PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers picked up a much-needed 98-91 win over the Miami Heat on Monday. It wasn’t a pretty win, but it hardly ever is against the Heat due to their physical style of play.
There are some areas that coach Nick Nurse would like to see cleaned up. Philadelphia held a 12-point lead in the first half they relinquished as Miami rallied to take a lead. There was a 17-point lead in the second half that the Heat also erased and tied the game in the fourth.
The win is all that matters as the Sixers moved ahead of the Heat in the standings, and now have a chance to tie the season series in the final matchup on April 4 in Miami, but Nurse wants to see his team be better.
“The win is the most important thing,” he stated. “A couple in a row, and again, I think we play some really good basketball at times and I think we play some really shaky basketball at times. I just wish there were more times where we looked just a little more confident against some things.”
One of those things was the zone the Heat threw at the Sixers. That zone defense has been a big difference in many of the matchups between the two teams, and it caused issues for the Sixers on Monday.
However, Philadelphia’s defense was fantastic. It held the Heat to fewer than 100 points and forced them into tougher looks on their end of the floor. Miami was without Jimmy Butler, Tyler Herro and others. It also lost Duncan Robinson midgame, but the defense was terrific for Philadelphia.
“There was some really great defense,” Nurse added. “I thought our ball pressure was amazing. I thought our shot challenging — we’re protecting the rim, we’re doing a lot of good things. Let’s try to get some of that really poor play to average and then the games are probably going to look a lot better, you know what I mean?”
The next challenge for the Sixers will be on Wednesday when Philadelphia begins a tough four-game road trip against the Phoenix Suns.
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