By: Kylan Watson

The Philadelphia 76ers faced the Miami Heat in their regular season home finale. Both of these teams traded blows throughout this game, but the Heat made it rain from the three-point line and blew the Sixers off their home-floor 129-101.

Philly had a sluggish start to this game as they missed a few of their shots and the Heat took full advantage of the early power outage. They were able to get their shots to fall, particularly from the three-point line. Miami made 18/39 three-pointers and that proved to be the difference in this game, especially in the first quarter as they were able to get an 18-point lead at the end of the period. It did not matter how many shots the Sixers made. The fact that the Heat could not miss from the three-point line made their defensive lives miserable tonight. Tyler Herro and Jimmy Butler combined for 48 of the Heat’s 129-points in the contest. They got whatever they wanted from the field and Philly could do nothing to stop them tonight.  The defensive effort was not there for them, although they could not improve their seeding from the three spot. They could have put the Heat squarely in the play-in tournament with a win tonight. That clearly was not enough motivation for Philly tonight as they are going with the keep everybody healthy strategy. Instead of going for it in the last three games of the season.

Despite the fact that the Sixers did not have it throughout this game they continued to fight. At one-point in this game they were able to cut the Miami lead to 13-points, but the Heat always had an answer to stop their momentum. Philly is clearly using these last few games to figure out who is in the playoff rotation. The starters are not expected to play throughout this last stretch of games so the second unit will get plenty of run against the Atlanta Hawks and Brooklyn Nets to decide if they want to give the Sixers coaching staff a reason to play them in the postseason. This will be an important stretch for Jalen McDaniels (10-points, hit two/five three-pointers tonight) who Philly traded for to be a defensive answer for the wings they will be facing in the playoffs. He has been making an impact on the offensive side as of late as he has been taking full advantage of his three-point opportunities. If he can continue to become a threat from the three-point line, he will be a huge difference maker in the post season. His defensive prowess has allowed Philly to give teams multiple looks since his addition in mid-February and he will be one of the pivotal pieces off the bench for the Sixers.

The Sixers will play the Atlanta Hawks tomorrow night and they will need to continue to use ball movement on the offensive side. They are at their best when the ball is moving and finding the open man for a high-percentage shot opportunity. Additionally, they will need to stay attached to their man if they want to keep Trae Young and Dejounte Murray in check tomorrow night. If they implement these things, they can get their 53^rd victory of the season.