Sixers soar past Heat in Embiid's return

By Brandon Apter, Sports Talk Philly editor

Highlighted by the return of Joel Embiid, the Philadelphia 76ers (2-1) were able to regain the advantage in their first-round playoff series against the Miami Heat (1-2) on Thursday night with a 128-108 win. They managed to outscore the Heat 32-14 in the final quarter en route to their first win in Miami since December 23, 2014 and their eighth straight road victory overall. Philadelphia now leads the best-of-seven series, 2-1.

Philadelphia out-rebounded Miami by six (41-35), outscored them by 14 in the paint (36-22) and committed just 12 turnovers.

Sidelined since March 28, Embiid returned and did what he did best — cause havoc on both offense and defense. Joel started the game 2-for-7 from the floor in the first half, but remained effective by drawing fouls and getting to the line, scoring 11 points through the first two quarters. The big man finished his NBA playoff debut with 23 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three blocks on the night with 10 of his points coming from free throws. Jojo also went 3-for-4 from three-point range.

Embiid wasn't the only guy that shined in this one. The Sixers, as a team, rebounded from a bad three-point shooting game their last time out and hit 18 of their 34 attempts from beyond, good for a percentage of 53.2. Dario Saric finished with 21 points on 4-for-7 shooting from three-point range while Marco Belinelli was 7-for-13 overall and 4-for-8 from downtown for 21 points. Ben Simmons fell three assists shy of a triple-double, finishing Game 3 with 19 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists with a game-high of +24.

It didn't take too long for Joel Embiid to get involved. After getting fouled on an alley-oop, he hit a pair at the line and then stuffed James Johnson on the other end for a block in his first playoff appearance. Joel lasted 4:12 in his first stint, scoring four points all from the line.

A Marco Belinelli four-point play put Philadelphia up by three and a Redick triple extended the lead to 24-18 with 3:57 to play in the quarter. All in all, a 15-3 spurt from the Sixers gave them a 32-21 lead with just over two minutes to go. Miami put together a 9-2 run of their own to cut Philadelphia's lead to four, but the Sixers closed out the first with a 37-33 lead. Belinelli tallied 11 first quarter points.

Justin Anderson and Dwyane Wade got a little physical in the first two minutes of the second quarter, and on replay it showed that Wade pulled Anderson to the ground and Justin responded with a push before going to the ground. They were both called for physical taunting technicals, despite Wade pulling Anderson out of bounds. After the fouls were given out, Anderson hit his first shot, a triple, to give Philadelphia a 40-35 lead with just over nine minutes to play in the half.

Embiid headed to the bench with about five minutes gone in the second with a broken mask. He had backups, but didn't return in the first half. Miami retook the lead on a Justice Winslow three, but Belinelli answered with one of his own to lock things back up at 46. The teams traded leads as the second quarter wound down, with a Saric three-pointer putting the Sixers ahead 57-55, the game's 11th lead change with 3:23 to go in the half. Joel Embiid hit his first field goal of the game in the final two minutes, a three-ball to tie the game at 61, but Miami took a one-point lead into the half, 64-63.

Miami's Justice Winslow led all scorers with 19 points on 4-for-6 shooting in the first half, all field goals coming from beyond the arc. For the Sixers, Marco Belinelli had 14 to lead them at the half while Joel Embiid shot just 2-for-7 but still scored 11 points thanks to a few trips to the foul line. All-star point guard Goran Dragic had 12 points to go along with five assists in the first two quarters.

The Heat started the third on a 7-3 run, getting out to a 71-66 lead with less than two minutes gone in the third. A Joel Embiid three tied the game at 78 with just over six minutes to play in the third. A Dario Saric three put the Sixers ahead, 83-82, for the 15th lead change of the game with just over four minutes to go. The Sixers won the third quarter by three points, and went into the fourth with a 96-94 lead.

Philadelphia started the fourth on a 7-1 run to take a 103-95 lead. Two free throws from Ben Simmons extended the Sixers lead to 10 with 9:11 to play in the final quarter. Josh Richardson cut the Sixers lead to five with just under seven minutes left in the game. Joel Embiid put together a 5-0 run of his own with a bank shot and a triple to put Philadelphia ahead 117-105. The Sixers extended their lead to 15 before closing it out by a 20-point margin, 128-108.

Miami was led by All-Star point guard Goran Dragic. He had 23 points and eight assists while Justice Winslow, who caused issues for Philadelphia in the first half, finished with 19 points. After scoring 28 points in Game 2, Dwyane Wade only had eight points and shot just 2-for-10.

It's a Sixers win! Cue the anthem!