The Miami Heat, who were up 2-0 in the series, faced off against the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 3 at the Wells Fargo Center. However, things did not pan out.
Philly stood their ground on the hardwood with four players scoring in double figures. Tyrese Maxey and Danny Green both had 21 points, Joel Embiid had 18 points and 11 rebounds, and James Harden had 17 points. Philadelphia got the job done and seized victory, 99-79, a twenty-point swing.
The Heat were down a lucky number seven, 41-34, at halftime, shooting 2-of-16 from downtown. The second half was more of the same result.
The 76ers didn’t miss a beat in the second half. Joel Embiid was knocking down fadeaway jumpers in his first game back from injury (concussion). Furthermore, Tobias Harris, Danny Green, and Tyrese Maxey were getting all of their buckets to fall down.
Simply, the Heat had a difficult time from three, shooting 7-of-30. Miami had only 18 free throws and crashed the glass 43 times. Philly shot better from the line, making 19-of-22 from the stripe. Philly also put up 51 rebounds.
The turnovers were sloppy on both sides; a total of 29 turnovers in this contest. You had to figure that the 76ers were going to respond at home, and they did just that.
The Heat did not play that well, but Jimmy Butler still was able to rack up 33 points along with nine boards. Tyler Herro was Miami’s only other double-digit scorer, scoring 14 points. Center Bam Adebayo was Miami’s biggest disappointment. Bam played 34 minutes, but only scored nine points and three rebounds. Kyle Lowry returned from injury (hamstring), scoring 0 points, four rebounds, and three assists in 25 minutes of work.
On Mothers Day (May 8th), Miami will do battle against Philadelphia for Game 4 of the 2022 NBA Playoffs. A Sixers win will even up the series at two apiece.
(Featured image by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images)