Butler, Miami Heat Deny Embiid's Presence as Reason They Lost Game 3

Before the Philadelphia 76ers and the Miami Heat tipped off their second-round series, Heat standout Jimmy Butler made a bold claim.

As Sixers center Joel Embiid dealt with three significant setbacks that would keep him off the court to start the series, Butler admitted he preferred to play the Sixers with Embiid on the court as he wanted to face them at their best.

In the two games the Heat faced the Sixers without Embiid, they picked up double-digit victories. When they hit the road to face the Sixers on Friday night for Game 3 in South Philly, Butler finally got his wish as Embiid was cleared for action ahead of tip-off.

To no surprise, Embiid's presence alone gave the 76ers a noticeable boost. He demanded tons of attention on the offensive end, which created better spacing for the Sixers. On the defensive end, Embiid made it difficult for the Heat to attack the paint the same way they did in the first two outings.

Following the game, several Sixers pointed to Embiid's presence as one of the key reasons why they won the third outing of the series to pick up their first victory. On the other side, Butler and the Heat acknowledged Embiid's return as something they emphasized when preparing for the matchup, but they couldn't quite give the big man credit for being the primary reason why Miami fell short.

"Of course [he changes the game]," said Butler, regarding Embiid. "You add Jo to any team, home or away, the game, the scouting report, it changes drastically. He’s been like that for his entire career, but that’s not really the reason why we lost that game. We didn’t get back, we turned the ball over, we didn’t get stops, we fouled, there was a lot that went into that, but he is a big part of it."

Butler fired off several reasons why Miami lost, and their veteran forward P.J. Tucker summed it up to one thing; a lack of shot-making.

"We missed a lot of shots that we make," Tucker claimed. "Guys got to their spots, didn’t make a lot of shots, they were aggressive, but I feel like we need to be more aggressive, more intentional on our side is what we need to do. We just missed shots. We need to look at it, but we just missed shots, period. There are no two ways around it. We just missed shots."

In Game 1, the Heat drained 43-percent of their shots as they defeated the Sixers 106-92. In the second outing, Miami knocked down over 50-percent of their shots from the field as they collected a 119-103 victory.

When Friday's matchup rolled around, the Heat struggled big-time as they could only hit on 35-percent of their shots. The value of Embiid on the other end clearly made a positive impact on the Sixers as the big man's presence gave them a boost. In the eyes of Miami, though, their Game 3 struggles were self-inflicted.

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

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