Embiid, Green key Sixers thrilling OT win over Heat

Tuesday night’s 137-134 overtime victory over the Miami Heat marked the 700th regular season game of Danny Green’s 12-year career. He’s added 145 playoff games and collected three rings along the way. Though never a superstar, the 6’6” swingman has earned a reputation as a terrific role player over the past decade plus.

He has had dreadful shooting nights, like his 2-point performance in Monday’s loss to the Atlanta Hawks in which he missed each of his nine field goal attempts, including seven threes. And he has had incendiary shooting nights.

This time it was the latter.

On the second leg of a back-to-back, Green shattered multiple career highs in 49-plus minutes of action against Miami, including field goal attempts (25), and 3-point attempts (21) and makes (9). His final line featured 29 points, 10 rebounds, and 6 assists. The 9 threes matched a Sixers franchise record.

The Sixers needed a great effort like Green’s in this one. A spirited Heat team gave them all they could handle, despite missing Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo among several other rotation players due to COVID-19 protocols. Philadelphia was still without many of its own key contributors under the same circumstances, including its second and third leading scorers in Seth Curry and Tobias Harris. Both teams were forced to roll out 8-man rotations.

Like all iterations of the Heat under Erik Spoelstra, Miami received quality play from up and down the roster. Tyler Herro paced the team with 34 points, many of which on an array of difficult layups and off the dribble jumpers. Duncan Robinson lived up to his standard as one of the best shooters alive, draining 6 of his 14 threes en route to 26 points. Undrafted second-year guard Gabe Vincent played the game of his life, adding 24 points.

Fortunately for the Sixers, Green had support. Joel Embiid turned in a herculean performance, feasting on Miami’s smaller interior to the tune of 45 points on just 23 shot attempts. He bullied his way to the free throw line 13 times and converted all of them, and he grabbed 16 rebounds. He even added five steals for good measure.

The Sixers also got 16 points apiece from Tyrese Maxey and Mike Scott, and Isaiah Joe hit 4 of his ten 3-pointers. After playing sparingly over the first two weeks of the season, Joe has seen substantial playing time over the last 3 games with all of the team’s absences. The rookie second-rounder has performed well, going 11-28 from beyond the arc in that span and scoring double-figure points in each contest.

The game featured one big surge after another, with the Sixers racing out to an 27-16 lead with two minutes left in the first quarter, only to surrender a 16-2 run over the next four minutes. Miami then built an 11-point lead of its own before settling in to a 63-55 halftime advantage.

Coming out of the break, the Heat appeared poised to bust the game open, expanding their lead to 78-65. Embiid refused to let the game slip away, charging the Sixers to an inspired 17-0 run over a 3-minute span midway through the third. The big man exploded for 20 points in the frame, hitting all 8 of his shot attempts and adding four free throws. The Sixers carried that momentum into the final quarter and charged to a 110-98 lead with under seven to go.

But the Heat answered every run with one of their own. Herro burst out for a personal 7-0 spurt to slice the lead to five, and later added another 7 points to cap off a 22-5 stretch that put the Heat up 120-115 with just 30 seconds remaining.

A Joe 3-pointer brought the game within a single score, and after a Herro turnover, the Sixers found themselves with a final possession. The ball went through the only logical source: Joel Embiid. He nailed a 20-footer with four seconds on the clock and sent game to overtime. It was more of the same in the extra session, as the big man finishing Miami off with eleven of the Sixers 17 points.

Philadelphia isn’t through with the Heat just yet though. The teams face each other again on Friday night at 7 p.m. The Heat will likely be limited to the same 8-man group, while the Sixers are expecting the return of Harris, Shake Milton and Matisse Thybulle.