PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers needed somebody to step up in a big way and lead the team to the win with Joel Embiid on the bench. That guy was James Harden as he played well down the stretch scoring 16 points in the fourth quarter to finish with 31 points on the night.
The Miami Heat weren’t able to overcome all of that as the Sixers ended up coming away with a 116-108 win and earn a 2-2 split as this series now heads back to South Beach for Game 5 on Tuesday.
The Heat just had no answer on what to do when defending The Beard on this night and Jimmy Butler kept it very simple when asked about Harden’s big night.
“He’s a good player,” said Butler. “That’s what he’s supposed to do.”
When asked if there was anything different he and the Heat could’ve done, Butler simply said: “No.”
Jimmy Butler on James Harden’s 4th quarter: “He’s a good player. He did what he was supposed to do.”
“Was there anything better you guys could’ve done?”
Jimmy: “Nope.” #Sixers
— Ky Carlin (@Ky_Carlin) May 9, 2022
Butler and the Heat know what Harden brings to the table. He is a top 75 player of all time for a reason and he showed those reasons in this one.
“He made some tough shots,” said Bam Adebayo. “You live with those. He’s been in this league for a long time. We know what he’s capable of. He just made some tough shots tonight.”
Miami, to their credit, did have success defending Harden in this series before Sunday, but they weren’t able to do so in the fourth quarter.
“Like I said, he got it going in the fourth,” Adebayo added. “Once the ball starts going in, it starts looking like an ocean. He made some tough shots.”
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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