PLAYER GRADES: Philadelphia 76ers 124, Miami Heat 114

The Philadelphia 76ers put together an impressive team win on the road against a solid Miami Heat squad. This was the Sixers’ final game without their newly acquired star, Jimmy Butler.

The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Miami Heat 124-114 on the second night of their three-game road trip. This marked the Sixers’ second road win of the season, boosting their record to 9-6. The 76ers previously had a seven-game losing streak in American Airlines Arena in Miami but ended that tonight.

There were a few pre-game storylines, including the 76ers calling up Demetrius Jackson and rookie Shake Milton from their G-League affiliate, the Delaware Blue Coats, to fill out the shallow roster. The Sixers inserted J.J Redick and Wilson Chandler into the starting lineup for the second game in a row to compensate for the loss Dario Saric and Robert Covington. Lastly, Landry Shamet rocked his new No. 1 jersey and Mike Muscala returned from a broken nose suffered in practice, rocking the clear face mask.

The Sixers kept their turnovers down, only committing 15 on the night. The team made 15 three-pointers, shooting 41.7 percent in the win. Joel Embiid had a monster game with 35 points and 18 rebounds and J.J Redick added an efficient 25 points.

Here are five player grades from tonight’s game followed by the full game recap.

The Sixers led 32-26 at the end of the first quarter shooting 52 percent from the field. Joel Embiid led the way with 10 points and six rebounds while Redick had nine points.  Redick shot early at a high clip. Every early possession included J.J running through a set of screens, receiving a DHO or getting a double screen to catch and shoot an off-balanced jumper.

Hassan Whiteside has a history with Joel Embiid similar to the competitiveness between Jo and Andre Drummond. Hassan started the game hot, making his first five attempts, including a corner three and deep 22-foot jumper to start the game. Whiteside told Embiid: “You ain’t gonna do me like Drummond, playa”. This statement turned out to be false.

The Miami Heat started the second quarter on a 14-0 run in the first few minutes. They stayed in the lead until the end of the quarter which saw the Sixers go on a 7-0 run to go into halftime with a 64-62 lead.

The Kork was popped in Miami in the second quarter. Furkan Korkmaz showed the Sixers why they should have picked up his option for next season and why they shouldn’t trade for Kyle Korver (or another shooter). He went 3-4 on from three to contribute 10 points, including a Jamal Crawford-esque and-one three-pointer to start his hot second quarter.

The story of the second quarter was Markelle Fultz‘s deteriorating free throw form. Markelle’s free throws have been visibly worsening over the last week or so. The hitch in his shot is slowly coming back and on his third attempt of the game, he double-clutched on his free throw.

Sadly, it looked like a glitch. Fultz and Hanlen supposedly aren’t working together any more according to reports. This is not a good sign for Sixers fans.

Joel Embiid had a solid first half scoring, taking several free throws and drawing fouls on Whiteside.

Both teams shot well through one half. Philly shot 48.8 percent, including 10 made threes, while Miami shot 47.8 percent with 9 threes made. The Sixers only committed 5 turnovers, which is a great sign due to their historical turnover issues.

The Sixers got it rolling in the third quarter. Hassan Whiteside committed his fourth personal foul early in the third forcing Eric Spoelstra to put Bam Adebayo and Kelly Olynyk in for the remainder of the third. Embiid took advantage of the mismatch (every NBA center is a mismatch for Embiid), drawing more fouls. He had 29 points on only 10 field goal attempts through the third period to go along with 13 rebounds.

J.J. Redick had a hot third quarter. Through three, he had 23 points. The Heat struggled to fight through the series of screens J.J ran through to catch pinpoint passes from Fultz and Simmons.

The Sixers crashed the boards and were aggressive diving for 50/50 balls in the third. Jimmy Butler has to be impressed with the team’s effort on both sides of the ball watching tonight. The Sixers led 96-90 through three quarters.

Whiteside picked up his fifth foul with 8:28 left in the fourth due to the elite foul-drawing ability of Embiid. Joel Embiid has used an off-dribble step-back three recently, and tonight with two minutes left in the fourth, he nailed one in Whiteside’s face to put Philly up 11. The very next play Ben Simmons blew by his defender to finish an electrifying right-handed tomahawk to put them up 13.

Ben Simmons had a great fourth quarter. He used Muscala and Embiid screens to blast by tired Heat defenders to finish dunks a few times in the quarter. He manned the offense and conserved the Sixers’ lead to close out the game.

The Sixers played Simmons, Embiid, Redick, and Korkmaz the majority of the fourth to close the game. Muscala and Wilson Chandler replaced each other throughout the last eight minutes to give the Sixers much needed play at the four.

This lineup always had shooting and defensive versatility to defend multiple positions on switches. Furkan had a career-high 16 points and closed out the game nailing all of his free throws to secure the win.

This was a solid team win on the road. Embiid and Redick had solid offensive performances along with Furkan Korkmaz’s coming out party. This marked the teams’ second road win boosting them to 9-6 on the year.

This win sets the 76ers up perfectly for the arrival of Jimmy Butler on Wednesday night against the Orlando Magic.