Despite trailing by as many as 16 in the second half, the Miami Heat, playing in their biggest game of the season, made it interesting down the stretch against the Philadelphia 76ers.
However, the Heat could not close the door, with Philadelphia earning a crucial 124-117 win that could ultimately make a big difference as it pertains to a postseason push in the East.
Led by Tyrese Maxey’s 28 points and 11 assists, the 76ers buried 17 3-pointers in the seven-point win, including two huge triples in the final minute by Kelly Oubre and a compromised Joel Embiid, who was grabbing his right ribs/side throughout the night.
A pair of missed threes by Bam Adebayo, who converted on four of his eight long-range attempts, and Tyler Herro ultimately made the deficit insurmountable. Clean opportunities were difficult to come by for Philadelphia in the second half. But it drained its two most important looks of the night, while the Heat didn’t.
Bam Adebayo topped the Heat with 29 points on 10-of-20 shooting and 4-of-18 from 3-point range. He also grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds with three assists in 36 minutes. Tyler Herro was excellent off the bench, scoring 25 points on 9-of-18 shooting, while Jaime Jaquez Jr. added 19 point son 7-of-14 shooting.
Where the Heat failed to generate consistency was on the defensive end. Their efforts were much stronger in the second half — in zone — than in the opening minutes, where it felt they were seemingly going through the motions without much consistency. Philadelphia still found rhythm, where Maxey, Embiid and Oubre took advantage.
Most importantly, this game drops the Heat to 2.5 games back of Philadelphia in the East standings. The 76ers currently own the No. 6 seed, while the 31-29 Heat are the No. 8 seed — also fighting with the Orlando Magic for seeding. Heat will play the 76ers once more, but do not currently own the tiebreaker, which will make life that much harder if it wants to avoid a fourth-consecutive play-in.
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For those who haven’t seen the news, Powell is now week to week, not day to day. That means he’ll be out for an extended period, maybe most or all of the rest of the season depending how severe the strain is.
Fate. Time for folks to do some serious thinking around here. Miami is cursed. Imagine if the Heat had Maxey
booker to we are not cursed we are rilyed.riley has made so many bad to mediocre moves he makes chris grier look like howie roseman
In both cases, they took a player who was rated higher. So it may have turned out to be bad karma, but they were not mistakes at the time. Yes, we’re cursed. It happens. Like all those GMs who passed on Butler (29), Jokic (40), and Giannis (14).
And what happened when we had the worst record and Bulls got the #1 pick Rose and we got Beasley! Still on that board were Love, Westbrook, Brook, Ibaka, even Dragic.
they all miss but lately riley more than acceptable.he got the wade pick right that set this org right for the next 25 years.seems like bball doesnt have free agency like football which makes it harder to land a ss.we could be w/o a ss for a while rc.
You’re right about the ss. But Bam, Herro, Jaquez, and Ware were all good for where they were picked. But if you keep picking in the middle, you’re more likely to stay in the middle. I know the draft, as you say, can be a crapshoot, but you have a better chance of getting a better player when you pick higher.
Silver is proposing changing how the draft is conducted. If you think things are convoluted now, wait until you see the new proposal.
just do it the way nfl hockey baseball do it,why be different
To take away the incentive to fully tank, which too many teams do to jockey for a top pick. Deliberately tanking teams shouldn’t be rewarded.
Easy solution: bottom 10 teams compete via lottery with 1 ball each and have equal shot at #1 pick.
Play-in teams which do not make playoffs compete via lottery for picks 11-14.same way, one ball each. No incentive to race to the bottom #10 team has same odds as #1 worst team. #14 team has same odds as #11.
Yes, we’ve talked about that and it would be a fair solution. Probably why it won’t happen.
Winslow was drafted here so Boston couldn’t get him a middle finger to them from Pat that’s why Mia ain’t know what to do with him what position to play him at nothing again wasted that pick
I don’t recall anybody complaining at the moment we drafted him. Once it became evident that he couldn’t do any one thing at a high level, we all saw in retrospect that Booker would have been a far better choice. Again, think how different things would have been earlier if we had gotten a young Love, Westbrook, or Brook Lopez instead of Beasley.
It’s a known fact that the Celtics wanted justice Winslow. Hindsight is 20/20 correct that’s why I said he was only drafted to spite the Celtics end of story
Idk about all that now Grier never even got us a playoff win .
he stuck around for 2 decades for no reason other than a clueless owner
So, Herro will start.
Bucks are surging…hopefully Freak back next week. Start praying y’all. Heat no cinch to make play-in.
