Heat Thrash the 76ers 129-101, While Butler and Herro Combine For 48 Points

Jimmy Butler and Tyler Herro would both combine for 48 points and the Miami Heat also kept their hopes alive in terms of avoiding the NBA’s play-in tournament, while they took down the Philadelphia 76ers in a landslide victory, 129-101 on Thursday night.

The Heat collectively recorded 39 assists, tying the franchise record for most in a game originally set on February 15th, 1997, which was ironically against the same team in the Philadelphia 76ers.

Miami was also crowned the champions of the Southeast Division with their victory.

“More than anything, it’s great to come out and get a victory, it’s hard to beat us when we come out and make shots,” said Jimmy Butler, who previously played for the 76ers until arriving at Miami in the summer of 2019.

Bam Adebayo and Max Strus would both add 14 points apiece. Miami would get off to a hot start, leading 41-31 over the 76ers after the first quarter.

“It sets us up for the playoffs and builds momentum. I feel like we’re trending in the right direction on both ends of the floor and going in the right direction heading into the playoffs,” said Tyler Herro.

The Heat shot 46.1% from beyond the three-point line in large part to a successful inside out game, which gave way to many defensive struggles on the perimeter for the 76ers. A nice change of pace for the Heat as they were one of the worst three-point shooting teams for a good portion of the season, the fourth worst to be exact while shooting 34.1%, but that has completely changed since the beginning of March.

“Our game is built on being an attack team offensive and getting into the paint, but our three-point shooting has been good for the last 16 or 17 games. I know that’s not a season long sample size, but that’s more of the vision of what we were expecting. We’re taking the right shots and being aggressive. We had the right balance of points at the rim, free throw shooting and three-point shooting. That’s when we are at our best,” said Miami head coach Erik Spoelstra.

Philadelphia has already secured the third seed in the upcoming Eastern Conference playoffs. A win over the Heat would have secured a first-round matchup against the Brooklyn Nets. Joel Embiid scored 21 points despite not checking into the game during the fourth quarter. James Harden would only score 14 in limited time on the floor.

“We didn’t come to play tonight, we had no energy. It was a difficult game to have energy, it was an exercise tonight,” 76ers coach Doc Rivers said.

The Miami Heat will take on their final two opponents of the 2022-2023 NBA regular season in the Washington Wizards (Friday, 7:00 P.M. EST) and Orlando Magic (Sunday, 1:00 P.M. EST) this weekend.

The Heat would have to win both of those games and have the Brooklyn Nets lose both of their remaining games this weekend (Magic and 76ers) to supplant them for the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference and to avoid the NBA’s play-in tournament.