The Philadelphia 76ers currently hold a 3-1 series lead on the Toronto Raptors in their Round 1 series and it seems as if they will take care of business and move on to Round 2.
Their most likely opponent will be the No. 1 seed Miami Heat who has a 2-1 lead on the Atlanta Hawks. The Heat and the Sixers split their four matchups in the regular season with three of those matchups being on the second night of a back-to-back for Philadelphia so it’s tough to really get a read on those matchups.
Either way, the Heat are a physical bunch who have tons of playoff experience and the core of their group made the NBA finals in 2020. They will be a tough matchup for Philadelphia and former Sixers guard JJ Redick believes they don’t have much of a chance when considering Joel Embiid’s thumb injury.
When asked if the Sixers can beat the Heat, Redick said:
No sir. No, they cannot and look, I do think the 76ers have the best player in that series in Joel Embiid, but we were talking earlier about the Celtics and the Kevin Durant matchup. those same issues, the Sixers have that with Miami…You can tell it was bothering him. He needs to get the MRI they need to know what it is going on.
The Sixers will have the best player in that series in Embiid, but Miami can counter with Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo. There will be more pressure on James Harden to step up and help Philadelphia in that series.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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