Dragic. Certainly, against an exhausted opponent, the Sixers would look like the team that led the league in the defensive classification earlier this season. We were wrong.
The Sixers allowed Miami snipers many open looks, struggling to track players across screens, helping excessively or simply not closing with sufficient urgency. They also committed several expensive fouls on jump snipers. Embiid and Simmons being on the court does not guarantee defensive success; the Sixers still need to pay attention to the details of that end of the court.
The team’s effort was a little better in the second half, although Herro, Duncan Robinson and two-handed Gabe Vincent scored more than 20 points and helped Miami come close to an unlikely victory.
Growing concern, protocols added
The game Sixers vs. Thursday’s Heat will start at 7 pm and will no longer be broadcast on TNT, the NBA announced. Those games in which both lists are reduced by the COVID-19 protocols are apparently not attractive to a national audience (although this was fun in the fourth quarter and in overtime).
The NBA and NBPA announced additional health and safety protocols on Tuesday. Players must wear masks on the bench at all times, pre-match meetings in the locker room are limited to 10 minutes and all participants must wear masks, and players and staff are prohibited from leaving the hotel or interacting with guests at the hotel . You can read the full press release on the new measures here.
“I think it’s coming from the outside in, so we just have to be more vigilant when we’re away from arenas and training facilities,” said Rivers before the game, “because I think it’s the safest place where you can be. It’s when we leave and that’s when the real world enters our bubble. “
The Celtics-Magic and Wizards-Jazz games scheduled for Wednesday were postponed for healthy and safe seasons, which means six postponed NBA games this season. The Sixers are scheduled to play Boston twice next week.
It is an understatement to say that the past few days have not been auspicious for the NBA. Fewer games remain on the schedule, but both the health and safety situation and competitive imbalances have been worrying. They remain issues that are worth recognizing, even on a night that produced a wild game and an exciting ending.