How 76ers outlasted Heat to win NBA Play-In Tournament game; Heat's Jimmy Butler suffers knee injury

PHILADELPHIA — The defensive downgrade from Bam Adebayo to Kevin Love will be critical. Before the game, 76ers coach Nick Nurse was extremely complimentary of Adebayo, one of the league's most physical defenders.

"He's got great side-to-side feet. He's got great start-stop (ability), great change of direction," Nurse said. "Obviously vertically, he can get off the ground. He plays it willingly. He takes defense seriously. He plays it with pride."

PHILADELPHIA — Welp, Joel Embiid just got Bam Adebayo into foul trouble. Adebaryo has two fouls with just 6:55 to go in the first quarter. And out he comes. Kevin Love is in. It's getting interesting early.

PHILADELPHIA — One interesting thing to watch at the start of every game: Matchups. The Heat have Jimmy Butler on Tyrese Maxey to start the game, throwing their best defender on the Sixers' top perimeter threat. Length and size can cause issues for Maxey and Butler has both against him. We'll see how (and if) the Sixers try to shake him, or even if the Heat keep Butler on Maxey for most of the game. Maxey tried to walk into a pull-up 3 on the Sixers' third possession that barely grazed iron.

The 76ers had Joel Embiid start on Bam Adebayo, but Embiid hung back near the paint and allowed Adebayo some space on the perimeter as he floated around there early on. Philadelphia likes to deploy Embiid as a defensive clog and let him hang back near the rim rather than try to contest out on the perimeter.

PHILADELPHIA — The NBA's promotional push for the playoffs includes Chris Rock pestering some of the league's stars, including Jayson Tatum, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokić, asking whether they have an extra gear at this time of the year.

This whole campaign might as well be based on Jimmy Butler, who has gained a deserved reputation for raising his game in the playoffs. While it is weird to hear Rock ask about "Playoff Jayson" to Tatum, it was decidedly normal to hear a reporter ask Heat coach Erik Spoelstra about "Playoff Jimmy."

"Obviously there have been a lot of narratives about that," Spoelstra said about Butler. "This is just high-level competition when you get into these scenarios — and even the Play-In, it's really high-level competition. I want our entire roster just to embrace it, enjoy it. We're grateful to be in a game that is going to be as competitive as this. This is what you want when you're in this business."

Spoelstra is a company man, apparently. All the same, he probably did not volunteer his time to be a part of the commercials.

PHILADELPHIA — Joel Embiid is officially playing tonight. He was listed as questionable because of that left knee, though the expectation was that he would play.

The Sixers usually make the definitive call a little before game time. Embiid finished his usual pregame workout not too long ago and spent part of it fidgeting with the brace on his left knee. He unstrapped it for the last few minutes of his workout and went through his moves with his left tight pulled up and the black brace showing and untethered in the back. We'll see how that affects him, if at all, tonight against the Heat.

PHILADELPHIA — On a cold, windy evening in late January, the lower bowl of the Wells Fargo Center is beginning to swell with onlookers in anticipation as Spurs sensation Victor Wembanyama strolls onto the floor for his pregame warmup. With each dribble and jump shot the French phenom takes from his lanky, outstretched arms, the appreciation grows.

But a stone's throw from the fanfare, an important meeting is taking place, one involving a man 14 inches shorter but whose impact is much greater than his 6-foot-2 size.

Sixers point guard Tyrese Maxey is sitting comfortably in a courtside seat with a laptop in his hand, looking through some last-minute game footage. Surrounding him are four assistant coaches, bunched up like a football team about to break a huddle — an unusual sight an hour before tipoff. NBA players studying film with coaches is an everyday occurrence but outside of team practices, these are typically one-on-one sessions. The noise level, courtesy of Wembanyama, is high enough the 76ers staffers have to raise their voices to be heard.

