RECAP: Philadelphia 76ers 103 , Miami Heat 97
The Philadelphia 76ers held on to defeat the Miami Heat at Well Fargos Center103-97, on the first night of a back-to-back.
The Philadelphia 76ers led by as many as 28 points in the third quarter, going on a 19-0 run and outscoring the Heat 35-19. However, Miami wouldn’t go away and cut the lead to as low as four points in the game’s final seconds. Philly made some great defensive plays late to seal the victory.
Ben Simmons was the games leading-scorer with 20 points, to go along with six rebounds and five assists. Both Joel Embiid and Dario Saric finished the game with double-doubles.
Miami’s Kelly Olynyk came off the bench to score a team-high 19 points for the Heat.
Philly improved to 25-24 on the season and still sits at eighth place in the Eastern Conference.
B-. <span style=. F. Philadelphia 76ers. ROBERT COVINGTON
B+. <span style=. G. Philadelphia 76ers. JUSTIN ANDERSON
DARIO SARIC. A-. <span style=. F. Philadelphia 76ers
A-. <span style=. F. Philadelphia 76ers. BEN SIMMONS
Philadelphia 76ers. JOEL EMBIID. B. <span style=. C
How will Embiid respond to playing back-to-back games?
This game should have been over earlier in the fourth quarter, when the 76ers led by as many as 28 points with 11:04 remaining. If the Sixers could have kept adding on to the lead without the services of Embiid, he would have ended up playing around 24 minutes.
With Philly fighting to hold on to the lead midway in the final period, Brett Brown decided to put JoJo back into the game.
It would have been ideal to limit Embiid to under 30 minutes, especially since he will try to play back-to-back games for the first time in his career.
Next: Sixers need to be smart at the trade deadline
Embiid and the Sixers head to Indianapolis to take on the Pacers tomorrow night and he will get an opportunity to show how durable he can be moving forward. Indiana (29-23) currently holds the sixth best record in the East so it will be another tough test for Philly in consecutive nights.