There were arguments to be made for the Philadelphia 76ers dropping their first playoff game in half a decade. Naturally, there wasn't much playoff experience on the roster outside of Marco Belinelli and JJ Redick. The Sixers were without their best player in Joel Embiid, and their second-in-command didn't even get “big game” experience in college.
It would've understandable if the (relatively) young Sixers had to take some time to find their footing.
Narrator voice: They did not have to take some time to find their footing.
The Sixers jumped out to a 19-12 lead early behind a hyperactive defense. The Heat, primarily their second unit, battled back with a three-point barrage of their own. They would go on to outscore the Sixers 48-37 to close out the first half. It was the first time in nearly a month the Sixers had allowed a 60-point first half.
Floodgates were opened in the second half. Philly locked down on defense. Miami couldn't comfortably get into their sets, and the three-pointers that kept them afloat in the first half started rimming out. Misses turned into transition opportunities for the Sixers, those transition opportunities turned into buckets, those buckets put more pressure on the Heat to score. Miami simply couldn't.
5. Ben Simmons isn't scared
Simmons dominated this game without shooting that well from the field (5-of-13). The rookie phenom finished the game with an almost-too-easy 17-9-14-2 line.
He set the tempo early, pushing the ball up the floor after makes or misses. His forays to rim put back-breaking pressure on Miami's defense. Josh Richardson, a worthy candidate for an All-Defensive team selection, held Simmons in check for the first couple of minutes, but even he couldn't contain the brute force of Simmons for too long.
Simmons used his unique gravity to force Miami into uncharacteristic mistakes. It's hard to remember the last time the Heat collectively got caught ball-watching as much as they did on Saturday night. Below, notice how many eyeballs are on Simmons during this transition possession. Robert Covington ended up going unnoticed.
Simmons was equally impressive on the defensive end. His two steals represent tangible evidence, but his very presence was enough to disrupt a lot of what Miami wanted to do. Richardson could barely dribble against him, much less turn the corner. Goran Dragic called for countless screens to shake Simmons, but couldn't do it.
4. The shooters showed up
With Miami focusing so much on keeping Simmons out of the paint, the Sixers took advantage by bombing away from three. Philly shot a blistering 64.3 percent from deep, draining 18 of their 28 triples. Dario Saric, JJ Redick, and Marco Belinelli each hit four. Ersan Ilyasova, a key contributor to Philly's second half blitz, shot 3-of-4 from downtown. Covington hit a pair, and even Furkan Korkmaz got in on the fun during garbage time.
Redick's shooting (4-of-6) stood out the most for a couple of reasons. First, he had struggled immensely during the regular season series, particularly at home where he shot 12.5 percent (not a typo) from beyond the arc. Second, it was almost comical how poorly he was tracked on a couple of his threes. Wayne Ellington had no shot here:
Miami struggled to track Philly's shooters all night. By the time they tightened up (and it was still pretty bad), Philly turned the sliders up and hit contested junk. Belinelli gave us the shot of the night:
Not much you can do when a team gets that hot.
3. Robert Covington, the great neutralizer
It started with a transition opportunity early in the first quarter. Tyler Johnson came up with a loose ball and, suddenly, the Heat had a 3-on-1 break.
The “one” won.
This is the kind of effort Covington gave all night. His length and aggressiveness bothered Miami all night. He comfortably switched across the perimeter without giving Miami a chance to probe. In the rare instance he was beat, he showcased his ability to recover. Poor Goran thought he had one here:
We know Covington is an elite wing defender. His ability to hang with Miami's guards can unlock all kind of lineup combos for the Sixers. One that stood out: the Simmons-Redick-Covington-Saric-Ilyasova unit that posted a 46.0 (not a typo) defensive rating in six minutes.
2. Kelly Olynyk came to play
A strong argument could be made that Kelly Olynyk was Miami's best center and point guard. The Canadian finished with a team-high 26 points (9-of-13 shooting), 7 rebounds, a couple of dimes, and managed to “only” finish minus-3 in a game the Heat lost by 27.
1. The elephant in the room
Hassan Whiteside was practically invisible last night. He only made one of his four attempts from the field. He only grabbed six rebounds. He did have a pair of blocks, but the Sixers weren't afraid to attack him in the paint. Once Philly went to spacers in the frontcourt, Whiteside became a complete liability. He isn't someone who can track stretch bigs. And if he isn't making an impact in the paint, on either end, there's no upside to playing him.
This isn't all his fault, of course. Miami made next to no effort get him touches down low. Philly felt comfortable with Saric on him for a few possessions — that just can't happen. You don't want the offense to live or die on a diet of Whiteside post touches, but you have to at least try to utilize him while he's out there.
You generally don't want to overreact to a Game 1, but one thing is clear: Whiteside probably doesn't need to see much of the floor unless the Sixers have a traditional 5 — Amir Johnson or Richaun Holmes since Embiid has been ruled out for Game 2 — on the floor on Monday. That's common sense strategy, but something that can turn volatile due to the nature of the Whiteside-Spoelstra relationship. This will be something to watch moving forward.
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