Sixers - Heat Game Two: They Made Tyrese Bleed

 > Well... just sad, really.

> The Sixers hung around for most of the night but never got over the hump, never made their runs seem truly threatening, and went meekly into the night as soon as Miami decided to turn up the pressure in the fourth. This was a game between two playoff teams with limited ceilings, and the Heat just are closer to theirs. Especially when the Sixers are without the actual MVP.

> Best game ever for DeAndre Jordan in a Sixers uniform, in that he resembled a basketball player and the game didn't become a runaway when he was in it. Feel free to retire now and go out on top, DJ.

> Just an utter joy, Tyrese Maxey is. He's going to be the best player on the team in less than five years. If he's one of the best players in the league, the Sixers will have a chance to matter post-Embiid. But when he got a cut with 10 minutes left and his flurry stopped, so did the team.

> Another solid and decisive night for Tobias Harris where, well, he didn't rebound enough to make the other positives matter. It's nice to have a big who doesn't bite on every fake or watch the guy blow by him, and when he's making 3s, I almost like him despite his contract. If he's your fourth best player, you have a chance. He'll put up a lot of empty calorie numbers for some other team soon.

> The national media wants to tell the story that this is all James Harden's fault, because James Harden looks weird and has gotten himself off two bad franchises (and maybe onto a third?) in the Stars are GMs phase of the NBA. It's nice when one team loses and the other team doesn't win. 

This ignores the fact that Harden's not the guy missing corner 3 after corner 3, that he's not the guy tasked with, and totally failing to, stop Tyler Herro (that's Matisse Thybulle, who pretty much stopped being an NBA player once the world learned he was unvaccinated, because the unvaccinated are just total losers in life and especially in sports)... but, well, fine. Harden needs to lose weight, get a full training camp, become a ascetic and probably also shave, at which point White America will say he finally gets it. Dude is a 33 year old point guard; that usually does not work, folks. Even if he stays home every night while reading his Bible. And by the way, they got him for a max contract player who is increasingly looking like he'll never play pro basketball ever again.

> First game I've ever seen Paul Reed not get in foul trouble. He made a handful of wildly helpful plays, but needs to finish more strongly at the rim, not bite on every pump fake, and go back to 8-10 minutes a game. As soon as possible.

> In the time it took you to read this, Danny Green missed a three. So did George Niang. (Solid moment chirping when you made your only shot in two games, George. FFS.) When your best bench players are Reed and Furkan Freaking Korkmaz, you aren't winning an NBA game. You might not be winning a game in leagues on other continents.

> Does Doc Rivers want to be here? Well, for the second straight game, he played pretty much everyone, called a lot of zone and timeouts, and seemed actually offended by bad officiating. So, maybe. Let's wait and see if he snarls at the media some more before we get all kumbaya about this. At least he can't lose a 3-1 lead in this series.

> Will Philly make this a series by holding home court in Game 3? I'd love to and it's possible -- Miami is really not that good, folks -- but I'm not seeing it. This team has been terrible in big sports at home all year, Embiid reportedly can only now take his phone on bright mode, and the thing that they do worst on defense (close out on 3-point shooters) is the thing that Miami takes the most advantage of. 

See you there then, when Joel tries to play winning ball while wearing a face mask, sunglasses, thumb guard and a week of court rust. No problem.