Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Sixers are just more talented then Heat
Simmons, Embiid are best players in this series
There was the theory the Miami Heat missed too many foul shots, the theory they still need more from Hassan Whiteside, and the theory they lost Game 4 on Saturday after breaking down defensively on two season-bending Philadelphia 76ers possessions. All of which is true. All of which they admitted afterward. “We had too many errors, especially in crunch time when we needed it, me included,” James Johnson said.
Here’s another theory for the trouble they’re in — the 76ers are better. By a lot. By as much as their 3-1 series advantage shows.
Sometimes, you see, the magic is on the other side in sports. It sure is this series. Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid are the two best players on the court by about the distance from here to Philadelphia. That margin isn’t shrinking as the series goes on, either.
If the Heat don’t like hearing that, they have one game to do something about it, though the thought is if they could do anything it would have happened at home on Saturday.
Philadelphia didn’t even have to play its best game to beat the Heat. If you want to get offended as a Heat fan, there’s the real issue with Saturday, the one that shows you just how far out of anything important they are.
Philadelphia shot a smelly 7 of 31 on its staple of 3-pointers. It had a staggering 26 turnovers. Those are losing numbers in any game, especially the playoffs.
“I’m shocked that we won this game,” Philadelphia coach Brett Brown said. “We didn’t really have a right.”
He gave his defense a “C-minus” through three quarters.
“The turnovers were an ‘F,’ he said.
All that mattered is Philadelphia had Simmons and Embiid, and the Heat had no answers. For four years, the Heat had trouble like that when they stepped on any court and rode it to four consecutive NBA Finals and two titles.
Simmons had 17 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists on Saturday, the first triple-double by a rookie in the postseason since Magic Johnson. Embiid had 14 points, 12 rebounds and five blocked shots.
“I think those two players have a chance to be great and they are ours,” Brown said.
Against them Saturday down the stretch: Dwyane Wade. He’s still tough. Still valiant. Still 36 years old. He scored seven consecutive points to keep the Heat in it, but the collection of shooting 13 of 25 on foul shots and some bone-headed thinking finished them.
One play came when Simmons drove to the basket, uncontested, for an easy dunk with 58 seconds left to put Philadelphia up, 102-99.
“I should’ve showed [to slow Simmons off a screen], and I didn’t,” Josh Richardson said. “I didn’t give any help on that. I left him on his own.”
JJ Redick was then left wide open in the corner with 30 seconds left. Two more points.
“It happens,” James Johnson said of the late-game issues. “I just wish it didn’t happen in this situation tonight.”
The Heat’s building blocks, the ones they need, aren’t doing much. They’re fine. They’ve had some moments. Justise Winslow in the first half of Game 3. Josh Richardson had seven steals on Saturday. Tyler Johnson has a bum thumb. Hassan Whiteside (13 points, 13 rebounds), helped on Saturday.
But all you needed to know about who’s taking progressive steps forward is Wade got the ball and the plays called for him, time after time, with the game on the line. Not their rising players who are now a few years into careers.
“We did a lot of things well enough to put ourselves in a better position to win — we just didn’t win,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.
That’s the Heat’s side of this series. The Philadelphia side is of a team that’s won 19 of its past 20 games and has the talent to run through the Eastern Conference this spring. Maybe they do, too.
The Heat can look at this series and see themselves — not the 2018 version, but maybe the 2005 version. Remember? The young Wade. The veteran Shaquille O’Neal. All the various parts started to click and they won a title in 2006.
Philadelphia might be too young this year. But they’re ready to cash out of this series. The Heat’s missed foul shots and misplays down the stretch cost them any chance to win. The real problem is simpler — Philadelphia is flat-out better.