The Sixers were without big men Jahlil Okafor and Nerlins Noel as well as guards Kendal Marshal and Nik Stauskas, but fought hard in a loss to Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat.
For the second time this weekend, the Sixers loose to the Miami Heat; they lost 103-98. Even though they extended their losing streak to 11 games, the Sixers gave themselves a chance to pull out an upset in the fourth quarter.
The Sixers traded buckets and kept the Heat’s offense in check for most of the game, but especially in the first quarter. Caral Landry gave the Sixers 10 impressive points in the first 12 minutes of action. They were able to keep pace because they limited their turnovers; a category they normally struggle with. In fact, they did not commit one turnover for the first seven minutes of the game. The quarter ended with the Sixers trailing by a manageable five points.
In the second, Hassan Whiteside made his presence felt. The Sixers were noticeably intimidated by the seven footer’s presence in the paint while they were on offense. They to settled for midrange jumpers and three pointers, but it did not seem to matter because they won the quarter 24 to 17 to take a two point lead into halftime.
The two teams traded control of the lead until late in the fourth quarter when the Heat pulled away. The game escaped the Sixers with 3:21 left. Robert Covington put up a layup that was emphatically rejected by Whiteside, and the play was capped off by a thunderous dunk from Wade on the other end.
The Heat were lead offensively by Wade and Gordan Drogic who each had 23 points. They were efficient from three and the foul line going 8-14 (.571) and 23-30 (.767) respectively.
The Sixers got contributions from Ish Smith (21 points) as well as Caral Landry (18 points). Landry did most of his work with in the first ten minutes of the game, but the bench player filled in nicely as a starter. Hollis Thompson scored 16 points and Isaiah Cannon scored 17. Both were heavily relied form three because the team did not have a big man with consistent offensive ability thye could go to.
The Sixers look to have another outing with this type of effort on Wednesday when they return home to play James Harden and the Huston Rockets.
