THE DEFENSE RESTS By Anthony Chiang Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Heat turn it up to limit 76ers’ shooting, help secure playoff position.
The Heat needed vintage Dwyane Wade to beat the 76ers last week. On Thursday, the Heat needed a vintage defensive performance. Miami (35-31) used the type of defense that
has won it so many games over the years to earn an important 108-99 victory over Philadelphia (35-29) at AmericanAirlines Arena. The
win tied the season series between the teams at 2 and pulled the seventh-place Heat within
one game of the sixth-place 76ers in the Eastern Conference standings.
Aside from Philadelphia’s 24 fast-break points, Miami’s defense was dominant. The Heat limited the 76ers to 39.5 percent shooting and forced 18 turnovers.
And Miami turned its defense up in the fourth quarter, holding Philadelphia to 7-of-22 (31.8 percent) shooting over the final 12 minutes to turn a one-point deficit entering the fourth into
the victory.
The Heat’s offense wasn’t bad either. Miami made 13 of its 18 shots in the fourth, including 5-of-6 on 3-pointers.
Heat center Hassan Whiteside won his individual matchup with 76ers center Joel Embiid, too. Whiteside finished with 26 points on 9-of-12 shooting and eight rebounds, while Embiid struggled with 17 points on 5-of-18 shooting.
The Heat inserted Tyler Johnson back into the starting lineup Thursday that also featured Goran Dragic, Josh Richardson, James Johnson and Hassan Whiteside.
Here are our five takeaways:
Fourth-quarter dominance: Miami used dominant defense to outscore Philadelphia 35-25 in the period. The Heat shot 72.2 percent while limiting the 76ers to 31.8 percent shooting in the fourth, and it was the bench that got a lot of the work done for Miami. The Heat’s reserves combined to score 25 of their 35 points in the quarter, with Wayne Ellington scoring nine and Wade adding eight. Justise Winslow played the entire period, recording six points, two rebounds, one assist, one steal and two blocks over the final 12 minutes. The fourth quarter formula will be different for the Heat from game to game, and it was the bench that stepped up late this time.
The return of Wayne Ellington: After missing four consecutive games with a left quad contusion, Ellington made his return. He made his presence felt right away, making three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to finish with nine points, three rebounds and two assists in 22 minutes. But the best news for Miami is that he’s healthy and he’s playing. It’s clear that the Heat are a better team with Ellington on the court, as he owns the second-best plus-minus on the team at plus-100 this season.
McGruder, Babbitt odd men out?: They were on Thursday. With the return of Ellington, the Heat have 14 healthy players and 12 who can make a case to be in the rotation — Winslow, Goran Dragic, Josh Richardson, Tyler Johnson, Whiteside, Ellington, Bam Adebayo, James Johnson, Luke Babbitt, Dwyane Wade, Rodney McGruder and KellyOlynyk. It leaves coach Erik Spoelstra with some tough decisions. Miami used 10 players against Philadelphia, with Babbitt and McGruder as the odd men out. But this doesn’t necessarily mean those two will be out of the rotation moving forward. Spoelstra has made it clear that matchups will dictate the bottom end of the Heat’s rotation on a game-to-game basis. Just take a look at Bam Adebayo’s past few games. The rookie played a total of nine minutes over the two games preceding Thursday’s contest, andlogged 14 minutes against the 76ers.
The end of Vice: Want to see the Heat play more games in their Miami Vice-themed uniform? You will have to wait. The Heat played their 15th and final game in the colorful ensemble on Thursday. Miami posted an 8-7 record in the uniforms, which created a social media stir when they were revealed in January.There’s been no decision made whether the Vice look will be back next season. But based onthe uniform’s popularity, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see them again in a few months.
Heat stay in seventh, but gain ground in standings: Even after the win, the Heat remained in seventh place in the Eastern Conference. But the Heat did increase their lead over the eighthplace Milwaukee Bucks to one-half game. And Miami also pulled to within one game of No. 6 Philadelphia, and 2.5 games of No. 5 Indiana and No. 4 Washington. With 16 games remaining, every result is important at this point. Want more good news? It looks like the Heat will be one of the East’s eight teams to make the postseason, barring a collapse, as they now own a 5.5-game lead over the ninth-place Pistons.