Philadelphia 76ers Keep Miami Heat's Sixth Seed Hopes Alive

Going into Thursday night’s game against the Philadelphia 76ers, the Miami Heat had an opportunity to keep their chances of clinching the sixth seed alive.

With a 42-37 record heading into Thursday’s game, the Heat were sitting in the seventh seed, less than two games behind the Brooklyn Nets. A Miami loss would allow the Nets to become the sixth and final team to clinch an Eastern Conference playoff spot before the Play-In Tournament.

Unfortunately for the Nets, the Sixers didn’t have their best outing. To no surprise, the Sixers were down a starter. Heading into the matchup, Philadelphia listed Tyrese Maxey, PJ Tucker, and De’Anthony Melton as questionable on the injury report.

While Tucker and Melton were cleared for action, Maxey got the night off. In the young guard’s absence, Melton checked in and played with the starting five. However, Melton’s night ended early. As the third quarter was winding down, the Sixers officially ruled Melton out for the rest of the night due to calf tightness. He spent just 21 minutes on the court before going out.

Although Tucker wasn’t ruled out due to calf tightness, he spent roughly the same amount of time on the court as Melton. As for the other starters, they all played below their season average.

Thursday’s matchup was a tale of two teams on different paths. The Sixers know where they stand in the playoff picture and have nothing to play for at this point in the regular season. As for the Heat, they are fighting to avoid the Play-In.

The results of Thursday’s game painted an exact picture of those scenarios. After leading by as many as 25 points in the first half, the Heat never looked back on Thursday. By the fourth quarter, James Harden was the only Sixers starter to log minutes.

Miami put the Sixers away with a 129-101 victory. They are now one game behind the Nets, who have two matchups left on the schedule, which includes a Sunday finale against the Sixers. The Sixers won’t move up or down in the standings no matter what happens in the final two games, but their first-round opponent is not entirely decided just yet.

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