76ers punch their ticket to face Knicks in wild play-in win over Miami
Photo by David Dow/NBAE via Getty Images
For the 76ers, the stage is finally set. They will head up north to Madison Square Garden and face the 2 seeded Knicks this Saturday.
The Sixers’ first-ever play in the game was in no way lacking any excitement. A fantastic performance from Nicolas Batum, and Chick-fil-A (yes, I’m serious) may have saved the Sixers from a matchup against Boston, essentially saving the season. They took it over the Miami Heat, 105-104.
Let’s get into this wildly entertaining play-in game and what the 76ers path to the finals may look like now.
The first quarter was an ugly one shooting-wise for both teams. The 76ers mustered just 22 points while the Heat weren’t much better with only 23 points. They were shooting themselves in the foot the entire quarter as they could not break through the zone defense being deployed by Erik Spoelstra.
Jimmy Butler even snagged 2 first-quarter steals and turnovers would become a dire issue in the first half. He and Tyrese Maxey both lead their teams in scoring in the first quarter with 7 a piece.
If one word could sum up the 2nd quarter for the 76ers it would be a disaster. You didn’t like the first quarter’s offense? How about an even worse second-quarter offense with only 17 points? You didn’t like Miami dominating with zone defense? Well, absolutely nothing changed.
It seemed like once again this team was going to no-show in its biggest game of the season.
At half the 76ers had an embarrassing 39 points and trailed by 12 with a score of 51-39. The crowd was dead silent, the morale seemed all but gone. If one sequence could describe this quarter perfectly it would be Tobias Harris missing not one, not two, not 3, but 4 layups directly under the net.
The Heat weren’t even beating the Sixers, the Sixers were beating themselves in the most humiliating ways.
Would you believe me if I told you that the savior of our season might’ve been Chick-fil-A? When Caleb Martin stepped up to the free throw line to shoot 2 the crowd was hyped at its chance to get free chicken if he missed them both. He missed the first and the crowd is finally loud and it’s not from boos. He bricks the second and as they say, the rest is history.
The crowd was alive, the 76ers were alive and they were fighting and clawing their way back with a 16-5 run to cut the lead down to 2 points. Nicolas Batum became a hero off the bench nailing three 3’s in 6 minutes played in the third quarter and seemingly in the blink of an eye it was a 5-point game going into the fourth and final quarter.
A 14-point lead snapped into dust by Chick-fil-A and Nico Batum.
Down by 5 and a trip to Madison Square Garden on the line, the fourth quarter was a back-and-forth battle.
Nico Batum stayed hot with 8 more points and 2 more 3’s and that’s only on the offensive side of things. He had Tyler Herro on lock, pressuring him and causing him to commit a backcourt violation, and laying a crucial block on a Herro shot with 26.2 seconds left in the game.
To Tyler Herro’s credit, however, he might’ve been the only reason the Heat were alive as he turned an awful performance around on a dime with 16 4th quarter points leading all players.
Speaking of turning around shaky performances, Joel Embiid, who had looked off the entire night, had 11 absolutely crucial 4th quarter points showing up when it mattered.
The clock hit 0 and the 76ers, led by Batum and Embiid punched their ticket for a round 1 matchup against the Knicks. Oh, and they went on a 57-45 run after they got free chicken.
This marks the 9th straight win by the Sixers, their longest of the season.
To beat the Knicks, they’ll have to keep this up. The Knicks are no doubt a winnable series but by no means an easy one.
Nonetheless, the 76ers made a huge statement tonight and that is that they are back and are going to give any team they face a run for their money if not just beating them. This game if anything highlights the difference between Nick Nurse and Doc Rivers. The first half of this game felt like the 3rd quarter of game 7 vs Boston last year. The difference is that Nick Nurse rallied this team and saved the Sixers’ season. Doc Rivers collapsed as the Sixers’ head coach against Boston and has since collapsed with the Bucks as their head coach.
Here’s next round’s schedule:
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