3 biggest takeaways for Sixers following critical loss to Heat
· Yahoo Sports
MIAMI -- The Philadelphia 76ers paid a visit to the Miami Heat on Monday looking to lock down another important win. In the midst of a tight playoff race in the Eastern Conference, every game is important down the stretch of the season, but they came up short 119-109 as the Heat took the tiebreaker away from Philadelphia.
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Joel Embiid had 26 points, seven rebounds, and four assists for Philadelphia. Tyrese Maxey had 23 points, nine assists, Paul George had 19 points and seven rebounds, and VJ Edgecombe had 13 and four assists. Kelly Oubre Jr. added 11 points and 11 rebounds while Quentin Grimes had 11 points.
Here are the three biggest takeaways after the loss on the road:
George left on the sidelines
The Sixers subbed Edgecombe in for George at the 7:24 mark of the fourth quarter and the 9-time All-Star did not return until the 1:35 mark. It's not like the Sixers didn't plan on having him return sooner. He was sitting at the scorer's table for quite some time, but he was unable to get in the game as there was not a dead ball situation for him to check back into the game. The Heat then used a big surge late to take a 111-107 lead before George could return and it ultimately led to a Miami win. Coach Nick Nurse had timeouts, but he wanted to save them for the end of the game.
"We were trying to get him in, obviously," Nurse explained after the loss. "I think it was the 5-and-a-half mark and there wasn’t a whistle at all in that stretch. We had two timeouts left. We kinda had to burn one. We would’ve probably burned one sooner, but it’s tough to burn those when you only have two left. You wanna save them for the end and it looked like it was gonna be a close game. It ended up costing us some very valuable minutes with him."
Embiid's up and down night
On paper, the big fella had himself a solid night. He had 26 points, he knocked down two 3s, and grabbed seven rebounds while dishing out three assists. However, he shot only 10-for-25 on the night, and had three turnovers. It was not the best night for the 2023 MVP winner as he also had some defensive lapses that led to some easy buckets for the Heat. While he deserves credit for playing while sick, which is what he revealed after the loss, it wasn't the type of performance the Sixers needed on the road.
"A pretty good number of shots, right? 25," said Nurse. "I think he took good shots most of the time. He had a bunch of them rim out or roll out. We kinda gave him that good rest period there. I thought he’d have a good stretch. He came in and off it hit two or three in a row, but then missed two or three in a row, but shots we want him taking."
Losing Tyler Herro late
After Embiid knocked down a 3 to put the Sixers up four with 3:22 to go, the Heat made their move. Bam Adebayo had a put-back dunk, and Tyler Herro got loose for two 3s in quick succession to put the Heat in control. Miami then received a bucket from Jaime Jaquez Jr., one from Pelle Larsson, and another Herro bucket, which ultimately put the Sixers away. The two triples that Herro quickly threw in really changed the game in Miami's favor. It was Philadelphia losing him that proved to be the difference in a tough road environment.
"He had two 3s, transition 3s, man," Maxey said of Herro. "He got open. Open ones, man. I don't know if we turned it over or missed a shot or what happened. He got two wide open 3s and any good shooter is gonna knock those down. He hit big shots."
This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: 3 biggest takeaways for Sixers following critical loss to Heat