The Miami Heat came into Game 3 of their second-round NBA Playoff series against the Philadelphia 76ers riding high after dominating the first two matchups of this series.
With the momentum swinging back towards Philly though and even being down 0-2, with the series shifting to their place and the potential return of Joel Embiid, things were sure to be tough.
And tough they were, as the 76ers came out firing.
Joel Embiid came out and immediately made a mark on the game. Though he wasn’t sharp, you can’t teach his size and ability to manipulate things the way he does.
Be that the spacing on the floor, his team’s defense with his size, the ability of the officials to make the proper calls, or the Miami Heat’s defense with his ability to help get or create shots for his teammates, the man is a presence on the floor and in a multitude of ways.
The Miami Heat dropped Game 3 to the 76ers in Philadelphia. However, it took one of their worst performances of the year to do it by only scoring 79 points.
Even still though, the Miami Heat had a chance to win this game. On the back of an epic Jimmy Butler third period to bring them back down from double-digits, the Miami Heat would tie the ball game at a point in the third, only to be down by 3 heading into the fourth, 65-68.
As it had all night long though, outside of Jimmy’s heroics in the third period, the Miami Heat offense failed them in the fourth period. Listen, the Philadelphia 76ers weren’t special, at all.
But, the Miami Heat were even worse than that. This was their second-worst offensive showing of the entire year.
Scoring only 79 points total, they would only have one more game this season where they have scored fewer. That came way back at the beginning of the year against Boston, November 4th to be precise.
Listen, the Heat had to be as bad as they have been all year to lose the game. Besides, with the series shifting to Philly, them losing the way they had in the first two games, and Embiid’s return, they were bound to throw a heavy punch riding high off of all of that themselves.
Now, the Miami Heat must dig in and counter. You can be sure they will and also, you can be sure they won’t be this bad again for the rest of the playoffs.