Sixers takeaways from a loss to the Heat: Opposing big men causing trouble; Jared McCain has best game

The 76ers have a tough time matching up with towering, athletic post players.

Even in a loss, Justin Edwards is developing into a steady player who makes the right play.

Jared McCain is starting to regain the rhythm that made him a rookie-of-the-year front-runner last season before he suffered a season-ending knee injury.

Those things stood out Sunday in the Sixers’ 127-117 loss to the Miami Heat at Xfinity Mobile Arena.

Andre Drummond was the tallest available Sixer on Sunday at 6-foot-11. Dominick Barlow, who backed him up at center, stands 6-9. Meanwhile, starting forward Paul George and reserve forward Trendon Watford are both 6-8.

Miami started 7-foot Kel’el Ware at center and 6-9 Bam Adebayo at power forward. The duo took full advantage of their height advantage. Ware finished with 20 points and 16 rebounds. He had eight points and eight rebounds (six offensive) in the first quarter. Meanwhile, Adebayo, a three-time All-Star, had 18 points and 13 rebounds.

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Drummond held his own, finishing with 14 points and a season-high 23 boards for his sixth double-double in seven games. But the Sixers were outrebounded, 58-46.

“The biggest challenge was, I think he really got going when we got into rotations for Drum being out,” coach Nick Nurse said of matching up with Ware. “His size was just a little too much for our other guys tonight with what we had out there.

“So then, we tried to do as much as we could, matching Drum with his minutes. But again, he was just a little too long and bouncy down there for us for most of the game.”

The Heat (11-6) took advantage of the Sixers (9-7) not having starting center Joel Embiid and reserve Adem Bona.

But this isn’t the first time they have had a tough time matching up against towering post players. They struggled trying to defend Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley in a 132-121 road loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Nov. 5. Embiid missed that game. Bona played, but struggled mightily against the 6-11 big men.

On that night, the Sixers held a 43-34 rebounding advantage in a game that was basically over after three quarters. Allen had 24 points, 10 rebounds, and three blocks in 29 minutes, 31 seconds. Mobley added 23 points, five rebounds, and three blocks in 34:02.

The Sixers need to find a way to erase their margin of error, regardless of who’s available to play.

“I think who is in and out of the lineup is out of our control. Let me start with that,” Drummond said. “And the guys who do play, we play to the best of our ability. We’re playing good teams. And you know it’s hard to find a rhythm when we are not knowing who we are playing with on a nightly basis. So still not an excuse. I think this game was very winnable for us.

“Just a few mistakes down the stretch of the game. It’s a good team we’re playing. It’s a great team. So we’ll get them next time.”

Drummond has a point: This was a winnable game. The Sixers battled back from a 16-point deficit, closing the gap to two points (105-103) on Trendon Watford’s layup with 8:28 remaining.

The Heat responded with a 13-2 run to put the game out of reach.

Tyrese Maxey had 27 points on 10-for-23 shooting along with six assists, two steals, and three turnovers before exiting the game with 1:29 left.

But the Sixers must do a better job of defending opposing bigs regardless of who’s on the floor. If not, they could be in trouble.

Edwards made his third consecutive start at small forward in place of the injured Kelly Oubre Jr. (sprained left knee). The former Imhotep Charter standout is doing a solid job of filling in.

Edwards is starting to develop a knack for making the right play. He knows that his teammates, Maxey and George, are the go-to players. So he spaces the floor, hustles for loose balls, crashes the boards, and looks for his shot only when he is open.

Doing that, Edwards finished with seven points on 3-for-8 shooting to go with four rebounds, three assists, two steals, and two blocks against the Heat.

The second-year player out of Kentucky also did a solid job of getting Maxey the ball. One of his assists came on Maxey’s three-pointer right before the shot clock expired with1:22 remaining in the half. On the next possession, he assisted on McCain’s three-pointer.

“I’m just playing basketball, making the right play,” Edwards said. “That’s what I do. That’s my role. I’m not trying to play outside of my role. I’m just going to do whatever keeps me on the court. I’m not going to go out there, trying to play Tyrese Maxey’s role. That’s not my role.

“So I just make the right play. If I’m open, I’ll shoot it. If I drive and they [bring] help, whoever the next man is, I’ll pass it. It’s the right play, honestly.”

McCain posted his best performance of the season with a season-high 15 points on 5-for-11 shooting — including making 3 of 4 three-pointers — in a season-high 25:43. The second-year guard had eight points in 13 minutes on Thursday against the Milwaukee Bucks and five points in 14 minutes the night before vs. the Toronto Raptors.

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McCain failed to score on a combined 0-for-9 shooting during his first four games of the season. The 6-3, 210-pounder is starting to show his scoring prowess as he gets reacclimated to playing basketball.

He made his season debut on Nov. 4 against the Chicago Bulls at the United Center. McCain was rusty in his first game since suffering a lateral meniscus tear in his left knee on Dec. 13, 2024. He was supposed to return in time for training camp, but a torn ligament in his right thumb cost him the first six games of this season.

“It definitely felt the best,” McCain said of Sunday’s game. “I think each game is just getting more reps on the knee and more reps of movement. But I felt really good today.

“Felt like I got a little burst for my first step, and yeah, just continue to build off each game. And the more minutes I play and the more time I’m in, I feel like I can get more reps up. And yeah, it felt really good.”

Sunday was the Sixers’ 16th game of the season. By this time, teams should have a pretty good idea of their competitiveness.

But that hasn’t been the case for the Sixers because of injuries, preventing a full lineup. Embiid missed his seventh consecutive game because of knee injuries. He missed the last six games with right knee soreness. He also missed the Sixers’ Nov. 9 home loss to the Detroit Pistons for injury management on his left knee.

Meanwhile, Oubre and Bona (sprained right ankle) missed their fourth consecutive games. Sunday marked the first game that VJ Edgecombe sat out because of left calf tightness.

It also marked the third game that George (left knee injury recovery) has played in since being sidelined for the first 12. Two other Sixers — McCain and Watford (hamstring tightness) — were sidelined at the start of the season. And it was Barlow’s fifth game back after missing nine with a lacerated right elbow.

As a result, the Sixers started Edwards, George, Drummond, Quentin Grimes, and Maxey against the Heat.

While the situation isn’t ideal, Nurse hasn’t been concerned by how the injuries have slowed the evaluation process. He actually sees it the other way.

“I think we are getting some really good evaluations on a lot of the younger guys that we maybe wouldn’t have gotten,” Nurse said. “But, you know, obviously, we barely integrated Paul and Joel. Paul’s [played around 65 minutes]. Joel’s played six games. Most of those were minutes restricted, right? I think we’re still trying to work Jared McCain back into it. He’s still minutes restricted. I think I’m not in a big hurry to evaluate and figure out who we are right now, just trying to play as hard as we can each night and keep kind of working these guys back in.”