Daily News | Sixers fall to Miami Heat in final regular-season home game, playoff matchup uncertain
When asked during Thursday’s pregame media availability about facing either the Brooklyn Nets or the Miami Heat in the playoffs’ first round, 76ers coach Doc Rivers responded with, “We don’t care one way or the other.”
Yet a win Thursday would have finalized a Sixers-Nets showdown with two games remaining. The Heat , however, played like a team trying to stay out of the play-in tournament for the conference’s Nos. 7 through 10 seeds.Miami built a 25-point first-half advantage, when Max Strus buried a corner three-pointer in the second quarter’s final minute and prompted some boos to circulate on a disappointing Fan Appreciation Night. The Heat shot 18-of-39 from three-point range and 55.
The Sixers play the second leg of their final back-to-back set of the regular season Friday at the Atlanta Hawks. The Hawks are also fighting for positioning in the play-in tournament.The Sixers needed Joel Embiid to be superhuman to beat the shorthanded Celtics. That doesn’t bode well.
Harden missed his first five shots, before hitting a spinning jumper midway through the second quarter. He went 3-of-10 from the floor in the first half, before hitting two three-pointers early in the third to help spark the Sixers’ brief run.Without dynamic guard Tyrese Maxey , De’Anthony Melton returned to the starting lineup but left in the third quarter with the mild calf tightness that caused him to be listed as questionable entering the game.
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