Sixers advance to 2nd round with 104-91 victory over Miami Heat

The Philadelphia 76ers advanced to the second round of the playoffs by defeating the Miami Heat 104-91.

The Philadelphia 76ers once again unleashed their third quarter magic, outscoring Miami 34-20 to take a commanding 80-66 lead entering the fourth quarter of would end up being a 104-91 win. Philly advances to the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 2012 and will play the winner of Boston vs. Milwaukee, with the Celtics currently holding a 3-2 series lead.

Miami controlled the tempo in the first half as the teams were tied at 46. Philadelphia began the third quarter playing aggressively and shooting better (16 percent from three in the first half).

Coach Brett Brown also made an adjustment in the third quarter, going with the three-forward lineup instead of Amir Johnson when Joel Embiid sat. That change gave Philly more of an offensive flow, which was missing in the first half.

STARTERS — ADVANTAGE SIXERS

What can you say when the entire Miami starting lineup scored 37 points and JJ Redick scored 27 points on his own? The Philly starters put up 73 points.

BENCH — ADVANTAGE HEAT

Miami’s bench won this battle, outscoring Philly’s second unit 54-26. Kelly Olynyk led the Miami bench with 18 points and eight rebounds.

COACHING — EVEN

Erik Spoelstra won the first half, getting Philadelphia to play at Miami’s pace and being tied 46-all at half.

Brett Brown countered with a nice djustment in the second half, going away from Amir Johnson, who was a -13 in the first half. I still don’t like Brown sitting Markelle Fultz totally. It’s not like T.J. McConnell is an upgrade, but one cannot argue too much when the team is winning.

STATISTICS — ADVANTAGE SIXERS

The biggest statistic was Philadelphia getting to the foul line 36 times and making 29. Philadelphia also out rebounded Miami 53-40 and out-shot them 42 to 38 percent. Philadelphia leads all teams in the playoffs in getting to the foul line and also has five players averaging at least 18 points per game, which no other team can match.

Must Read: NBA Rumors - PG13 to the Sixers

REF REPORT

Again, a hard game to officiate because Miami tends to foul, but horribly called. Twice there should have been flagrant fouls called against Miami, both committed against Ben Simmons. In the first half, Simmons was undercut by Miami’s Josh Richardson, which is a dirty play and was not even reviewed.

In the second half, Goren Dragic punched Simmons in the back of the head right in front of the official, who only calls a technical foul, not a flagrant. Not only was it the incorrect call, but by not calling a flagrant, Philly loses a possession.

Not to be outdone, James Johnson decided that since he wasn’t effective playing basketball (31 minutes and four points), he would get in some MMA practice. On the same play, Johnson punched Marco Belinelli with his right fist and clubed J.J. Redick in the back with his left.

Again, this officiating crew calls a technical foul, instead of a flagrant foul. Thank goodness this Miami team has been put to rest.

SIXERS TIDBITS

J.J. Redick showed a lot of class in the Sixers’ locker room after the game. After Brett Brown gave a nice speech, he anointed J.J. to ring the bell, signifying that he had the best game. J.J. gave the bell back to Brown and told him to ring the bell, since it was his first playoff series win.

NEXT GAME — at Boston, TBD

There is no way Milwaukee wins in Boston if that series gets to a Game 7 in Boston. Against Boston, most of the thuggery will be perpetrated against Embiid, however Miami gave Philly a good reference point on how the NBA playoffs are officiated.

Next: Sixers' glue guys give them an advantage

Hopefully Al Horford will get called for at least one of his illegal screens early in the game to keep them to a minimum.