PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers needed to figure something out against the Miami Heat on Wednesday. The Sixers trailed by 14 and couldn’t for the life of them figure out how to attack the zone defense.
The Sixers shot 33.3% from the floor in the first half and trailed, 51-39, at the half. Philadelphia needed an answer.
That answer was Nic Batum. The veteran had 17 points after halftime and hit five 3 to rally the Sixers to a 105-104 win over the Heat in the play-in tournament. The win gave the No. 7 seed to Philadelphia, which will face the New York Knicks in the first round of the playoffs.
“I talked to Buddy (Hield) a little bit like we’re trying to get Joel (Embiid) a little bit too much and it was like, pretty much all around him. I said ‘You and I, like, when we come in, we got to shoot.’” Batum said. “I mean we were wide-open.”
Hield, Tyrese Maxey and Kelly Oubre Jr. were passing up wide-open looks from deep. The Sixers struggled to find any rhythm because they weren’t giving themselves a chance. They were force-feeding Embiid a bit.
“We were trying to play the game like their way so we were just like ‘OK, try to find other ways to take the pressure off Joel and Tyrese.’” Batum added. “I think we came in, we scored like five 3s combined in five minutes. I think that opened up everything for Tyrese and Joel at the end in the fourth quarter and KO as well. So we were more aggressive and I think on defense as well.”
There was also an impressive defensive play on Heat guard Tyler Herro. With Philadelphia leading 99-96 with 36 seconds left, Batum stuck with Herro and came up with a huge rejection to help seal the win.
“I mean, they showed me that play, like coaches showed me that play in the video like a minute before so we were expecting that play like for them to go around and catch it and go right and shoot it right away,” Batum said of the block. “That’s exactly the play they showed me like a minute before. So I expected it.”
The Sixers probably don’t win that game without Batum. Now, they head to New York to take on a very physical Knicks team.
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