Another playoffs, another second round exit. This sucked. There isn’t any other way to put it. From the jump, the Heat were in their typical “white hot“ form. Let’s talk about it without overreacting.
The stat sheet is truly an interesting one this time. Miami shot 48.3% from the field to the Sixers’ 41.4%. The reason this stat is interesting in particular is because if you watched the game, it felt like the Sixers were shooting 5% and Miami was shooting 100%. The rebounding was it’s usual problem as Miami (49) grabbed 14 more boards than the Sixers (35). Here’s where the stat sheet gets annoying, though. Miami had 62 points in the paint and the Sixers had 48. That, in my opinion, is the most frustrating stat from this game. The only positive stat from this game is the Sixers (22) had nine more points off of turnovers than Miami (13).
This loss definitely sucked, but let’s not go crazy with emotions and overreactions. The hot topics of this offseason will be Doc and Harden, so I’ll give you my take on each of them. My official opinion on Doc Rivers is he should go. Yes, he coached a fine playoffs this year, but the regular season question marks are just too big. As for James Harden, I feel the opposite. This team needs a facilitator and I wholeheartedly believe he’ll get his body right this offseason and be the James Harden he’s supposed to be. I will go more in depth on them and the rest of my offseason hopes very, very soon.
Before this painful article concludes, I will be giving my appreciation and recognition to Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid, and Tobias Harris. I’d also like to thank Danny Green for everything he’s given us the past few years. I hope he heals up quickly and that the injury is not as bad as it looked.
Tyrese Maxey is a second year player that was asked to fill shoes of a certain disgruntled “player” and my goodness did he do that. This kid was special to watch every single game and I found myself asking “how did he fall to us?” after each of them.
Do I need to explain why Joel Embiid deserves all the praise in the world? I’m going to anyway. This man gave his heart, soul, face, and fingers for us this year. Not only did he do that, but he managed to keep this team together through all the drama in the beginning of the season and keep us at the top of the standings.
Tobias Harris deserves an immense amount of credit. When we finally acquired a point guard that wanted to play basketball instead of WarZone, that severely changed his role within the team. He struggled a lot, but when the playoffs started, he came through. We should all thank him tremendously.
Do not be sad, Sixers family. We’ll be alright. We’re so close that it’s only a matter of time. Until then, trust the process.