Throughout the first three years of Maxey's career, the 23-year-old operated out of the spotlight on teams that featured the likes of Joel Embiid, James Harden, Ben Simmons and Tobias Harris. In many ways, he thrived on it. Now in his fourth season, averaging career-highs across the board, Maxey is running the show for a Philadelphia team bent on breaking through the Eastern Conference ceiling. His eyes are set on an All-Star nomination, Most Improved and more — the bigger picture is coming into focus for him. Maxey is a product of his environment, a village-like approach from his coaches and teammates aimed at uplifting the Dallas native and entrusting him with the keys to the franchise.

"It's been great," Maxey told The Athletic. "These guys have the ultimate confidence in me, all the way from the organization down to the players, the front office. So I can just go out there and be successful every single night. Be aggressive, play my game — even through mistakes, too."

Read the rest of my Jan. 25 story here.

Jaime Jaquez Jr. credits his father with helping to form much of his perspective on life and basketball. But to this day, Jaquez Jr. can distill all the wisdom his dad passed down to him to a single command he and his teammates heard repeatedly during their strenuous practice sessions.

"Run," he said with a smile.

The elder Jaquez made them run so that when they faced more talented teams, "we would run them out of the gym." He viewed Riley as a "mastermind" and made sure to channel Riley's maniacal focus to his son and their team. But his real goal was to see how each player responded when pushed beyond their limits.

Most faded as the drills and practices intensified, but Jaquez Jr. kept asking for more. And more. And more. It soon became clear to Jaquez Sr. that his efforts to push his son to his physical limits only fed an unquenchable thirst for improvement.

"He didn't just love the game. He loved the work. He loved the process of getting better," Jaquez Sr. told The Athletic.

So what was Jaquez Jr.'s breaking point? By the time he reached high school, it went beyond even what his dad thought. Each day, the younger Jaquez would arrive at school at 6 a.m. to put in extra work before the day started. He then practiced with the varsity team after school later in the day. After a while, he'd even sneak in some late-night workouts when he felt like there was more to accomplish.

That was when Jaquez Sr. had to step in. He approved the extra work, but had just one request: At least eat dinner before going back to the gym.

Jaquez Jr's response? "You don't want me to be great?" he'd say playfully.

He didn't know it at the time, but Jaquez Jr. was already adopting one of the fundamental principles of Miami Heat Culture: greatness requires a mental edge acquired only through relentless work and accountability. It's only fitting that Jaquez Jr. and the Heat not only found each other years later, but also discovered they were a perfect match along the way.

Read the rest of my March 26 profile here.

Languishing in seventh place in the Eastern Conference after losing reigning MVP Joel Embiid for half the season, the Sixers might be in the weirdest place of any team in the league right now.

On the one hand, Philly has Embiid plus another All-Star in Tyrese Maxey and max cap room coming online this summer. Embiid is back in the lineup, and the team is 30-7 when he and Maxey both play. The ingredients are there to follow a deep playoff run behind those two with an even better squad next year.

On the other hand, that endgame requires threading a pretty fine needle, starting with using cap space to get a big star when stars of that ilk rarely change teams via free agency anymore. And in the meantime, there’s the little matter of Philly being the seventh seed in the East. It is theoretically possible the Sixers could only play two postseason games and then head into summer. Stack that up with a bear free-agent market, and it's not hard to see how the dominoes could fall into an unhappy superstar.

Of course, the Sixers are in this spot mostly because that same superstar wasn't available for half the year. Embiid's injury is a bummer not just because of how it impacted Philly's seeding, but also because he was having a season for the ages, posting a mind-boggling 34.1 PER in the 37 games he's played, a mark that would have shattered the season record had he played enough minutes. Embiid’s insane 39.6 usage came with elite efficiency (64.4 percent true shooting) and enough dimes to rank third among centers in assist rate.

The good news for the Sixers is Embiid is back. The bad news is he's not back, if you know what I mean.

Read the rest of my April 9 story here.

The Heat visit the Philadelphia 76ers in the 7-8 game today. If they win, they play the New York Knicks in the 2-7 matchup. If they lose, they will play the winner of the game between the Chicago Bulls and Atlanta Hawks for the right to play the Boston Celtics, the heavy favorites to advance out of the Eastern Conference.

