He played over 43 minutes and poured in a game-high 34 points on 12 of 22 from the field. The second-year guard has been super impressive during the postseason, and put together one of his best performances yet in Game 2. There was one bright spot, however: Tyrese Maxey. The defense was not good enough, James Harden was just solid, Danny Green went 1 of 10 and they got almost nothing from the bench. In the end, they didn't quite have enough juice. With Joel Embiid sidelined for the second straight game, the Sixers needed everyone else to step up if they wanted a chance to steal Game 2. While he hasn't been super consistent since his return from injury, even a few nights like this here and there will be a big boost to the Heat through the remainder of the playoffs. The Heat also got a big night from Victor Oladipo, who put up 19 points and six rebounds on 6 of 11 from the field. He finished with 18 points, seven rebounds and three assists, and proved once again that he's a reliable scoring option for this team. Leading the way as per usual was Sixth Man of the Year Tyler Herro, who started off on fire and played a big role in the Heat's first-quarter surge to take the lead for good. In Game 2, the difference was stark: the Heat's bench outscored the Sixers' unit 52-19. Embiid is obviously a bigger loss than Lowry, but while the Sixers flounder to find an answer without their star man, the Heat just keep chugging along. The importance of having that depth has been especially obvious in this series. Even with Kyle Lowry out injured and $90 million man Duncan Robinson out of the rotation, head coach Erik Spoelstra was comfortable playing nine different guys in a second-round playoff game. They draft well, have arguably the best player development team in the league and are constantly finding players that other teams overlooked. Herro, Oladipo lead Miami's bench attackĪmong the Heat's many positive qualities is their depth. That's bad news against a Heat team that is undefeated at home in the playoffs and was an Eastern Conference-best 29-12 at home in the regular season. Embiid's status for the rest of the series is still up in the air, but even if he does return at some point, the Sixers are going to have to win four of the next five games, including at least one in Miami. The Heat now have a commanding 2-0 series lead and have put the Sixers in a real hole. They led from the end of the first quarter on, and spent most of that time up by double digits. While they could never quite pull away in Game 2 on Wednesday night, they were also never seriously threatened. That's just what they did, winning the first two games at home in convincing fashion. ![]() They had to take care of business and prevent the Sixers from stealing a game before Embiid returned. ![]() At the same time, the MVP candidate's absence put a lot of pressure on the Heat. The Heat caught a huge break when the Sixers announced that Joel Embiid had suffered a broken orbital bone and a concussion during Game 6 against the Toronto Raptors, and would be sidelined for the start of the second round. Here are three key takeaways from the game: 1. ![]() With the win, Miami moves two wins away from clinching a spot in the Eastern Conference finals against either the Milwaukee Bucks or Boston Celtics. On the other side, the 76ers were led by James Harden and Tyrese Maxey but, in the end, their combined 54 points, 10 assists and seven assists were not enough to overcome what the Heat were able to do on both ends of the floor. Miami received balanced scoring from up and down their lineup throughout the win but it was Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo who led the way with 45 points, 15 rebounds and 15 assists combined. The Miami Heat took a 2-0 series lead over the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night after closing out Game 2 in South Beach with a 119-103 win.
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