Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey Touch On Absence of James Harden vs. Heat

The Philadelphia 76ers entered their Saturday night matchup against the Miami Heat looking like a team that engaged in a tight matchup the night before.

Less than 24 hours after the Sixers closed out a hard-fought game against the young and thriving Cavaliers with a 125-119 victory, they tipped off against the Heat in South Beach for the third matchup against their Eastern Conference rival this year.

Not only were the Sixers coming in for the second game of a back-to-back, but they were also missing their superstar guard James Harden, who got a planned rest night as he's been dealing with hamstring tightness for the last month or so.

The Sixers have won plenty of games without Harden this season as he just joined the team on the court last Friday. However, they've quickly adjusted to playing with the ten-time All-Star and managed to fire off four-straight wins with him in their starting lineup.

And as the star guard was off the court for the first time in four games, it was clear the Sixers were missing a significant piece of their offense.

In the first half of action, the Heat outscored the Sixers 54-40. Philadelphia shot just 33-percent from the field and 18-percent from deep. While the Sixers looked a lot better in the second half as they climbed back into the game a bit, they quickly ran out of gas in the fourth quarter as they scored less than 15 points in the final 12 minutes.

The Stars React

"That's just another ball-handler, another playmaker, another scorer, and another guy where we can put guys in the right spot when they're running zone," said Sixers' second-year guard, Tyrese Maxey. "He makes the game easier for everybody, including myself, Joel (Embiid), and Tobias (Harris)."

Lately, Maxey's been averaging over 20 points while playing alongside Harden. The young guard put up just 17 points on Saturday night in 35 minutes. Meanwhile, Joel Embiid led the team with 22 points, but most of his production came from the free-throw line as he struggled mightily from the floor.

"Obviously, if all that attention is on me, it would be different if he's out there because you gotta guard him a certain way, and that opens up a lot for whether it's me," said Embiid after the game. "That's just another guy that brings so much attention. It makes the game easy."

No Excuses

Considering the Sixers only played with Harden for precisely one week, they find it hard to use his absence as an excuse following a poor showing in Miami.

"There are no excuses," Maxey claimed. "He hadn't been with us all year. We've won games like this, so we just gotta go out there and get the job done no matter who's on the court. That's been our motto the entire year."

Although it seemed the Sixers never had a chance to beat the Heat on Saturday, a third-quarter rally put them within reach of a comeback. But when the final quarter of the outing rolled around, everything went downhill quickly.

"We beat this team before [James Harden] got here," said Embiid. "Tonight, we had a chance going into the fourth and we just happened to miss everything in the fourth, and they made everything."

Miami drained nearly 50-percent of their shots from the field and 46-percent of their threes on Saturday. The Sixers, on the other hand, knocked down just 34-percent of their shots and 17-percent of their threes. In the end, Philadelphia fell short to the top-seeded Heat as they took on a 99-82 loss.

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

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