Sixers Prove Their Dominance Over Miami With Another Win

By Sean Kennedy

Philadelphia 100, Miami 87

Box Score

By the law of transitive property, the Sixers demonstrated they’re the best team in the NBA (what historic losing streak?), bookending the year with wins over the defending champion Miami Heat to win the season series 2-1. Alright sure, the Heat were resting both LeBron James and Chris Bosh, a move that looked particularly poignant as we saw Michael Beasley hobble over the court with a sprained right ankle. Still, the Sixers went out how they came in, flying all over the court and showing the fans flashes of promise for a brighter future.

It’s not like Miami completely mailed this game in. Dwyane Wade played over 20 minutes, recording 16 points and 4 assists, and the Heat used the game as a tune-up for a lot of key reserves that they’re going to need contributions from throughout the playoffs. However, Miami was clearly not interested in doing the little things in lieu of staying healthy (diving on loose balls, sprinting out on the fast break, etc.), while the Sixers treated the contest like the 7th game of the finals. The Sixers accrued a whopping 15 steals, 5 by Tony Wroten, who was playing at a different speed than the Heat in jumping passing lanes on lazy tosses and starting the fast break (although he did also have 6 turnovers, really something to work on this offseason, Tony).

After going 6 games without shooting a three-pointer, Michael Carter-Williams treated the game like high school senior night, chucking up 5 shots from behind the arc. Fittingly, he made three of those attempts (his only made field goals on the night), as the Heat were laying a good 5 feet off him, daring the rookie to shoot from the outside. As everyone has mentioned ad nauseam this year, whether MCW can improve his outside shooting will ultimately determine whether he’s a solid role player or a star.

While Wroten may have been the player running around the most on the court, as usual, Thad Young was the guy giving the most controlled effort. Young got down on the floor for every live ball, sprinted to save any offensive rebound, and finished the game with a team-high 20 points and 9 boards. I’ll take this last opportunity to point out what a consummate professional Thad was throughout the season. Remember the Cleveland game where Hawes and Turner basically filed a formal protest with management with the lack of effort they showed? Not during one moment throughout this trying season did Thad Young ever give less than 100% on the court. I could ask for no better NBA veteran for these young guys to emulate and learn from than Thad; it’s shocking to think he’s still just 26 years old.

Anyway, we’ve reached the end of a long, strange road with the 2013-14 Sixers. I’ll have a full write-up with my thoughts on the season later, but it was nice to see smiles on the faces of the guys after a victory one last time. Many of these players will never don a Sixers (or maybe even any NBA) uniform again, and while it wasn’t a successful season, it was certainly a memorable one.

Notable Observations:

• You know who was partying in the city where the heat is on? Sixers co-owner Will Smith. The Fresh Prince took the opportunity at halftime to say hello to Brett Brown and each of the players and tell them to bring home the W. I wonder where he stands on tanking?

Coach Brown was greeted by #Sixers co-owner Will Smith at halftime. #TogetherWeBuild pic.twitter.com/KFW1KuXYDp

— Philadelphia 76ers (@Sixers) April 17, 2014

• The latest 10-day contract recipient, Adonis Thomas, received his first NBA start as it was clear the team was committed to giving him a long look in live game action. He committed three fouls in just over three minutes and Brett Brown left him in, because, why the heck not. Thomas then proceeded to dislocate his pinkie and 5 minutes was all he could log in what was possibly the biggest chance of his life. Tough break for the kid out of Memphis.

Tanking Implications:

The Rockets rested James Harden, Chandler Parsons, and Jeremy Lin, and for the second game in a row, the Pelicans were able to take down one of the Western Conference’s top teams. That result means, barring some low-probability odds that the New Orleans pick moves into the top 3, the Sixers will be drafting 10th overall in addition to their own pick this summer. Everyone would have been happy with that result before the season when New Orleans were expected to flirt with getting into the playoffs. For the Sixers’ efforts throughout the season and organizational moves resulting in the team having two top 10 picks, the final tanking scale grade ever is 5/5 tanks.