In Wednesday’s first Eastern Conference play-in game, the 7-seed Philadelphia 76ers rallied to defeat the 8-seed Miami Heat, 105-104. Following an ugly first quarter by both teams, it was the Heat who turned it up a notch in the second quarter. Thanks in part to its zone defense frustrating Philadelphia, Miami outscored the Sixers by 11 points in the second quarter and took a 12-point lead into halftime.
As a result of their listless play, the Sixers were met with loud booing from the home crowd.
“Lots of booing,” Joel Embiid said. “We stuck together. It just shows you that I don’t play my best, I don’t get to my spots the whole game until the fourth quarter, and we still find a way to win.”
Still dealing with a sore knee, Embiid finished with 23 points and 15 rebounds. Kyle Lowry and Tobias Harris combined to shoot 7-of-20, but Nicolas Batum was huge off the bench — draining six three-pointers en route to 20 points. For Miami, the defeat wasn’t the worst part of the night. Star guard Jimmy Butler injured his knee in the first half and was clearly hampered the rest of the way.
“It felt like I couldn’t do too much, which sucks with the timing of the game and everything,” Butler said. “I hope that I’m fine. I hope that I wake up tomorrow and can still stick-and-move. Right now, I can’t stay that’s the case.”
While Butler maintained hope following the game, sources revealed Thursday morning that Butler will miss multiple weeks with a right MCL injury. Butler’s absence will be massive for the Heat, but they still have enough talent to defeat the Chicago Bulls on Friday.
“We will do this the hard way,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “That has to be the path right now. We’re going to rest up, treat up, rally around each other up, get ready for Friday. Again, embrace these competitive games. It will be competitive in front of our home fans.”