It’s really hard to miss the play in in the East. They have a better chance of winning the title (0.8%) than missing the play in (0.4%) here https://www.basketball-reference.com/friv/playoff_prob.html
72.9% chance to make the first round here https://dunksandthrees.com/playoff-probabilities
no all stars but ss greek.knicks wallopped them tonight
Pat Riley unfairly put Erik Spoelstra in an impossible positionErik Spoelstra may have been set up for failure.
(Excerpt from allucanheat 2/27/26)
“Pat Riley (or the front office) has put Erik Spoelstra in an impossible position to succeed with the way the Miami Heat’s roster has been built. Despite his greatness as a signal caller, the Heat’s patchwork of a roster is beginning to cost Spo his reputation across the league.
It’s gotten to the point where it’s become commonplace to question Spo on a night-to-night basis, something that would’ve been unfathomable just a couple of years ago.
The biggest problem that the front office has run into is the fact that it’s incredibly tough to build a roster without picking one distinct direction. The Heat continue to try to balance developing the young core while also trying to compete for a playoff spot. It doesn’t work.
Miami’s roster can’t figure out what it wants to do or be, and it does feel like that constantly changes on any given night. The Heat have two timelines on one roster. And it’s led to more questions than answers this season.
Simply put, this philosophy just hasn’t been very successful in the modern NBA, and it’s evident that Spo is struggling mightily to keep the Heat’s head afloat with this tactic.
While Spo is the one calling out the rotations, it’s not fair to him. In a vacuum,
Spo’s job is to win games. That’s what he’s paid to do, and that’s under his job description. But it’s hard to do that when the front office isn’t entirely walking in lockstep with that approach…”
See full article below
https://allucanheat.com/pat-riley-unfairly-put-erik-spoelstra-in-an-impossible-position?page_source=v_recirc
“I’m sick of this shit ”
~ Bam Adebayo ~
(Welcome to the club Bam)
bam u had a great game last night why in the last minute u had bal land immediately gave it up to tyler.we need a closer son give it a try
Its clear as clean water.
There are exactly 7 teams better in the east.
And Philly isn’t close to contending, despite having top 10 player in the league in Maxey, a former MVP in Embiid and a young star Edgecombe.
After decade of tanking and who knows how many high picks, all they can show is second round exits. Embiid is done, they will start another tank next season.
There are 3 additional teams that can overtake Miami (Charlotte, Atlanta and Milwaukee). Heat’s schedule is 17th most difficult now and climbing. It was 26th most difficult a couple of weeks ago.
Schedule Difficulty Remainder of Season (Record last 10 games)
Heat literally lose every meaningful game this season against east teams above them. But they won most meaningful games against east teams behind them.
I don’t see Heat finished behind Bucks, Hawks or Hornets.
the heat like lots nba teams when ball going thru basket can beat better teams,in any single game.consistently putting ball thru hoop like fellow mediocre teams not to consistent
Tough tough loss, team looks deflated after last two games. Maxey had 20 and Embiid 11 just in the first quarter and PHI outscored MIA in the paint by 14. Concerning quotes from Bam after the game. Saturday vs Houston is probably biggest game of the season to see what the approach to the rest of the year is. Houston’s offense struggles and relies on KD to bail them out. Good teams hold Houston to under 115. Houston is also #29 in pace, so will be contrasting styles.
Bam and Wiggins played more minutes than their season average and this game was a microcosm of the season, the team wins in Bam’s minutes (+2), loses without him (-9). Have to find a way to not lose those minutes https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/plus-minus/202602260PHI.html
Is this really happening? They’re tanking but they don’t even know it.
Hopefully
It’s either tank or face the bulls (and others) in the play in .
if we were really tanking jovic would be playing
He’s starting next game.
Not out of the question.
bad joke rc your funnier than that
do gardners work on thursday nights.dumbotwhen your pg is averaging in single digits last night 3fn pts the other pg with an off game after the first getting 28 thats 25 points u have to overcome.i think dav is a very good player but the mofo needs to score more pts.hes shooting 47% 41%.if he cant give us at least 12-15 pts he needs to be replaced.have some pride son your to good for single digit points.
I think Gardner is in the doghouse because of scuffle with Pippen. They sure could have used his energy and speed to counter Maxey. Spo looks so pissed and frustrated half the time it’s a wonder he hasn’t had a heart attack.
that was a dirty stupid play but benching him is hurting us nobody could guard edgecombe.that dude has star written all over him.id trade any of our 2 youngens for him
It’s why you should want the Heat to get a good draft pick. He was #3.
and where was butler drafted looked it up 30 jokic 42nd kawhi 15 sga11 .the good gms find gems anywhere doesnt have to be top 5.how much tape is pat watching of the college kids these days.if hes putting in half the time sm is of posting id be shocked.besides being out ahtleticized every night our gm sucks ars right now and both of those situations need to be addressed .how bout giving poor keshad a try dumbot last game nobody could guard edge dummy do u watch these games or r u just a robot
Test
I already mentioned those, plus Giannis. But those are exceptions! I recently posted the names of some of the all time greatest hof players chosen in the top 5. If you don’t know that you have a better chance at a better player when you pick higher, you must be related to that alien that used to post here.
