Although Jimmy Butler and Joel Embiet have consistently advanced the Heat over the Sixers, their relationship has been strong since they split as a team.
⁇ Heat-76ers: Complete series coverage
Philadelphia – Maybe the bubble flow is not a fluke.
The Miami Heat will advance to the Eastern Conference Final where they will face either defending champions Milwaukee Bucks (leading their series 3-2) or the Boston Celtics. On Thursday, the Heat eliminated the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 6 Their Eastern Conference semi-final seriesThe one-point game turned into a comfortable victory after 19-4 to start the third quarter.
Here are some tips, numbers and picture 99-90 wins The owner put the heat on the conference final for the ninth time in 34 seasons:
1. Great game Jimmy
Jimmy Butler’s attacking game can be a dangerous flaw for some. Of the 217 players who had at least 200 field goal attempts from outside the paint during the regular season, only Jalan Chuck (32.9%) and Anthony Davis (34.5%) had field performances with less performance than the Heats Star (36.9%) on those shots. )
But Butler’s jumper was not so bad last season, and he did not have to do a ton from the outside to reach a higher average in a series. 27.5 points In the series. After shooting 5-for-16 in Game 1, he averaged 54 points in 54% shooting in the last five games, and 32 points in 13-for-29 in Game 6.
Butler scored in a number of ways, including Big-and-Roll:
It was (in the familiar gym) that both of Butler’s current and former teammates praised his ability to play well in the big games.
“I didn’t know how good Jimmy was until I got here.” BJ Tucker said. “I thought he was a good player. I did not think he was that good. I thought, ‘He’s an’ ait.
“He shows me more than I thought … his heart, how he’s not afraid of this moment. He loves every part of every moment.He is not afraid in the slightest.And he keeps it [fearlessness] There are so many different guys on our team. He really gives them hope in a different way, but he does it.
As Joel Empide put it about Butler, “I still do not know how we got rid of him. I still want to go to war with him.”
2. Minimum contracts, maximum contributions
One guy didn’t win the series. When Heat brought Kyle Lori to assist Butler on the back court last summer, the senior point guard played only 56 (mostly ineffective) minutes in two defeats for Miami, restricting his progress due to a thigh injury. (Good news about that? As Dallas forced Game 7 with Phoenix, the final match of the Eastern Conference will not take place until Tuesday 1st.)
Pam Adebayo excelled defensively, especially in keeping the embossed out of the paint. Tucker was similarly criticized for his defensive and timely attack. But, going into the beginning of this season, it was expected that those two (and Butler) would be the main contributors.
Max Stress Miami is developing surprisingly, leading the plus-minus in the 2022 NBA playoffs.
Max Stress and Cape Vincent? Not too much.
The two were on a two-way deal last season. Both are in minimal deals this season and are not guaranteed cash for next year. But they each started on all four heat hits of the series.
Stress, a starter from the end of March, A total of 39 points and 21 rebounds In the last two games, the record The first two are twins His career.
You can bring in more expensive free agents (like Butler) to guide you, but the ability to create people like Strauss and Vincent really sets the best owners of the league apart from everyone else.
As Butler says about Strauss and Vincent, “That’s all there is to the Miami Heat system.” They play hard. They are not selfish at all. After all, they want to succeed.
3. Hartley Horton
To The third time In this series, the Heat kept the Sixers under one point for each possession. Embite was playing with injury, and the way Heat defended him, he could not catch the ball anywhere near the basket.
The Sixers have another star, but James Horton could not go above that, scoring just 11 points in a 4-for-9 shootout on Thursday. Philly trailed by one point at the break and in the second half, Horton did not score, adding four assists and three turnovers for a 0-to-2 shot.
After the Sixers fell into a double-digit hole, Shake Milton came out a little late in the third quarter. At the time, Horton seemed happy to postpone the guy who rarely played at the start of the series.
“We ran our guilt,” Horton said. “The ball did not return to me.”
The season of the Sixers ends in frustration, with questions after another early exit.
The Heat narrowed the platform against Horton for much of the series, showing him the crowd when he was isolated or coming off screen. And on some occasions he showed the right game. But in Game 6, for a guy earning $ 44 million, he can be very passive.
Like Butler, another post-season ends with Horton yet to prove he can come off big in the big games. Also, with the season of his team, the Horton guy – BJ Tucker – was outscored by the guy who was standing in the corner and watching him jump with the rockets.
4. New PJ Tucker
Tucker, who Last place There is no regret about his attack on Houston in the league (2018-19 to ’20-21) in terms of utilization rate for three consecutive seasons.
“It was so simple, and no one could defend it. It was always one of the best crimes ever. So it was so awesome.”
But in his first season in Miami, he showed he could still make the attack. He is not alone His score doubled the average Since last season, he also recorded A high profile For the support percentage, 10.7% of his teammates’ field goals when he is on the ground are recording aids.
It didn’t have to be part of the plan when Tucker arrived. But when the heat was needed to expand his character, they found something.
“We’re trying to do more than anything, we have to be open to players and possibilities and not put a ceiling on it,” Heat coach Eric Spolestra said before Game 6. “Frankly, we had a lot of injuries, especially in December and January, when we needed his game.
“He was really able to keep us afloat, and we were able to get some coherent action, which helped our shooters and our cutting game and it all makes sense. If you’re a really high IQ defender, you can usually add attack to your plate.”
“I got the freedom to play,” Tucker added. “I want to open up guys. I want Max to take shots quickly, start with him. Doing that is part of my role on this team.
Tucker had only one assist on Thursday, but as noted, he beat Horton 12-11, outscoring Horton 12-11, and Horton-Tucker exchanged a lot of bucket stress:
Now Tucker could face the team that won the championship 10 months ago.
“Fate, right?” Tucker said about that possibility. “Is that what they call it? It’s like the rule.
5. Sixers who went fishing
The series could have turned out differently if Empit had not missed the first two games Or The other four were 100% healthy. There is no shame in being one of the four best teams at your conference (at least social media is not as shameful as you might think).
But when you have the guy who took second place in the MVP poll and traded to the second highest paid player in the league, you are in for a championship. The Sixers fell far short of that goal, and have yet to reach the conference finals in five trips to the playoffs with the MP.
“I came to the end of this game,” said Sixers coach Doug Rivers, “and we were not good enough to beat Miami.”
It was supposed to be a two-year run with Horton and Embed, but the former did not use his player option when traded from Brooklyn. He could still practice it before June 30, but if he doesn’t, things will be interesting because he certainly doesn’t look like a player who can get another maximum contract.
When asked about the contract option, Horton said, “I’ll be here” without mentioning how he will return to Billy.
Please wait.
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John Schuhman is a senior statistician at NBA.com. You can email him here, find out His archive is here And Follow him on Twitter.
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