The Sixers are leaving Miami with a 3-1 series lead.
After a hard-fought battle, they came back for a 106-102 win at AmericanAirlines Arena. They will look to close out the first round Tuesday night back in Philadelphia.
• The tone of the series can be summed up with this moment right here. There were falls on one end of the court, scuffles on the other, and tensions flaring in between. Watch the video that resulted in a personal foul on Ben Simmons and technicals on Robert Covington and James Johnson.
• Joel Embiid got away with one mask-less play. He drew a foul and was quickly handed his mask to wear. Then after free throws, he kept the mask on but lifted it off his face, chased down a block and put the mask back on. Embiid (14 points) did most of his scoring at the foul line, where he shot 10 for 13. He struggled from the field, shooting 2 for 11 and 0 for 4 from three, along with eight turnovers (see more below). Embiid did his work on the boards with a team-high 12 rebounds.
• Dwyane Wade (25 points) scored 10 points in the final 1:45 of the game. But he missed a key free throw that would have made it a one-point Sixers' lead with 17 seconds to play. JJ Redick grabbed the rebound on the miss, got fouled and knocked down both shots to give the Sixers the final four-point advantage.
• The Sixers reverted back to their old ways in first half with turnover trouble. They committed 17 … yes, in the first half alone. Embiid and Simmons combined for nine. Those errors by the Sixers led to 20 Heat points. The team committed 26 on the afternoon (30 points). They had been cracking down on the problem, averaging just 12.7 in the first three games of the series.
• Another triple-double for Simmons. He scored the first four points of the fourth quarter to erase the Heat’s lead and make it a tie game. He posted 17 points, including a driving dunk to give the Sixers a three-point edge with a minute to play. Simmons also had 13 rebounds, 10 assists, four steals and seven turnovers.
• Hassan Whiteside got the memo that the Heat needed a win. After scoring a total of 11 points in the first three games, Whiteside reached that total in the third quarter and scored 13 points with 13 rebounds on the game.
• The Sixers relied too heavily on three-point shooting to start the game. They went 2 for 9 in the first quarter and 7 for 31 overall. The Heat struggled, too, going 7 for 19. The Sixers were outscored 58 to 44 in the paint.
