Sixers vs. Heat takeaways: Philly’s sloppy play; poor execution late; Maxey showing progress

The 76ers are sloppy.

Tyrese Maxey benefits from his pairing with James Harden. But the team’s execution down the stretch is less than desirable.

Those three things stood out in the Sixers’ 101-99 loss to the Miami Heat Monday night at the Wells Fargo Center.

The Sixers looked like a team with no cohesion. At times, it looked like they were competing in a bad-pass contest as the ball sailed out of bounds, over teammates’ heads, or was picked off by Heat defenders.

All that led to the Sixers committing 20 turnovers, leading to 22 points by the Heat.

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“They double a lot,” coach Doc Rivers said. “They reach a lot. We know that. Our passing was just not on target.

“I just thought we were really sloppy tonight, sluggish. It happens. But I think in those games, you still got to find a way to win the game. Tonight we didn’t.”

Joel Embiid was the biggest culprit, finishing with six turnovers. Unlike Saturday against the Boston Celtics, the All-Star center didn’t make quick decisions before the Heat double-teamed him.

“That’s on me just being careless,” Embiid said of the team’s turnovers. “I could have done a better job, and, yeah, that’s on me.”

But he was far from the only Sixer who was careless with the ball.

James Harden had four turnovers. Tobias Harris, De’Anthony Melton and Tyrese Maxey had two, while P.J. Tucker and Jalen McDaniels had one.

“Some of it was us,” Harden said. “Some of it was them. They were aggressive the entire night, and did a good job of pressuring the basketball, and forcing some of them. And some of them were just careless.”

If there was a Sixers’ positive, it was the play of Tyrese Maxey.

The shooting guard finished with 23 points on 8-for-16 shooting – including going 4 of 8 on three-pointers – before fouling out with 3 minutes, 21 seconds remaining.

This comes after Maxey averaged 12.0 points on 35.7% shooting in his previous two games. He missed all eight of his three-pointers in the matchup against the Memphis Grizzlies and Boston Celtics.

Maxey was more aggressive and roamed more freely against the Heat than in those two games. However, that had a lot to do with having more space to operate.

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“Tonight, he had more space because he had Tobias [Harris] on the floor and James on the floor with him,” Rivers said. “And James sets him up. I felt that was good for him.”

Maxey had played a lot of minutes as the leader of an all-second unit lineup. As a result, he was the primary ball handler on the floor. But playing alongside Harden enabled him to roam freely. And there were times when Harden passed the ball up ahead to a streaking Maxey in transition.

Nineteen of his points came in the second half in 7-for-12 shooting.

“I just tried to be overly aggressive,” Maxey said. “You know, not try to force the shot but I think they were trying to be so aggressive that [Rivers] had to put me back a little bit. That’s the way I had to play.”

The Sixers opened the fourth with nine missed shots and three turnovers before Embiid hit a 15-foot pullup jumper with 6:50 to play. They ended the game just as poorly as the began the quarter.

Embiid made an 11-foot fadeaway jumper to close the gap to one point with 3:01 to play. However, the Sixers missed their final five shots and committed two turnovers down the stretch. Their last miss came on Harden’s three-pointer at the buzzer.

“I thought the last play was well run,” said Embiid, who passed Harden the ball from the post. “We followed the plan, and he got a good shot. They came and they doubled and I made the right play. He just missed it. He’s going to make the next one.”

The Sixers made just 5 of 24 shots, including shooting 1-for-10 on three-pointers, and committed five turnovers in the fourth quarter. Maxey and De’Anthony Melton both missed layups late and Tobias Harris airball a corner three-point attempt that would have given the Sixers the lead. Playing poorly, the Sixers were even horrible on playing coming out of timeouts.

Championship-caliber teams pick things up down the stretch, not crumble. The Sixers must correct this if they expectto make a deep postseason run.

Best performance: This goes to Jimmy Butler. The Heat small forward finished with team highs of 23 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists to go with a game-high four steals. Butler made 9 of 14 shots and grabbed seven offensive rebounds.

Worst performance: I had to give this to Tobias Harris. One game after being iced out in the fourth quarter, the Sixers power forward was a no-show. He finished with two points on 1-for-4 shooting. Harris’ head never appeared to be in the game.

Best defensive performance: This was a tough one, but I ultimately gave it to Butler for his four steals.

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Worst statistics: This goes to the Sixers fourth-quarter three-point shooting. They made just 1 of 10 threes.

Best statistics: This goes to the Butler’s seven offensive rebounds.

Worst of the Worst: This goes to the Sixers’ inability to make basket with the game on the line in the fourth quarter.