Philadelphia 76ers Lacked Energy vs Miami Heat

The Philadelphia 76ers took a beatdown by the Miami Heat on Thursday.

Nobody knew what to expect from Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday night. With a matchup against the Miami Heat, Thursday’s game was a battle between two teams on very different paths.

For the Sixers, they entered the matchup as the Eastern Conference’s third seed. As the Boston Celtics won their matchup against the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday, they locked in the second seed. Considering the Cleveland Cavaliers were far enough from the Sixers in the standings, the third seed was out of reach for them.

While the Sixers secured a spot in the playoffs, the Miami Heat are still working on trying to acquire a spot for themselves. Currently, the Heat are outside of the top six, which places them in a Play-In scenario. With a win against the Sixers on Thursday, the Heat would keep their sixth-seed hopes alive.

Sure enough, they did. Although the Sixers missed just one player as Tyrese Maxey got the night off due to neck stiffness, they didn’t look like the best version of themselves with James Harden and Embiid on the floor. 

Through the first three quarters of action, the Sixers trailed by as many as 26 points. By the fourth quarter, Doc Rivers threw in the towel and trotted out the reserves en route to a 129-101 loss.

“We just didn’t come to play tonight,” Rivers told reporters after the game. “We didn’t have great energy. A very difficult game to have energy, honestly. It was an exercise tonight.”

Being in a situation with playoff security during the final week before playoffs, it’s understandable the Sixers might have one foot out the door of the regular season already.

“I wasn’t sure if I could sense their sense of urgency or our lack of urgency,” Rivers continued. “I wasn’t sure which one was which. Clearly, you knew they were going to come with everything they had. This was a tough game. A tough game, even for me, before. Really struggled with playing guys at all. I really did. It was a tough one.”

The good news is the Sixers made it out of Thursday’s game without any notable setbacks. With key players bound to sit over the next two games, the Sixers should have an opportunity to begin the playoffs fully healthy, which was the ultimate goal after clinching a playoff berth. 

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.