TOUGH ENOUGH
Sixers fight back in Game 4 to take commanding 3-1 series lead over Heat
MIAMI » Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid certainly aren’t acting like playoff first-timers, and JJ Redick provided the veteran leadership that Philadelphia so desperately needed.
The 76ers might very well be the NBA’s team of the future.
And that future might be starting sooner than many envisioned.
Simmons was the first rookie to since Magic Johnson in 1980 to have a playoff triple-double, Redick led Philadelphia with 24 points and the 76ers moved one win from the second round by topping the Miami Heat 106102 on Saturday to take a 3-1 lead in their Eastern Conference first-round series.
“I’m shocked that we won this game,” 76ers coach Brett Brown said. “We really didn’t have a right to win the game.”
Here’s why he said that: His team turned the ball over 27 times, shot 7 for 31 from 3-point range and trailed by 12 late in the third quarter in an extremely hostile environment against a desperate opponent.
Despite it all, the 76ers were unfazed.
Philadelphia turned a 10-point deficit into a seven-point lead with a 19-2 run that ended midway through the fourth quarter, then absorbed the best shot Dwyane Wade could throw at the 76ers in the final minutes before heading home with a chance to close the Heat out in Game 5 on Tuesday.
Wade led all scorers with 25 points off the Heat bench, 12 of them coming in the fourth. But it wasn’t enough.
“They don’t let you off the hook,” Wade said, tipping his cap to the 76ers. “You make one mistake, or you take your foot off the gas for one second, they make you pay.”
Wade doesn’t have a contract for next season. He’s said if he plays, he’ll be back with Miami — though there’s no guarantees.
And that means Saturday might have been his last home game in a Heat uniform. If he knows what the future holds, he didn’t offer any hints.
“I’m focused on the next game, trying to win that one,” Wade said.
Simmons became the first rookie since Magic Johnson in 1980 to post a playoff triple-double — 17 points, 13 rebounds, 10 assists. Joel Embiid finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds for Philadelphia.
“We took care of business,” Embiid said.
Wade carried the comeback effort, with the Heat down six and less than 2 minutes left. His threepoint play cut the margin in half and his next two field goals got Miami within one each time. The Heat got no closer. Goran Dragic scored 20, James Johnson had 15 and Hassan Whiteside finished with 13 points and 13 rebounds for Miami, which now needs to pull off some history. The Heat have erased a 3-1 deficit only once, in 1997 against New York.
“We all feel that we’re this close,” said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, holding his thumb and index finger maybe a millimeter apart. “That’s what makes this game tough. They made
bigger plays than us in the fourth quarter.”
Miami held slim leads at the half — 2-0 in players who went to the locker room injured, 4-0 in stitches received, 61-56 on the scoreboard.