The Miami Heat contain Joel Embiid en route to beating the 76ers

The Miami Heat knew that they would be in for a fight heading into the Wells Fargo Center on Wednesday night. They wound up swinging the knockout blow.

The Miami Heat couldn’t have possibly been unmotivated heading into the Wells Fargo Center on Wednesday night. As they arrived at the home of the Philadelphia 76ers, they couldn’t have been thinking about anything any more than they were thinking about the last time that they were in that very building.

This was the occasion that saw them drubbed, ran out of the building, embarrassed, humiliated, blown out and every other clever way you can come up with to say “beat by a whole lot”. It was also a scenario that saw former Miami Heat player Josh Richardson have himself quite a night against his former team. This had to have been on the Miami Heat’s mind.

Well, it sure didn’t look like it to start the game, as it seemed as though we were in store for a repeat matchup of the first contest. As the second quarter started to unfold though, the Miami Heat not only closed a 12 point deficit, but eventually were able to go up by eight points to close the half up, 48-56.

The Miami Heat would go up by as much as 16 points, until the 76ers tried to close the gap entirely entering the last two minutes of the game. When the game got tight, Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo made the plays that eventually brought the game home for the Miami Heat.

The big takeaway from this game for me was how effective the zone defense was at limiting Joel Embiid. Although he went for 22 points and 19 rebounds on the night, much of that was noneffective, in that it wasn’t at the most crucial or game-changing points of the game.

He still put up the numbers, nonetheless, but it was when the Heat allowed him to do it that mattered the most. He should get used to seeing a steady diet of that from the Miami Heat and perhaps even the rest of the league once the tape makes the rounds.

The Miami Heat gutted out a win tonight and a much-needed one at that. It wasn’t so much a must-win in the traditional sense of needing a win that badly, but it was that in the instance of needing to beat a team that humiliated you, in order that you and they both know that you can win, and because it is very likely they may see each other in the postseason.

The Miami Heat are back it at home on Friday, as they welcome in the New York Knickerbockers. It should be a scheduled win, especially after they let go of Coach Fizz earlier this month. What a win on Wednesday though!