The Miami Heat couldn’t handle the Philadelphia 76ers sharp shooting, as they drop Game 1 on the road 130-103.
What a rough start to the series.
That wasn’t the turnout the Miami Heat expected, after a closely contested first half. After what seemed like a back and forth battle, the Philadelphia 76ers adjusted their game plan and never looked back. They outscored Miami in the second half 74-43, with an incredible 40-point fourth quarter to end the game.
The Heat just didn’t find the answer to Philadelphia’s rotation switches and fell short as time ran out. Both teams came out firing and squared off well defensively, as they both couldn’t shake off each other. The Heat started with 13 assists on 14 field goals during the second quarter. The 76ers, with a touch similar to Miami’s, had 14 assists on 16 field goals. It was an evenly matched ball game.
At first.
The second half was all Philadelphia and Miami fell flat on their backs as their defense disintegrated.
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Here are key points as to why Miami was outscored and outnumbered on both ends of the court.
Miami didn’t find an answer to Philadelphia’s 3-point shooters
Philadelphia had the basketball gods on their side for the night. They were shooting lights out and weren’t missing anything from behind the arc. Dario Saric finished the night with 20 points, shooting 4-for-6 treys. J.J. Redick was the hot shooter, finishing with 28 points on 4-for-6 from behind the arc. Even Marco Belinelli had a spectacular run, as he notched 25 points with 4-for-7 3-pointers.
They had the hot hand for the night and left Miami dumbstruck with their play.
Hassan Whiteside, yet again, disappeared for the night
In a game without Joel Embiid, this was the right moment for Whiteside to dominate the paint and make his mark early on. He fell extremely short on that mission, as he simply couldn’t control Ersan Ilyasova and Amir Johnson physical posts in the paint. He looked sluggish and at times confused as to his role, early on.
He only played 12 minutes in the whole game, being immediately subbed with 7:54 left in the third quarter. He never came back.
Head coach Erik Spoelstra felt more comfortable and saw more production from his other bigs; Kelly Olynyk logged 31 minutes, while rookie Bam Adebayo finished the night with 21 minutes.
Kelly Olynyk was the leading scorer for the night, as his versatility impressed the team, lining up a stat line of 26 points and seven rebounds. Whiteside not so much, as he left frustrated with more question marks than answers after the game.
Miami’s defense couldn’t stop the run
With a game plan of limiting Ben Simmons as much as possible, Miami completely missed their defensive rotation switches, as the 76ers opened up the third on a 20-2 run. They couldn’t stop their transition runs and Simmons opened up more aspects to his game that caused more problems for Miami.
Simmons finished the night one rebound short of triple-double, silencing critics everywhere regarding playoff experience and whether or not he would be ready for the big stage. He finished the night with 17 points, nine rebounds, and 14 assists; an impressive night for his first playoff game.
Let’s hope Miami can find an answer to Philadelphia’s collective bench and score.
Next: Miami Heat Roundtable: And just like that, 2017-18 comes to an end
Game 2 will be Monday night in Philadelphia, as Miami goes back to the drawing board in search for answers to stop the 76ers’ hot hand.