The Philadelphia 76ers entered Wednesday night riding a perfect 14-0 home record, but all of that came crashing down with a 108-104 loss to Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat.
The Sixers defense was not at its usual best as they allowed the Heat to shoot 47.1% and they shot 12-for-31 from deep. Miami also scored 37 points in the second quarter and then scored 26 points each in the third and the fourth as they answered every Philadelphia run with a clutch basket.
“I thought we had no energy. It was like we were zombies out there walking around,” said Tobias Harris. “Too many easy baskets and whatnot, in the first quarter I thought we played some good defense, I think we held them to 19 points or so, so I think our first quarter was good.”
After that, the Heat got going as Kendrick Nunn as he had 13 points in the first half with 10 coming in the second quarter in helping the Heat outscore Philadelphia 37-19 in the quarter and take a 56-48 lead into the half after trailing by 10 after one.
It then continued in the second half as Nunn scored another 13 points in the half and Miami was able to get Meyers Leonard involved from deep as well as Bam Adebayo making big plays down low.
“We relaxed up, second quarter, they came out, got going, especially at the end of it, third quarter, they were in a groove and a rhythm,” Harris continued. “They got hot, making shots, a lot of execution on our part that we didn’t do a good job of.”
Tobias Harris says Philly looked like “zombies” defensively tonight #Sixers pic.twitter.com/QdJpwxVIU6
— Ky Carlin (@Ky_Carlin) December 19, 2019
Due to the rhythm and the fact that they were able to find a groove offensively, the Heat then had a lot of shots go their way. Nunn banked in a triple off a loose ball that banked in to push Miami’s lead to 99-83 and then Derrick Jones Jr. knocked down a triple late to help stave off a Philadelphia rally.
“There were a lot of late shot clock shots that went up and went their way,” Harris continued. “Nunn makes a shot off the glass, that’s a big shot that he made, but I just think we were too late. After their run, it was too late to gather our energy and get back and going.”
It was too late and let this be a lesson to the Sixers. They need to play and compete for a full 48 minutes in order to win in this league. Wednesday night needs to be ingrained in their minds for a while. [lawrence-related id=21609,21592,21584]