Sixers Run Out of Steam vs. Miami Heat in Game 1

The Philadelphia 76ers and the Miami Heat fired up their second-round series on Monday night down in South Beach. Going into the matchup, both teams had notable injury concerns.

For the Heat, their injury report was loaded up with key names such as Jimmy Butler, Tyler Herro, and Kyle Lowry. Outside of Lowry, who's been dealing with a hamstring injury, the Heat had all of their key guys ready to play before tip-off.

On the Sixers' end, they went to Miami without their top star, Joel Embiid. As Embiid suffered an orbital fracture and a mild concussion during their Game 6 victory over the Toronto Raptors in the first round, Embiid wasn't cleared for action for the first couple of games in the series.

At first, Embiid's absence was clear. When the Sixers trotted out a starting lineup containing the veteran big man DeAndre Jordan, they struggled out of the gate as the seasoned veteran was a minus-12 in four minutes.

Although Miami got off to a 14-point lead in the first quarter, the Sixers got some energy from the second-year forward/center Paul Reed. Despite trailing by double-digits early, the Sixers were still very much in the game.

When the second quarter rolled around, Philadelphia outscored the Heat by nine points. As Sixers' forward Tobias Harris hit on four of his eight shots for ten points in 12 minutes, the Sixers garnered a small lead before halftime. It was their first lead of the night.

While the Game 1 matchup was a close battle at halftime, the Sixers needed to make sure they matched their first-half energy in the final two quarters. Unfortunately, fatigue started to set in, and shots weren't falling.

Miami's Bam Adebayo and Gabe Vincent combined for 16 of the Heat's 30 third-quarter points. Meanwhile, the Sixers got up just 16 shots from the field and drained less than 15-percent of their threes coming out for the second half.

As the Sixers were flat-out outplayed in the third quarter, they entered the fourth quarter trailing 80-72. When the fourth quarter rolled around, Miami's young standout Tyler Herro came alive and rallied for eight of his 25 total points.

The second half wasn't particularly close. As the Heat outscored Philadelphia 56-41, they collected a convincing 106-92 lead to open up the second-round series. Strong offensive performances from Herro and Adebayo helped the Heat take care of business.

While the Sixers got an inspiring effort from Tobias Harris, who put up a game-high of 27 points in 36 minutes, the supporting cast struggled to make an impact. James Harden, who ran the offense without Embiid around, scored just 16 points off of 13 shots. Meanwhile, the second-year standout Tyrese Maxey struggled from the floor as he drained just six of his 15 field goal attempts. 

Falling behind by one game isn't the end of the world for the Sixers, but they'll need to put together a much better all-around performance in Game 2 on Wednesday in order to split the series before it heads back to Philly.

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