Miami Heat revert to non-shooting form in back-half of 76ers set, 119-96

The Miami Heat had another game against the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night, however, some might question if the Miami Heat actually knew they had a game after seeing it play out.

In the opposite fashion of their last contest on Monday night, the last time either team saw the floor, the Miami Heat reverted back to the form they had shown in their first two games since the All-Star break was over.

But it wasn’t just in the shooting department, as the Miami Heat were also able to force the 76ers into committing a ton of beneficial turnovers in the last game. Only forcing nine in Wednesday’s contest, as compared to the 20 from Monday’s win over this Philly team, it was a terrible night to also not give yourself those easy chances for scores.

Because with that and being tremendously outshot from the three-point line, the Miami Heat would drop the game in a very ugly fashion. And more toward the bad Heat shooting in this one, at one point near the end of the first half, the 76ers were shooting 60 percent from three on 20 attempts, and all while the Miami Heat were shooting 28 percent on 14 attempts.

And, of course, that’s just the thing.

The Miami Heat’s poor shooting ways got them again on Wednesday night. And all while not forcing 76er turnovers, it was a recipe for disaster.

To shoot as badly as the Miami Heat did is something that can absolutely cause you to lose, but to do so while you’re being outshot from a volume perspective as well is a totally different beast—both of which occurred on Wednesday.

That all speaks to how it all went down. Without their best player in the lineup for them, Joel Embiid, the 76ers deployed a lot of 5-out style of offensive play.

That, not only, meant a lot of spacing in the halfcourt as there isn’t a lot of natural clog in that type of offense, but it also meant a ton of opportunities in the fullcourt or transition, as everybody on the floor for them was capable of getting out to run.

And obviously, as the results indicate, it was effective. This is, yet another, terrible loss by the Miami Heat after the All-Star break and not how you want to see them begin to close the season as they, hopefully, look towards the postseason.

With a critical matchup against the New York Knicks on Friday, one can only hope that some made shots are in their future. And though Kyle Lowry may see his return soon, if they can’t do that, as they haven’t been able to in three of their four post-All-Star break games without him, then, at least, you hope they can still wreak their typical havoc on defense.

Because if not, that could turn into another long night for this Miami Heat bunch.