Looking at the upcoming schedule it can be said that the Heat have squandered much of their weak schedule advantage. Of their 22 remaining games, only six are against true tankers. They will have to beat some teams who are trying to win to avoid the play-in. There is probably just as much of a chance they will be seeded higher than lower when the season ends. I would say those who predicted the Heat to be in the play-in for the fourth year in a row are likely to be right. And the 45-37 season I predicted may be a tad too optimistic.
I also had 45-37.
I know. You have reiterated that several times during the season. I read all your comments as I really respect them.
Said it when they came back from all star break 13-13 middling team middling results
36.7% to make top 6, 67.3% to make play in now https://www.basketball-reference.com/friv/playoff_prob.html
*63.3% to not make top 6
Not all clutch players are superstars. Not all superstars are clutch players. If Riley couldn’t trade for a ss, he should have at least tried to trade for a clutch player. Because he did absolutely nothing, Miami is now at risk of losing two good players with little or nothing in return.
It’s nice recording games and watching them later when it is more convenient (time shifting). I can speed watch and fast forward past the commercials, blah, blah blah and boring parts of the game. For example, I saw the first half and fast forwarded to the beginning of the 4th quarter when the score tightened up.
P.S. After tonight’s game, Miami has solidified its hold on 8th place (for the time being). Atlanta (1.5 games back) and Charlotte (2.0 games back) are hot on their heals and Milwaukee (3.5 games back) is winning without Giannis. Imagine what the Bucks will be doing when he returns.
“The secret to happiness is having low expectations.”
~ Warren Buffett
Good grief, another Precious moment! 29/12/4/3/1 on 13/19 overall and 3/3 3p shooting. What are they feeding him over there?
“Leave the gun, take the cannoli”
Miami should have let Jovic’s contract expire and kept Precious. Oh well, it’s only money.
I saw that. Precious had a big game a couple nights back too, but last night he exploded. Just another very questionable move in the light that we never got anyone else to fortify that position. This season has seen several things go wrong like that. Riley is fiddling in his Armani suits while the Heat nation is burning.
opportuniy.if drew bledsoe doesnt get hurt the goat is jag.
Yeah, Precious is the Tom Brady of the NBA, lol.
oppty was the point how bout jumping jack johnson gets the jovic oppty.dum coach.useless gm.teams gonna be mediocre for a while looks like.
He’s putting up stats against tanking teams with undersized frontcourts. DAL – Marvin Bagley and Naji Marshall, MEM – Olivier Maxence Prosper and GG Jackson
I know you have some different perspectives than many here but your input, with all the stats, adds a lot.
Thanks, always trying to learn more about the game. The team ratings stats and individual on/off can be really useful. One example, been talking about rebounding and how while Ware leads Bam in rebounds per 36 minutes (15.2 vs 11.2) and individual DREB% (29.1 vs 25.6), the Heat rebound much better when Ware is not on the court (72.8% on vs 76.5% off) and much worse when Bam is not on the court (78% on vs 71.1% off)
That’s interesting and pass the eye test. Still, I believe the combination of players playing with Ware would have some effect on that.
Agreed about the eye test – started looking into it because you can see when Ware is on the court the other team is getting OREBs. I’m not sure how context dependent it is, I’m leaning right now that it mostly has to do with Ware.
Heat were #18 (74.5%) last year and are #25 (72.8%) in DREB% in Ware’s minutes, and he has a negative on/off rebounding differential.
But because they were #2 last year (77.3%) in Bam’s minutes and #1 this year (78%), overall they were #10 last year and are #6 this year.
League average DREB% is around 75% and OREB% is 25%. Preventing the offensive rebounds is crucial to having a good defense, and if a team can OREB it really boosts the offense. The OREBs extend the possessions so the offensive rating is higher. So even a team like Houston that can’t shoot outside of KD had an elite offensive rating earlier this year because of OREBs. When Steven Adams was playing Houston’s OREB% was tilted almost to a 50-50 chance, they were rebounding a crazy number (41.4%) when he was on the floor.
