Sixers - Heat Game Six: Bye

 > After four games of this series, the Sixers were tied. They had Joel Embiid seemingly getting better, had just won a tough game where James Harden played his best game in the laundry, and had more than a reasonable hope of advancing.

> Then they just... stopped playing basketball. With any kind of fire, interest, passion, ingenuity, anything. And yes, this cheapens the win for Miami, who are well coached and reasonably athletic and don't beat themselves, but, um, still. They just won two games against a team that showed no interest in playing any more basketball this year.

> There will be all kinds of theories about this. How Embiid's injuries were just too much to overcome. How Harden is nursing an injury and has conditioning issues that he can't mask anymore at age 32. That Tobi Harris always fails when it matters, that a slow and dough bench gets you killed, that losing glue guy Danny Green is always deadly, and so on, and so on. None of it really matters. 

> What is true, what has always been true with this organization since maybe Larry Freaking Brown, is that they've got the wrong coach. Rivers does some things well; he doesn't panic when things go the other way, he has good plays out of timeouts pretty often, he can call for a zone with a reasonable feel for the game. But he can't develop young players, can't get away from bench guys that are totally spent, and can't convince his players that he's worth selling out for. That ended with the Celtics, and hasn't ever come back.

> How much of this is Rivers, and how much of it is the talent on the Sixers, is hard to determine. If you want to tell the story that Embiid doesn't show up in the playoffs, I can't really argue with you. He's got reasons, but he's also 28. Tick, tick, tick.

> This game was closer than it had any right to be, because Miami got bored. During a closeout game on the road. Yeah, that happened.

> Embiid was something like 7 for 40 tonight, and PJ Tucker has 20 offensive rebounds that were about as hard to get as taking candy from a baby. A sleeping baby. I'd check the actual numbers, but why make an effort? The guys getting paid to play basketball tonight did not.

> Small but telling moment in this game: with the Sixers riding a 7-0 run in the third quarter courtesy of Shake Milton giving a damn, Jimmy Butler was called for a foul while Milton was shooting a three. Rather than save his challenge for later, Heat coach Eric Spoelstra went for it and got the call, effectively ending the momentum. Part of why Spolestra is, well, a much better coach than Rivers. Along with the fact that his team played hard in Games Five and Six.

> In the first 75 seconds of the fourth quarter, three terrible turnovers, an inexcusably bad officiating call, and a 6-0 Miami run that was absolutely gift-wrapped. The nature of Sixers basketball during most of the last 20 years is that when their last game is played, you are well and truly OK with not watching them play anymore. This team? A LOT.

> I'm sure that Miami had a possession tonight when Embiid left the rim and Miami didn't get a layup. I just don't remember it.

> Here's how bad this team quit: Philly Fan didn't even really boo them. They just left. Why make an effort when the athletes won't?

> Special credit to the refs for not bailing this team out with any kind of call tonight. They didn't deserve it. If you had told me that a team with Harden and Embiid couldn't get to the line during a closeout game at home, nope, not how the NBA usually works. You've never seen a team quit more. Honestly.

> I guess if you want to credit to anyone in blue tonight, Shake Milton tried, and Maxey leaves the season with integrity. Everyone else can just live with the stink of this for the rest of their career. It's the kind of game that makes me want to not watch the franchise anymore, but I'm stupid. See you in October.

> As for the Heat, um, they are going to lose the next series against a team that doesn't quit, doesn't have a coach that doesn't want his job, etc. Good luck to Jimmy Butler, though.