The question is obvious: Can the Heat make a deep playoff run again?

"The playoffs will let us know. But we've certainly experienced a lot together, that's for sure," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said before Sunday's Raptors game. "It's been an eventful season. Many different things have happened. But I think as long as your team approaches all of those experiences the right way, you're gaining something from it and then developing some collective grit and toughness and all of that."

Last year, the Heat entered the Play-In Tournament with the ninth-ranked defense and the 25th-ranked offense, sporting a negative net rating. This year they were fifth and 21st, respectively, before Sunday's finale. Jimmy Butler played 64 games last year as opposed to 60 this season, but his per-minute and advanced statistics were some of the best of his career in 2022-23. They fell to previous levels this year, although he has been a more dangerous and prolific 3-point shooter this year. Adebayo won't win Defensive Player of the Year, but he will find his way on to many ballots.

The broad strokes are similar.

"We're not the same group as last year, so we leave that where it’s at," Butler said. "We're moving forward with the group that we do have. But we … are very confident in the guys that we do have, and we know what we're capable of."

"I think the biggest takeaway from last year is just (that) anything can happen," Heat guard Tyler Herro added. "It's not ideal to be in the seven or eight spot, but we're here and that’s our reality. We can make moves with wherever we're at."

Read the rest of my story here.

This is an excerpt from The Bounce, The Athletic's daily NBA newsletter. Sign up here to get this directly into your inbox.

Once a duo in Philadelphia, Joel Embiid and Jimmy Butler will square off in Philly for a chance to draw the Knicks in the first round. Let’s preview!

Best storyline for the game: Heat Culture vs. Goliath. This season, Embiid has been dominant when he plays, and the Heat have been saving up their energy for the postseason. Only the toughest comes out on top.

How’d the season series go? How relevant was it? The Heat won the first two before losing the next pair. One game had Embiid and/or Butler, which the Sixers won. It's completely irrelevant for this preview.

Key matchup: Bam Adebayo against Embiid. Embiid has had success against Adebayo in the past, but the Heat have defended Embiid well in playoff games (42.3 percent shooting). It’s a tall task for Adebayo to guard him, stay out of foul trouble and keep Miami’s offense moving.

Key stat: Six. The Sixers must limit Butler’s free throws. Miami is 10-15 when he attempts six or fewer but has a 23-12 record when he clears it.

Prediction: 76ers win by six.

PHILADELPHIA — There was an awkward moment Tuesday after the Miami Heat’s practice ended.

For a couple of days, the identities of 11 of the 12 members of USA Basketball’s entry into the men’s Olympic basketball tournament in France this summer had been open secrets. Miami center Bam Adebayo was one of them. Erik Spoelstra, Miami’s head coach, will serve as an assistant coach to Steve Kerr.

On Tuesday, news broke that LA Clippers swingman Kawhi Leonard would be that 12th player, finalizing the roster of what will be the most star-studded American team since the 2012 Olympics in London. Befitting charges coming from Serbia, Germany, France, Canada and others, USA Basketball has put together an absurd roster.

Still, nobody could say anything until it was official. And so on Tuesday, Spoelstra spoke only about how he couldn’t say anything, a bizarre sequence.

Finally, USA Basketball made the announcement on Wednesday morning, which meant Spoelstra and his center could comment on the news a few hours later as the Heat went through morning shootaround at Temple University in preparation for their Play-In Tournament game against the Philadelphia 76ers. Adebayo was on the gold medal-winning team in Tokyo in 2021. Only Tyrese Haliburton and Anthony Edwards will return from the team that finished fourth at the FIBA World Cup last year.

“It's an incredible honor for Bam. And I feel the same way,” Spoelstra said. “It's a pinch-yourself type of moment. The stage is going to be monumental there. It just speaks to Bam's reputation as a winning player, as an absolute winner (who) will do things on both sides of the floor that translate to winning. And that's in the NBA, but also internationally.”

