The Philadelphia 76ers took on the Miami Heat in a Christmas matchup that did not feature Joel Embiid or Jimmy Butler. The Heat got the better of the Sixers in a game that went back and forth and was close throughout the fourth quarter.

The Sixers got great performances from Tobias Harris (27 points, seven rebounds, six assists), Kelly Oubre Jr. (25 points, seven rebounds, three assists) and Mo Bamba (18 points, six rebounds, two steals) while Tyrese Maxey floundered to the tune of 12 points on 4-20 shooting. The Heat's Jaime Jaquez Jr. had a career game with 31 points and 10 rebounds while Bam Adebayo tallied 26 points, 15 rebounds, five assists and three blocks and Tyler Herro notched 22 points, six rebounds and five assists.

There was not a great chance for the Sixers to win this game with Maxey playing a lid on the basket. Still, they fought through some poor half-court execution to claw their way to a late tie that they could not finish off. Let's jump into the film.

5. Jaquez hooping

The Heat have found a gem with Jaquez, who slid down to the 18th overall pick mostly because he's an old rookie and not a super-explosive athlete. Although those factors limit his upside, Miami has helped him come along very nicely. A national audience saw the UCLA product drop a career-high 31 points in the win.

Jaquez is 23 years old, which is very old for a rookie but still young in the landscape of the league. With the way he plays, one could mistake him for someone much older. He has a great understanding of how to move without the ball — a result of playing for the Heat, no doubt — and is skilled with it, utilizing shifty dribble moves to free himself from defenders.

Here, as Marcus Morris Sr. presses him down the court, Jaquez keeps the ball away. As he gets inside the arc, he throws on the breaks with a behind-the-back dribble. There’s perhaps a bit of a push-off with his right arm into Morris' back but the quick deceleration gives him the space. He decides not to pull up for the middie and drives closer to the rim, throwing a shot fake up to throw Morris and Bamba off.

Jaquez is then strong enough to score over Bamba despite his very long arms. Being unpredictable with the ball and possessing nice shooting touch is how the Heat rookie bolsters his squad and makes himself a strong All-Rookie First Team candidate.

4. A wild ballhawk in its natural habitat

De'Anthony Melton forced a Heat turnover by picking off a pass from Herro, one of numerous Miami giveaways early on in the game and one of his four. This play shows how important it is for the Sixers to rotate behind the play if they get beat by the guy they’re guarding.

After getting put in the pick-and-roll by Adebayo, Melton is way behind Herro. Melton doesn’t initially make the rotation because Oubre tries to go for the steal. Once he doesn’t get it, Melton moseys to the corner to cover up the rotation into the paint that Paul Reed and Harris make.

Melton reads Herro's eyes and times the pass perfectly to intercept it. His Mr. Fantastic arms help him snatch the pass and save it to Paul Reed.

The Sixers are not always very good at keeping their man in front of them on defense. Some of that is by design, as Melton explained previously that he can be aggressive because he knows Embiid can clean up messes. But the rotation from the play above is what Philly has to get sharper at. If the goal is to funnel players to Embiid, the players around him have to make sure there’s no other clean option to pass out to.

3. Gotta get low, man

Now, let's look at some not-so-great defense.

The Sixers had plenty of defensive miscues all night long. Coupled with their struggles in the halfcourt offense, it made for a tiny margin of error that they did not hold up. On this play, the Heat get Adebayo free for a wide-open dunk after Bamba plays up to the level of the screen on a dribble handoff with Herro. Maxey's attempt to tip the ball away is for naught as Adebayo scores.

As the Sixers get back on offense, Oubre shouts across the court to K.J. Martin and points to the baseline. What he seems to be telling his younger teammate is that he has to be the low man who tags Adebayo and prevents an open shot. Since Martin is guarding a poor shooter in Jamal Cain and Oubre is matched up with a great shooter in Duncan Robinson, Martin can better afford to get away from his guy and provide help at the rim.

On the previous play, Harris does a good job serving as the low man to prevent Adebayo from being wide open underneath. It's a different play, sure, but him being there means Herro doesn’t have an open dump-off pass to make.

Since the Sixers are gambling by throwing two at Herro in the hopes of forcing a trap, the defense behind them has to be rock solid. Both Oubre and Martin are athletic enough to make a play on Adebayo but because they aren’t on the same page, the Heat star's dunk is totally uncontested.

2. Playmaking Tobi

The Harris All-Star campaign — it lives! The Sixers' veteran forward stepped up to be a huge scoring presence in Embiid's absence, which should be expected of him. He also made some solid plays for others as Miami turned its defensive attention to him.

Getting into a pick-and-pop with Bamba leaves him with a few different options. The Heat crashed down on him as he got into the paint, leaving him with teammates open on the perimeter. One of them is Patrick Beverley, who caught the pass and fired. But Herro's closeout suggests he was fine letting him shoot. He doesn’t have urgency or even a hand raised.

The Heat threw lots of bodies at Harris when he got into the paint because they saw him as the biggest threat. Harris can go to his fall-away shot in the paint if he's against single coverage. Miami decided to take that move away from him and risked him generating kick-out passes.

Harris' processing is still not super quick, which holds him back sometimes. He makes passes late and his passes aren’t always snappy, which allows defenses to recover. He's not a selfish player by any means but is not always adept at using his peripheral vision to make quick passes.

1. Maxey's misfires

The biggest story of this game from the Sixers' perspective was Maxey's atrocious shooting night. Try as he did to get open looks and shoot his way out of the hole, he was unable to muster up anything consistent. Some of it was missing open shots, like a wide-open triple in the third quarter and multiple free throws late in the game. But the Heat also played some tough defense on him.

The Heat showed a lot of different defenders on Maxey, including guys off their bench like Cain and R.J. Hampton. Here, Maxey is guarded by Hampton and tries to get to the middle of the floor. Hampton slides his feet well and Herro provides help at the nail. Maxey hoists a hasty shot attempt because he wants to get Herro or Hampton's hands caught in the cookie jar, thus drawing a foul.

But the Heat guards know not to let their hands linger there. Watch as Hampton instantly puts his hands behind his back to show the ref he's not reaching. Maxey still comes close to making the one-footed shot but it rims out.

Games like this give Maxey fuel to keep working hard and the feel of shooting through a rough game. The mentality of going 0-30 instead of 0-9 — a quote first said by Kobe Bryant before former Heat guard Dion Waiters brought it back — has to become more natural for the Sixers guard.