On April 18, the first game of the Eastern Conference play-offs started, the 76ers sat at home to meet the challenge of the Heat, and finally Embiid first suppressed and then Yang got 23 + 15 + 5, Harden traded the head Batum became a wonder soldier, came off the bench to score 20 points, and finally the 76ers fell behind by up to 14 points, achieved a big reversal, narrowly defeated the Heat by 1 point, and entered the playoffs as the seventh seed in the East.
The game returns:
At the beginning of the first quarter of the game, the 76ers took the lead in launching an offensive, blossoming inside and outside the line, and successfully controlled the rhythm on the court. However, the Heat team was not to be outdone, fought back, blossomed more, and blasted out a wave of 14-2 strong counterattacks, successfully overtaking the score. Although Butler was knocked down by Oubre during the race, luckily it was fine. Entering the second quarter, the Heat continued to maintain their firepower, gradually expanding their advantage and leading by double digits. At this point, Batum stepped up and hit a three-pointer to break the deadlock. Then, the Heat launched another three-point offensive and hit three consecutive three-pointers to end the first half with a 51-39 lead.
In the second half, the two sides changed sides and fought again, and the 76ers quickly launched a counterattack, and the inside and outside lines blossomed again, playing a 12-2 attack wave and successfully narrowing the difference. Love and Harks hit three-pointers in quick succession to stabilize the situation for the 76ers. In the final quarter of the game, the 76ers made another effort, and a wave of 10-2 attack wave successfully overtook the score. Since then, the battle between the two sides has entered a white-hot phase, and every point counts. At the critical moment, the 76ers played 2+1 in a row to establish a lead. Batum sealed the win with a crucial block in the final minute of the match. In the end, the 76ers narrowly defeated the Heat 105-104 and advanced to the playoffs as the seventh place in the East.
Why did the Heat, who never relented in the key battle, be reversed when they were leading by 14 points, who is the culprit in this game, the data doesn't lie, let's take a look!
Butler, the Heat's number one star, failed to replicate last season's heroism in this game. Last season, the Heat entered the playoffs as the eighth in the East through the play-offs, and Butler turned on the God of War mode in the first round, successfully defeated the Bucks, and wrote the legend of the Black Eight. He led the team through five hurdles and six players all the way to the Finals, and although they eventually lost to the Nuggets, Butler's outstanding performance in the playoffs still put a tough label on the Heat. However, in this game, Butler shot just 5-of-18 from the field and finished with 19 points, five assists and five steals. At key moments in the game, he failed to step up and take over the game, and he was "bullied" by Oubre on the defensive end on several occasions.
However, Butler had a good overall performance in the first half, scoring 10 points on 2-of-8 shooting and 6-of-7 free throws in 19 minutes, plus 1 rebound, 4 assists and 4 steals, with a plus/minus of +12. However, in the second half, the injury in the first quarter had a significant impact on his combat effectiveness, which greatly reduced his performance, and he did not dare to exert his strength at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends.
Adebayo, as the star of the Heat's interior line, Adebayo played 31 minutes in this game, shooting 5 of 9, 0 of 2 three-pointers, getting 10 points, 12 rebounds, 1 assist and 2 blocks, plus or minus -8, Adebayo's performance can only be said to be decent, the efficiency is not low, the bright performance is basically none, and the rebounding performance is good, but compared with last season's playoffs, Adebayo still needs to stand up and take on more offensive roles.
Herro, although he contributed 25 points and 9 assists in this game, his offensive efficiency was obviously not satisfactory. He shot just six shots and scored nine points in the game, including just four of 14 three-pointers and five turnovers. In free throws, he made 2 of 2 free throws. It can be seen that Herro's performance on the offensive end was relatively inefficient and failed to show his due strength as the future successor of the Heat. With Butler unable to perform at full strength due to injury, Herro's poor performance undoubtedly took a toll on the team's system. Compared to last season's Vincent and Strus, Herro's tactical role is obviously much inferior.
The other two players in the Heat's starters, Jovic and Martin, have no sense of presence at all, Jovic's offensive success is very high, 2 shots 2, 3 points 1 of 1, but only played 14 points in the whole game, scored 5 points, Martin shot 2 of 3, 3 points and 1 of 1, got 5 points and 5 rebounds; the Heat's shots are all focused on Herro, but Herro is too inefficient, and if the Heat want to win, they still play a game like last season, and let all players participate in the offense.
The Heat's bench, although the 76ers' bench Batum scored 20 points, but the Heat's bench also performed very well, Harkes scored 15 points and 5 rebounds on 6-of-11 shooting, Love shot 3-of-5, 2-of-4 from 3-point, scored 10 points, Wright scored 6 points, Highsmith scored 9 points, all four of them had positive plus/minus, and it was their outstanding performance at the beginning of the second quarter that gave the Heat a 14-point lead.
It is not difficult to see that the main problem of the Heat is Herro, after the departure of Vincent, Lowry, and Strus, the Heat had to re-task Herro in the backcourt, Herro averaged nearly 21 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists per game in the regular season, and the 3-point shooting rate was 39.6% , but Herro has not proven himself in the playoffs, last year's Heat reached the Finals and Herro has nothing to do with it, his efficiency in this game is too low, the Heat ball is concentrated on him, it is definitely a big gamble, obviously, the Heat need to get more crosshairs good ball rights involved in the offense. Otherwise it's hard for them to make the playoffs!