76ers hold off Heat 98-91
Tyrese Maxey had 30 points and 10 assists and Kelly Oubre Jr. had 22 points and 11 rebounds to help the Philadelphia 76ers hold off the Miami Heat 98-91 Monday night in a potential preview of an NBA play-in tournament game.
Kyle Lowry survived a hard tumble over the scorer's table and scored 16 points for the Sixers in his first game against the Heat since they traded him in January.
Bam Adebayo had 20 points and 13 rebounds for the Heat. Terry Rozier III scored 20 points.
The Heat trailed by 14 points entering the fourth, but went on a 20-8 run and tied the game at 85 on Caleb Martin's dunk. Buddy Hield snapped the tie with 3-pointer and Lowry hit a 3 to help the Sixers avoid a brutal collapse in a game they couldn't afford to lose.
The Eastern Conference champion Heat are again in play-in mode with 14 games left this season and fell to eighth in the standings — they finished seventh a year ago when Jimmy Butler sparked an improbable run to the NBA Finals. The 76ers are in seventh at 38-30 — the Heat are 37-31 — an ugly spiral for a team that spent most of the season as a surefire conference contender until losing Joel Embiid in the last game of January to a knee injury.
Butler (right foot contusion) and Embiid (who continues to rehab) missed Monday's game. Sixers forward Tobias Harris (right ankle sprain) also missed this one, and Miami's Duncan Robinson was forced out of the game with a bad back, leaving both teams devoid of star power — except for Maxey.
Sixers coach Nick Nurse remained optimistic Embiid could return before the end of the season.
"I think he kind of rounds back into shape and rhythm pretty quickly," Nurse said. "I think obviously the more games we have him, the better. I also think we want to get to a point where he's as healthy as he can be at playoff or play-in time."
The Heat and Sixers can only hope all their starters are at full strength by the end of the season. At this pace, the Heat and Sixers could play each other again in the play-in tournament. In fourth year of the format, the No. 7 seed plays No. 8. The winner is in and gets the No. 7 seed for the playoffs. The loser has a second chance.
"We're going to try and fight like to heck to finish as high as we can," Nurse said. "That matters. But if not, so be it. We'll play-in, we'll play in the playoffs, whatever. I just hope we're playing."
Because of injuries, the Heat have used a franchise-record 32 starting lineups. They are trying to find any kind of consistency down the stretch and stave off any thoughts about a potential second straight run that starts with the play-in.
"We're not thinking about last year, not thinking about any of the narratives," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "We're fully immersed in what we're trying to do right now."
Without Embiid, Maxey steadied the Sixers and dropped 18 points in the first half to help the Sixers win their second straight game following a skid in which they dropped seven of 10. The Sixers know, without Embiid, the play-in tourney looms.
"It isn't any fun when you're going backward to pay attention to it," Nurse said.
UP NEXT
Heat: Play Wednesday at Cleveland.
76ers: Harris will join the team on their upcoming four-game trip, which opens Wednesday at Phoenix.
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