Looked into Bam’s numbers – the only year Bam had a negative on off DREB% (-0.3) was when Kevin Love (+0.5) joined in 2023-24. The Heat were the #3 defensive rebounding team that year.
In Bam’s rookie year 2017-18 the Heat were +3.8 in DREB% when he was on the court. They went from #17 the previous year (with Hassan Whiteside leading the NBA at 14.2 rebounds per game) to #6 in Bam’s rookie year.
With Bam you’re basically guaranteed to be a top 10 rebounding team. (The only year they weren’t was in the year after the bubble Finals when they were #14). And if there is a backup big who is a good rebounder when Bam is off the Heat are going to be an elite/top 5 DREB team.
I understand that Heat are a good rebounding team with Bam on the court. But I think ( I cant support it with numbers) that the fading numbers when Ware is in, are the consequence of two factors:
-Wares teamates, which are not as good rebounders as starters.
-Opposing teams target Ware switching guards on him, and pull him on perimeter.
Been trying to watch this more but to me it looks like when Ware comes in the Heat change their defense, they go from switching to playing Ware in drop. It looks like he’s around the basket a lot on defense. He doesn’t play with physicality and doesn’t really box out. Interior players get position on him and get close to the basket. In help defense he sometimes crouches and loads up to challenge shots vertically but isn’t doing much moving or making himself big horizontally – he plays small/doesn’t take up space. He’s averaging 1.4 deflections/game, around the same as Herro (1.3).
Expecting him to be at Bam’s level rebounding and defensively is not realistic, but the falloff from #1`to #25 DREB% with Ware and the defense going from #3 to #17 is an issue that might not be fixable this season.
Actually that deflections comparison is wrong, his per 36 is 2.3 and Herro’s is 1.5. So he is using his wingspan
i swear from a distance edegcombe looks like a young jimmy hes gonna be the best player from the islands.
watched replay heat played very well bam wiggy tyler jjj all good.just no go to guy.last two minutes.how the f pat did not try to improve the team is a fireable offense.embids prob last year hes shot.philys going nowhere.all though pg was out but hes old.dam so close but yet so far
We have some really good players. We just needed at least one more and maybe we could win a game like this. But, make no excuses about Powell being out as they were without George and Embiid was pretty immobile. The truth is, you can be average with several good players, that’s what people don’t get. Say you have eight good, useful players, like the Heat do, with the top three being Powell, Bam, and Wiggins, all clearly very good. Then on the next level are the pretty good to slightly above average level players in Jaime, Ty, Pelle, Mitchell and Ware. And after those eight it drops to average players and below. One, there is no superstar, so that’s a glaring deficiency, and two, we need one more clearly very good player and that means very good on both ends of the court. And finally, we need one more above average player. We have just enough talent to be mediocre. We certainly do not have enough to compete with the better teams.
Having said that, it is nice to know that Jaime and Ty could hold up so well against a tough physical opponent. It’s also frustrating as we aren’t that far away, and we could have even gotten closer if we added at the deadline. I mean why never tank if you aren’t going to go for better than just okay? And that is why I can see the point of the pro tank crowd in our group on HHH (which is growing in numbers). The writers locally and nationally are also very much seeing the folly of our ways. This stuck in the middle stuff is worse than tanking in some ways as it’s actually more devoid of hope than a tank.
Yeah, the philosophy of the team is confusing. They had to know that they were not constructed to compete for a title this season. The logical move was to either add a player (players) or trade players. They did neither. Now there is the dilemma of extend Herro or not. If not, no problem as he will be on an expiring contract next season. A team that needs a good offensive player could take a flyer on him at a reasonable cost and decide if they want to extend him. Then there’s Powell. I don’t know why he hasn’t gotten an offer at this point. It would make no sense to let him walk for nothing after the season, unless they do a sign and trade. Next is Wiggins who could opt out of his $30m contract and go elsewhere with the Heat getting nothing in return. Like SM, I also don’t understand why there has been absolute silence regarding the Rozier situation. Is there information, negotiations, anything going on behind the scenes? Nobody knows. And not only have we been saddled with that expensive dead weight all season, but we owe Charlotte a first round pick! Strange season.
I kind of disagree on Powell. Locking him up with an extension is dangerous. He’s been great for Miami, but he’s not going to win us anything.
Miami extending him is just more Pat likes this team garbage. They need to start cleaning house, because this team isn’t good enough.
In my mind after yet another disastrous extension (Jovic), Miami needs to stop extending its own players and start focusing on building a new roster.
im not extending powell hes a one on one player simialr to herro.defense average at best.always nicked up.ill take wiggy over him just based on availability and defense
jaime can hold up on both sides of the ct ty cant