Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers (39-21) faced off against old friend Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat (33-29) for the first time since last season's playoffs. The Sixers found themselves in another nail-biter and again fell short, this time by a score of 101-99.

Let's break down the Sixers' loss to the Heat.

Sixers player notes:

Joel Embiid: 27 points, 12 rebounds, 2 assists, 10-17 FG shooting

It wasn't the most prolific start for Embiid, who didn't have much space to score the ball early on. He still managed an efficient 14 points by halftime but coughed the ball up too frequently. Defensively, he was good at contesting and deterring shots but played a big part in one of the team's worst rebounding performances, though he cleaned that up as the game went on.

James Harden: 20 points, 6 rebounds, 12 assists, 5-14 FG shooting

Harden kept the Sixers afloat early on with eight points and did a solid job keeping the offense going. He and Embiid connected on plenty of shots but Philly didn't go to their two-man game enough. Still, his playmaking was strong and one of the main reasons Philly stayed in it. He assisted over a third of the team's buckets.

Tyrese Maxey: 23 points, 1 rebound, 2 assists, 8-16 FG shooting

After the last game, Maxey had a conversation with Embiid about how he can rediscover his mojo. The immediate results were very promising. Maxey looked more confident shooting, especially in the third quarter where he showed his typical fearlessness when attacking the paint and scored 14 points. Even though he fouled out, this was a very good game for the young guard.

Heat player notes:

Jimmy Butler: 23 points, 11 rebounds, 9 assists, 4 steals, 8-13 FG shooting

Butler was everywhere for the Heat early on — scoring, playmaking, crashing the glass and disrupting the Sixers offense. He was just about halfway to a triple-double after the first quarter with seven points, five assists and four rebounds and never took his foot off the gas. His scoring did trail off in the second half but his impact was felt throughout the game as he helped Miami snap a four-game losing streak.

Bam Adebayo: 13 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 4-14 FG shooting

Adebayo's physicality with Embiid was very helpful for Miami, though he did start the second half with three fouls. He had a horrendous shooting night and was outshined by almost all of his teammates. The Heat performed better in the minutes that his backup, Cody Zeller, played in.

Game notes:

1st half

Butler guarded Harden, Tucker guarded Butler, Melton guarded Herro and the two star centers guarded each other. The Sixers allowed Butler to get into the paint often and snag some offensive rebounds that led to seven second-chance points. Kevin Love showed his value to his new team with a gorgeous touchdown pass to Herro that Melton juuuust missed getting to, a 3-pointer and a floater.

Philly's offense was not good to start the contest. The ball just had no energy and possessions usually ended with Embiid trying (and failing) to score in the post through some very good defenders. They shot 12 fewer shots than Miami in the first quarter thanks to some poor rebounding. Doc Rivers went back to his all-bench lineup and some tough shots from Shake Milton and Georges Niang saved the Sixers from scoring less than 20 points in the opening frame.

Rivers opened the second quarter with Harden-Maxey-Milton-McDaniels-Reed as the Heat also went small, putting four guards/undersized wings around Zeller. Philadelphia got flustered by a 2-3 zone with Victor Oladipo and Caleb Martin up top, fouled often and continued to over-help on drivers. Just about the entire team collapsed to contain a roll to the hoop from Zeller.

Embiid's second stint went better than the first, as he was able to create offense getting more in sync with Harden. Butler produced a highlight play with a putback slam and Miami shot the 3-ball very well. Harden and Embiid did enough to pull within two points but Miami quickly got it back to six with a Butler pick-two off of an Embiid pass. He then pushed the lead with a fadeaway over Tucker.

At the half, the Sixers trailed 58-50 despite taking 18 fewer shots, allowing 10 offensive rebounds and committing 10 turnovers.

2nd half

Philly opened the half without renewed energy, allowing Miami to continue owning the glass and making the hustle plays that neutralized buckets from Embiid and Harden. Butler's fourth steal of the game led to the fourth triple of the game from Sixers killer Gabe Vincent, a role player who scores only occasionally against every other team. He also drew a shooting foul on Embiid, the big fella's fourth.

Maxey helped get the Sixers back into it, blowing by the defense to convert on three shots in the paint and a side-step triple to cut the deficit to one. Philadelphia had spent a lot of the game acting wary of going straight downhill. Maxey changed that and pumped some life into the crowd with a two-handed dunk. Unfortunately, he appeared to twist his ankle on the final play of the third quarter. It appeared like Oladipo encroached on his landing space but he did not get the foul call.

To begin the fourth quarter, Maxey stayed in the game and drew a shooting foul on Oladipo. He made both freebies at the line. Jalen McDaniels almost threw down a one-handed putback dunk but missed, just another thing that went wrong for him in perhaps his worst game as a Sixer so far. Not to pick on him specifically but he looked clueless on offense and committed four fouls in just 10 minutes.

Miami increased its lead by pushing the pace, though its offense had ground to a halt. Luckily for the South Beach squad, Philly's offense went scoreless for three minutes of game time in the final frame with Embiid on the floor for most of that time. Maxey was in a scoring groove but still made a heads-up play by catching a Harden outlet pass and dishing it to Melton, whose old-fashioned three-point play got the game to two.

Maxey fouled out on a drive from Butler, who could only make one of his free throws. Embiid brought the game to within one and Harden later put the Sixers ahead for the first time since the first quarter with some foul shots. A Butler circus layup changed that and in another trip to the foul line, he again only made one.

Down two with 8.4 seconds left, Embiid isolated against Adebayo with a wide-open side and kicked it out to Harden for three as he drove middle. He came up empty on the shot at the buzzer.

Random thoughts:

The Sixers will kick off their final full month of the regular season, in which 12 of their 17 games will be away, with a five-game road trip that begins with another match against the Heat on Wednesday.