The Sixers let Monday’s loss at Heat ‘slip through our hand,’ but remain encouraged in postseason chase

MIAMI — Tyrese Maxey plopped down into the seat at his Kaseya Center locker, and let out an exhale.

It was an appropriate reaction after the 76ers’ past two games — on the road at the Charlotte Hornets and Miami Heat — lived up to their playoff-esque billing. They were intense, down-to-the-wire matchups in charged environments. They required the Sixers to claw out of double-digit second-half deficits, before taking the lead in the final period.

In the end, the Sixers had to settle for a split. They were gusty and poised in a Saturday victory over the upstart Hornets, whose elongated surge up the Eastern Conference standings was curtailed by the Sixers and Boston Celtics on consecutive nights over the weekend. Then, the Sixers surrendered 14 consecutive points in crunch time of Monday’s 119-109 loss at the Heat, an opponent on the second night of a back-to-back and that had lost seven of its past eight games.

What did they learn about themselves, as a team finally at full strength with seven games now remaining in the regular season? Maxey, the Sixers’ All-Star point guard, acknowledged they allowed Monday’s result to “kind of slip through our hand.” But he and veteran teammate Paul George praised the Sixers’ perseverance as their postseason chase revs up.

“We’re battle-tested from a group standpoint,” added George, who scored 19 points against the Heat. “ … We’re playing pretty good basketball. I think we’re answering the call when we need to play at our best at the right time.

“It’s just unfortunate we couldn’t finish this one, but I like where we’re at.”

» READ MORE: Poor shooting night, rebounding woes, and other things we learned in Sixers’ 119-109 loss to the Heat

The Sixers (41-34) enter Tuesday still in seventh place in the standings, but missed an opportunity to close the gap on the sixth-place Atlanta Hawks (43-33) and fifth-place Toronto Raptors (42-32) in their quest to climb out of play-in territory. The Sixers are 1 1/2 games ahead of the eighth-place Orlando Magic (39-35) and ninth-place Heat (40-36), though Miami’s victory gave it the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Sixers.

And as impressive as Saturday’s victory in Charlotte was, it is the only opponent with a winning record that the Sixers have topped since a Feb. 26 home victory over Miami. That not-so-coincidentally aligns with their most shorthanded stretch of the season, when at times they were missing four starters and all three max-contract players.

Monday was the second consecutive game with a healthy rotation available, and still less than a week since Maxey (finger), George (suspension), Joel Embiid (oblique), and Kelly Oubre Jr. (elbow) returned from weeks-long absences.

The shot-making was not there against the Heat (41.7% from the floor, 12-of-38 from beyond the arc). Moving forward, Embiid wants the Sixers to stop “overhelping” on defense, and instead keep the ballhandler in front. Coach Nick Nurse is still tinkering with substitution patterns, on Monday riding with a group of Maxey, George, Oubre, Quentin Grimes, and Adem Bona to end the third quarter and start the final frame.

Yet Monday’s closing minutes also emphasized the small details that can decide such critical matchups.

After Miami’s Tyler Herro missed seven of his first eight three-point attempts, the Sixers inexcusably left him free in transition for back-to-back bombs to retake the late lead. Maxey and Embiid lamented that the Sixers did not drive enough against the Heat’s pesky zone defense, instead settling for passing along the perimeter too frequently. The Sixers also got a dose of bad luck when George waited at the scorer’s table for a dead ball down the stretch, but could not reenter until there were less than two minutes to play.

And two Sixers offensive fouls — including a moving screen called on Embiid — negated two made three-pointers in the final five minutes.

“I don’t want to blame the refs,” Embiid said after the game. “ … I didn’t think it was fair, at times. So I’ll leave it at that. Some of those calls, the call on the screen, unfortunate.

“There’s so many things that happened throughout the game where I just felt like it didn’t go both ways, which is fine. We move on.”

» READ MORE: Sixers mailbag: Potential playoff rotation, rebounding issues, and life as a traveling beat writer

Embiid, though, also called his own play “terrible” while totaling 26 points on 10-of-25 shooting. He shared that he was ill and “physically, I just was not in it.” There were times it appeared that Embiid’s first priority was trying to draw a foul, instead of simply converting the bucket. After Embiid blew kisses to the crowd to celebrate a three-pointer that put the Sixers up, 107-103 with 3:22 to play, Miami unleashed its game-flipping run.

The Sixers’ loss also spoiled a homecoming, of sorts, for rookie VJ Edgecombe. He played in front of a massive contingent of supporters who made the short trip from his native Bahamas for his first NBA game in Miami, cheering and waving flags from their home country every time he scored.

After totaling 11 points — including a high-flying alley-oop slam and scream – and four assists in the first half, Edgecombe was whistled for four fouls in the third quarter alone — and then received a technical for arguing with the official. He acknowledged it disrupted his rhythm, and was an uncharacteristic veer from his mature nature throughout his impressive debut season.

“I had a moment,” Edgecombe said after the game. “I was heated. I was mad, obviously. … [The officials are] doing their job. I messed up. That’s what it is.”

Maxey and George, meanwhile, are relatively pleased with how their bodies are holding up.

Maxey, who went 7-of-20 from the floor and totaled 23 points, nine assists, and seven rebounds, has played 87 combined minutes in his first two games back from a three-week absence. He quipped on Monday that, “It’s playoff time, so it doesn’t really matter how I feel. I’ve just got to push through and fight.” George, who said his 25 games away helped heal his surgically repaired knee, next wants to challenge himself to play with more physicality while taking the ball inside.

“I’m still a little hesitant taking contact, finishing, jumping,” George said. “So I’ve just got to get a little confident [with] downhill attacks and playing aggressive towards the rim. But I’m happy with how the games have been going. I’m happy with the flow. I think I’m continuing to find and trust my body, my ability.”

After Wednesday’s visit to the “tanking” Washington Wizards, the Sixers’ next four games are against opponents who would make the playoffs if they began today. They will play a home back-to-back against the Minnesota Timberwolves and Detroit Pistons Friday and Saturday, before consecutive road games at the San Antonio Spurs and Houston Rockets.

Those matchups will probably feel a lot like the last two games, which lived up to their playoff-esque billing.

Will the Sixers apply what they learned against the Hornets and Heat?

“We don’t have a choice [but to bounce back],” Maxey said. “We’ve got seven games left. Got to try to win them all. … Not any game is going to be easy.”