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Tim Bontemps, ESPN
MIAMI — The Philadelphia 76ers started this week firmly in eighth place in the East, but it was unclear when Joel Embiid would return.
Now, after pulling off a dramatic comeback and defeating the Miami Heat 109-105 at Caseya Center on Thursday night, the league's reigning MVP was back in the lineup thanks to a 15-3 run to end the game. He returned to the game and escaped from the play. suddenly becomes possible.
“It was a tough environment, but we had a very athletic and physical team. [us] 76ers coach Nick Nurse said after the game.
“But I thought we stood there and did it through a lot of intensity and pressure.”
The intensity and pressure level on both sides mirrored a playoff game. Had Philadelphia lost, it would have been three losses behind the Heat and two behind the Indiana Pacers — teams that entered Thursday's game ranked sixth and seventh in the East standings, respectively. With five games remaining, Philadelphia would have lost both games in tiebreakers.
The 76ers spent the final 10 days of the regular season preparing for a 7-8 play-in game, either here on the shores of Biscayne Bay or in Indianapolis against Tyrese Haliburton and the Pacers.
But in a game that saw some wild ups and downs, including multiple double-digit scores in both directions, Miami outscored Philadelphia by a combined score of 21-4 in the final minute of the first three quarters. The 76ers won the game with Tyrese Maxey scoring 37 points. In addition to scoring, nine rebounds, and 11 assists, Embiid had 29 points and Kelly Oubre Jr. had 18 points, and they found a way out in the end.
As a result, Embiid, who played 32 minutes on Thursday after playing 29 minutes in his first game back in Tuesday's win over the Oklahoma City Thunder, will have a full week off before the playoffs, assuming Philadelphia is able to acquire him. There may be a chance to get it. Ranked up to 6th place. An added benefit is that Philadelphia avoids playing the Boston Celtics until the Eastern Conference finals.
But Embiid said where his team lands is not his concern.
“We don't care where we end up,” Embiid said. “Personally, I didn't have to come back, but I want to play. I love playing basketball and I want to be on the floor.
”[But] it doesn't matter. Obviously, I don't want to be in the play-ins, but that's the situation we're in. If we eventually get there, that won't change. The goal is to go out and win every game. So it doesn't matter when it ends.
“I think we have a pretty good chance. We just need to find a way to stay on the same path. And I need to find a way to get closer to where I want to be.”
Embiid was already showing signs of returning to his pre-injury form from the first half of the season, and was on pace to join Wilt Chamberlain as the second player in NBA history in average. Earn more points than playing time in a season.
Embiid scored 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting in the first half, and made 11-of-18 from the field midway through the third quarter, including a finger roll and a floater in the lane. Despite missing his final seven shots, Heat center Bam Adebayo was strong defensively in the paint, posting 14 points on 15 shots and a game-worst minus-29 rating. Contributed to a tough night.
“I felt like we were a little bit better than the first game,” Embiid said. “So you saw it in the first, actually his first two quarters and part of his third quarter, but then he ran out of gas.”
Philadelphia's goal: Keep winning. The 76ers have one of the worst late games in the league, with four of his last games coming against opponents below .500 and his last three games coming at home.
Kyle Lowry noted that Tobias Harris, De'Anthony Melton, and Robert Covington are all out, saying, “We're trying to figure out a way to win games while all of them are out, but when they're healthy… I can think about it later.'' “But for now, we're just going to continue to get better every day as a group and just keep fighting and trying to rack up as many wins as we can.”
