Mateo’s Hoop Diary: Heat’s second-half comeback falls short in Philadelphia

The short, two-game road trip concluded fruitlessly for the Heat in Philadelphia. They got torn up in the open court and refused to guard the arc.

Coach Erik Spoelstra estimated that his team hit the deck six or seven times in the second half in the pursuit of loose balls after hardly any of that before intermission. “They ran us out of the gym in the first half… we got back into it, took a lead, and then it became [a] possession game from there. They made some plays down the stretch where we couldn’t.”

The first quarter was the Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey show as the former swarmed the lane and the latter drained five 3-pointers, taking the lead from Allen Iverson for most in franchise history. Yet the Heat were somehow down one by nearly matching them in baskets. 

The Heat subsequently couldn’t keep up with Philadelphia’s speed, force, deep shooting plus rebounding while they raised their turnover count to 10. Bam Adebayo did everything he could with a double-double (16 points & 10 rebounds) to carry them, but they went to halftime down 16 points with only an edge in bench scoring.  

Then a 3-point eruption from Adebayo and Tyler Herro dragged them back, and they briefly took the lead. Yet the 76ers countered with a late run that included two treys against the Heat’s weak coverage. 

The Heat’s deep shooting stayed hot in the fourth quarter, and the pendulum momentarily swung back to their side as Herro curled behind a flare screen to get inside for a floater, and then hit a step-back triple at the top of the key. But the 76ers responded with eight-straight points in crunch time, which included two corner 3-pointers.

The Heat lost 124-117, and conceded 17 3-pointers. 

“The beat is at our game,” Spoelstra said. “That speed game, 27 in transition. That’s what we do.”

Takeaways:

• It will always sting the latter extra whenever Maxey, who they passed on for Precious Achiuwa at 20th, abuses them and makes it look easy like a pro fighter on the speed bag. He had a season high in first-quarter scoring (20) and finished with 28. On top of that, it was a back breaker that Cam Payne had two second-half 3-pointers, and V.J. Edgecombe nailed multiple pull-up jumpers in the fourth.

• The Heat flashed a zone late in the third and in the fourth. It wasn’t perfect, but it got some key stops. They let go of the rope when they unnecessarily helped off the left corner, giving up two huge late baskets.

• Aside from getting burned on the break, the Heat also suffered 20 second-chance points and 21 points off turnovers. The second quarter was their sloppiest spurt, getting outscored by 15 and being unable to defend without fouling as Philly took 10 freebies, making nine.

• Even 70% of Embiid is dangerous. He has a rare combination of size, power, and agility that the Heat has few answers for. It’s a surprise when his jumper doesn’t fall at mid-range. He even briefly went to the locker room to get checked out after inadvertently catching a knee midway through the second quarter, and slowed down in the second half. 

• Nights like this highlight how much of a guppy Kasparas Jakičionis is because it looked like he was in the right spot, but Maxey didn’t see him.

• Norman Powell didn’t return because of a right growing strain in the second quarter. Spoelstra said he would be reevaluated when they get back to Miami.

• The 76ers came into the game as the sixth seed. The Heat’s loss dropped them to 2.5 games out of that position, which is the last spot that bypasses the Play-In Tournament. Additionally, the Heat and 76ers are 1-1 in the season series, and the final matchup between them is on March 30 in Miami.