PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers earned their eighth straight win to end the season when they knocked off the Brooklyn Nets 107-86 on Sunday afternoon. The Sixers finished 47-35 and will be the No. 7 seed in the East.
That means they will be in the play-in tournament and play host to the Miami Heat on Wednesday to determine the No. 7 seed in the playoffs.
The Sixers and the Heat split their season series, 2-2, and one has to wonder what the two teams will have in store for each other in this contest. One thing’s for certain, the Heat will certainly bring a high level of intensity.
“You gotta match their intensity of course,” said Buddy Hield. “They play hard always, but you just got to go out there and play. You know, you can’t shy down from the moment. I think what we did to Miami with Joel (Embiid) and (Tyrese) Maxey carrying us for a long time. Kelly (Oubre Jr.), fourth quarter, I think like other guys need to come in chip in and be better.”
The Sixers knocked off the Heat in South Florida on April 4 thanks to huge nights from Embiid and Maxey. Embiid had 29 points while Maxey had 37. Oubre came up big in the fourth while Hield had a tough time getting going. That can’t happen on Wednesday.
“I wasn’t great that game,” Hield added. “Hopefully, I got an opportunity to be better and help those guys out where it won’t be so much on Joel and Maxey but, hopefully, the role players step up and help Joel and Maxey in those situations because, you know they’re gonna get heavy minutes and heavy usage. So we gotta have their backs when our number’s being called”
Hield had 19 points, seven rebounds, and five assists in the win over the Nets on Sunday. He scored the final nine points of the third quarter for Philadelphia on three 3s to give the Sixers a cushion going into the fourth quarter.
“He was good,” coach Nick Nurse said of Hield’s effort. “He’s the one guy we got that can kinda go on that little 6-0, 9-0 streak kinda by himself? He can get in a streak rhythm and I thought he kinda broke the game open.”
This will be the first postseason game Hield will play in the NBA. He is looking to treat the play-in game as something of an NCAA Tournament type of game considering the one game nature of it.
“You have to which is funny,” Hield finished. “You’re scouting is all for all. Teams is locked in. It’s good for us to have it at home instead of Miami where we had the crowd on our side, but it’s fun,…
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