20 points fiasco! For the first time, the Heat face a real challenge, and their playoffs are only officially starting today

In game three of the division semifinals, the Heat lost 79-99 to the 76ers on the road, and the series score was chased to 1-2.

It's not the first time the Heat have lost in the playoffs this year, but it's the first time they've faced a real test. For them, starting today, the playoff battle is officially started.

The Heat unexpectedly reached the Finals as a dark horse in the 2020 Orlando Rematch Park, although the final 2-4 loss to the Lakers rekindled the championship hopes of Miami fans. Last season, they failed to draw reinforcements, their form was greatly affected, and they were swept by the Bucks in the first round. But Pat Riley made adjustments in time, signing Kyle Lowry, PJ Tucker and other tough players in a row last summer, and made a comeback this season, once again low-key to the championship impact.

In the regular season, the Heat still achieved a record of 53 wins and 29 losses under the difficult circumstances of the four cores of Butler, Adebayo, Lowry and Hiro who missed a total of 86 games due to injuries and other reasons, and won the first place in the East, and have shown championship strength. However, since there are no top superstars in the team, they are often overlooked when people discuss the favorites of the title race.

In the first round of the series with the Hawks, the Heat easily advanced 4-1, played 76ers in the division semifinals, and won consecutive big wins from the beginning, establishing a 2-0 lead, and people exclaimed "Wolves are coming". But in fact, underestimating the Heat is a mistake, and it is equally unnecessary to exaggerate their 6-1 playoff start. Because in these 7 games, they have never faced a real challenge.

The Hawks made their way to the Eastern Conference Finals last season, which was awe-inspiring, but this season their defense slipped significantly, and finally only as the ninth in the East, they snatched a playoff ticket through the playoffs. Among the opponents they defeated, the Hornets were too young and inexperienced, the Cavaliers were plagued by injuries, and in a way, the Eagles only pulled the generals out of the shells to squeeze on the final train of the playoffs.

Not only that, the Eagles' defensive stalwart Clint Capela missed the first three games of the series because of a knee injury, G4 and G5 returned, but each game can only play about 20 minutes, the second boss John Collins although the line of fire returned, but obviously has not fully recovered, in this state to face the Heat, of course, there is no chance.

The Hawks only stole a victory in game three of the series with Trae Young's last-minute outburst. In the entire first round of the series, the Heat averaged 12 points per game net victory over the opponent, second only to the Bucks, ranking second in the league, which can be said to be bloodless.

Facing the 76ers in the second round, it was supposed to be a more intense group showdown, but it did not come to mind, the opponent's star Joel Embiid was hit in the face by the opponent in the case of the last game of the first round, which basically lost suspense, resulting in an eye socket fracture, and concussion symptoms, and could not play in the first two games. As a result, the Heat won both games easily by double digits and seemed to be "lying in the East Finals".

But today, with Embiid's comeback, the 76ers are back to being "fully physical," and while this team still has many problems, with their level of talent, they are still able to cause trouble for any team, including the Heat, of course.

In this game, the Heat's defense was still online, forcing the opponent to make 10 mistakes in the first half, shooting 34.3% of the shooting rate, and only letting the opponent score 41 points after two quarters. But their own feel was even more icy, with 2-of-16 shooting from outside the three-point line in the entire first half, shooting just 32.6 percent from the field, and a halftime score of 34 points being the second-lowest of the season, including in the regular season.

In the second half, when the biggest X factor opposite Teres Maxi began to find a crosshair, cut 21 points at halftime, and danny Green, a veteran who shot 3 three-pointers in the first half, also had no loss of style, and when he shot in a row, Miami's shooter group was still sleepwalking, so the game began to gradually lose its balance.

Objectively speaking, the Heat's loss has an accidental factor. While they're not the best projection team in the league, a long-range performance of 7 of 30 shots is not a normal result anyway. But in addition, Embiid's return has indeed brought a clear impact on the defensive end, and Adebayor, who scored 47 points on 15-of-21 shooting in the first two games of the series, only scored 9 points on 2-of-9 shooting today, which is the most direct difference.

There is no longer an advantage on the inside line, the outside line has lost the crosshair, and the whole game has only scored 79 points, even if the defense is strong, it is difficult to win after all. After all, the ultimate goal of basketball is to send the ball to the opponent's basket.

The Heat are a team that works harder than it is talented, and the whole team has no rookie with the top ten picks except for Oladipo, whose form has been greatly reduced after a serious injury. Therefore, defense first has become a natural team building philosophy and victory philosophy for this team.

As Heat journalist Brady Hawk commented on social media: "This game is a true portrayal of the Heat — they're a team that competes with suffocating defense and intermittent offense, but it's still enough for them to win this phase of the game, just to solve those half-court offenses.

It is precisely because of the sticking to the defensive philosophy that the Heat, even if they shot so badly from the outside today, still did not use Duncan Robinson, who was almost completely abandoned in this series. As we all know, Dunro is an elite level shooter, even if he has not performed well this season, he still has a 37.2% three-point shooting rate, but at the same time, he is also the Heat's biggest defensive loophole, always becoming the target of opponents' "roll call".

As early as the end of the regular season, the Heat had already replaced Dunroe's starting position with Strus, who was also good at projection but slightly better defensively, and this series began to give Oladipo, who had just returned from injury, a large number of playing opportunities, hoping that he could find his form and become a flanking answer with both attack and defense.

In fact, this year's playoffs have been played to this day, and the Heat have never shown 100% strength and are completely serious. Perhaps with absolute confidence in the victory over the opponent in front of them, they have been adjusting the lineup and even arranging for the veteran to take a break - Butler missed the first round of G5, and Lowry was injured and rested for 4 consecutive games, all of which represented Spoo's "fearlessness".

If today's game with the 76ers is not 2-0 in hand, but a life-and-death tie-up of the seventh, I believe that With Spoo's adaptability, a shooter like Dunro who has proven himself and has enough tacit understanding with the team will definitely get a chance to perform in the second half.

Losing to the 76ers today just changed the Heat's lead from 2 to 1, and given Harden's declining form and Embiid's fitness level, they're still the one with the initiative in their hands.

Still, the loss was enough to sound a wake-up call for the Heat: they had the strength to compete for the title, but the competition was fierce. Even if the 76ers are successfully broken, the division final will be a more dangerous battle against both the Celtics and the Bucks.

The Heat's playoff start was easier and smoother than any other opponent, but it wasn't necessarily all good relative to their ultimate goal.