“It's going to be a great experience for all of us,” Adebayo added. “Obviously having my coach there at the same moment (is great). So we're just gonna cherish that moment and have fun with it.”

Adebayo might find himself having to back up the man he will spend plenty of time guarding on Wednesday night — 76ers center Joel Embiid.

PHILADELPHIA — The 76ers held their usual shootaround this morning ahead of tonight's Kyle Lowry Revenge Play-In Game. Joel Embiid was on the court and shooting around before leaving when the media walked out.

This will be Lowry's first playoff game against the Heat since they traded him to Charlotte this season (where he was subsequently waived and then signed with the 76ers). He played the Heat twice in the regular season, and the 76ers won both. Maybe it's not a coincidence?

Paul Reed said he feels like Lowry gives them a good level of preparation against his franchise of two-plus seasons.

"I mean, essentially, he kind of know their whole offense and their whole defensive scheme — all of it," Reed said. "So he's always given us pointers and helping us know what to look out for. And he knows the players on their team as well, so he knows what guys' tendencies are and how to guard them. So he's always giving us little pointers on where to be at defensively, how to stop them."

This situation might feel a little familiar for Lowry. Last year, the Heat were the No. 8 seed in the East and had to get into the playoff bracket through the Play-In Tournament. They lost the 7/8 matchup and then went on a run to the Finals.

We'll see what happens with the 76ers this year. But having Embiid healthy is the most important thing. They're 31-8 this year when he plays and 16-27 when he doesn't. He's currently listed as questionable because of his left knee and injury recovery after he hurt his knee again last Friday. He missed Sunday's season finale for what the team called precautionary reasons.

MIAMI — In a one-game battle with such big stakes, there aren’t many combinations of coaches NBA fans would be more eager to see match wits as Erik Spoelstra and Nick Nurse. Both are among the best tacticians, particularly within a single game, that the league has to offer.

There is a limit to what can be done with two days rest, one practice and a morning shootaround, though.

“We are who we are,” Spoelstra, the Miami Heat coach, said Tuesday. His team plays Nurse’s Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night in the 7-8 Play-In game in the Eastern Conference. “We have to be great at what we do. And they’re going to try to be great at what they do. It’s not as if we can reinvent who we are at this point with one practice.”

The winner advances to the playoffs as the seventh seed and will play the New York Knicks, an excellent team with some offensive question marks, in the first round. The loser will have to play the winner of Wednesday’s Chicago Bulls–Atlanta Hawks game Friday night for the right to play the Boston Celtics, by far the league’s best team in the regular season. Both the 76ers and Heat have legitimate reasons to think they can compete with the Celtics, but winning Wednesday’s game would go a significant way toward any hope of either team making a long playoff run.

For the 76ers, they were second in the East when Joel Embiid suffered a knee injury that cost him 29 games over nearly two months. He returned to play in five of the 76ers’ final seven games of the season, getting up to 36 minutes in one. The two teams played four times this year, but Embiid played in just one, on April 4. To further complicate drawing conclusions from this season, Bam Adebayo, one of the league’s best defenders, who you would expect to stay on Embiid as often as possible, spent just 24 possessions on Embiid in that game. It was so strange that the 76ers finished minus-19 in Embiid’s 33 minutes while the Heat were minus-29 in Adebayo’s 29 minutes. If the two are separated that much Wednesday, something bizarre will have happened.

Of course, Adebayo and the Heat have amassed plenty of time guarding Embiid over the years, but this is a slightly different version of the reigning MVP. Embiid averaged 5.6 assists per game this season, with his previous high at 4.2. He assisted on an estimated 32.4 percent of his teammates’ buckets while he was on the floor; he topped out at 22.9 before this year.

Continue reading.

Here's what the Eastern Conference bracket looks like entering Wednesday's games.

The winner of Philadelphia-Miami will face the second-seeded New York Knicks, while the loser will fall into an elimination game against the winner of the Chicago Bulls-Atlanta Hawks tilt.