92-106, the 76ers lost to the Heat in the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs, losing the first game of the series. It should be said that in the first half alone, the 76ers still have the strength to compete with the Heat, but after returning from the second half, the Heat once again opened the point difference to more than 10 points in the third quarter and completely grasped the initiative on the court.
Both Embiid, the core of the 76ers' interior, and Lowry, the heat's main point guard, are out of the game due to injury, but it is clear that Embiid's role in the 76ers is greater than lowry's role in the Heat.
The impact of Embiid's injury time on the 76ers is obvious, after all, this is an MVP-level star who averaged 30.6 points, 11.7 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.5 blocks and 1.1 steals per game in the regular season, and specific to this game, the impact of Embiid's absence is manifested in many aspects.
First of all, the 76ers fell behind in rebounding, the two teams rebounded 37-47, the Heat won 10, including the Heat also grabbed 15 frontcourt rebounds. PJ Tucker, who is only 1.96 meters tall, grabbed 5 rebounds in the frontcourt alone, while Jordan Jr., who started embiid, only grabbed 2 rebounds in 17 minutes and 16 seconds, which shows how bad the 76ers have rebound protection.
Second, without Embiid's containment on the inside, the Heat can focus most of their defensive energy on the outside, which directly allows the 76ers to shoot a terrible shooting rate outside the three-point line. Harden shot 2-of-7, Maxi 1-of-6, Harris 1-of-4, Danny Green 1-of-5, Niang 7-of-0, and the 76ers shot 6-of-34 from three-point range and shot just 17.6 percent from the field.
Although the Heat's three-point shooting rate is only 25%, after all, Hiro's 4 of 6 three-pointers and Tucker's 4 of 4 still have a trustworthy three-pointer, and the Heat, who control the initiative on the court most of the time, have 13 more shots than the 76ers, and it is not so surprising to win.
Third, Hiro, who scored 25 points and 7 assists, is the primary contributor to the Heat to seal the win, but if you look at the whole game, Adebayo, who shot 24 points, 12 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 1 block, is more worthy of the MVP of this game, and his plus-minus value is also +26. But it's clear that Adebayor can do whatever he wants on the inside of the 76ers, and Embiid's absence is an important factor.
The 76ers made 14 turnovers throughout the game, which also gave the Heat a lot of opportunities to fight back, of course, the Heat also made many mistakes, reaching 11 times, especially in the first half. But in the end, the 76ers, who only resisted the half, were powerless in the second half against the heat of the attack.
As some fans say, Lowry is the engine of the Heat, and it can still run, but the performance may not be as good as the original; and Embiid is the chassis of the 76ers, and it may be scattered if it is replaced.