Sixers fall to Heat in Game One
Sixers do a lot of things very well, but still lose to Heat by 97-89.
Sixers fall to Heat in Game One
Bob Cooney
The Sixers played about as well as they can possibly hope to against the Miami Heat Sunday at American Airlines Arena. They limited the Big Three of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh to just 63 total points, held each of them to below 50 percent from the floor, made more field goals (35-31), more three pointers (7-4) and committed fewer turnovers (14-9) than the Heat.
Still, Miami was able to post a 97-89 victory. And as much as players and coaches want to believe that it was a good showing, which it was, it seemed that the frustration of still enduring an eight-point loss overweighed any thoughts of moral victory.
With three of their five starters (Jrue Holiday, Jodie Meeks and Spencer Hawes) playing in their first playoff game, it figured to be tough for the Sixers to get off to a good start against the host Heat in the first game of their best-of-seven first round series.
But the Sixers appeared to be shot out of a cannon at the beginning of the game. They made 11 of their first 14 shots, which helped propell them to a 33-19 lead early in the second quarter. A big reason for their early success was they got the ball to the basket, hit open shots and were able to keep Miami off the boards.
Then came the Heat explosion that coach Doug Collins had warned his team abo in the preparation days prior to the game. But when it happens, it's like trying to hold back a wave of water at the beach. There's really nothing you can do when James gets that look in his eyes, much like he did when a layup by Thaddeus Young (team-high 20 points) gave the Sixers that 14-point lead.
When James hit a driving layup with 3 minutes, 46 seconds left in the second quarter, it capped a 26-5 Heat run that left the formerly confident Sixers with a "what just happened" look on their collective faces.
That quarter mirrored what was the Sixers' problem all game - Miami getting to the foul line. The Heat went 12-for-15 from the stripe that quarter, compared to the Sixers, who hit all four of theirs.
When the game was over, Miami wound up hitting 31-of-39 from the free throw line, while the Sixers went just 12-for-15. The Heat won the second quarter by 35-18.
"I could (talk about the free throw descrepency)," said an obviously agitated Collins. "But my grandkids would lose their college fund (due to a fine). I can't respond to that. We thought we did a good job tonight, holding them to 42 percent shooting, 24 percent from the three point line and turned them over and got 16 points. We had the one stretch in the second quarter when they went to a zone (and couldn't score)."
Still, the Sixers fought back, much like they've done all season, closing the game to 88-87 with 2:30 left in the game on a layup by Young. But Miami turned up the defensive intensity and Wade (17 points) scored five of his team's final seven points to help Miami pull out the win.
Chris Bosh led the Heat with 25 points and 12 rebounds, while James added 21 points, 14 rebounds, five assists and three blocks.
Holiday scored 19 for the Sixers, while Lou Williams, back for the first time since March 12 due to a strained hamstring, scored 10 points in just under 23 minutes. Andre Iguodala scored only four points but dealt nine assists and added eight rebounds.
"They wound up getting in the bonus I think at the nine-minute mark in the second quarter," said Collins. "So what ended up happening was we had to play a half-court game in the second quarter. I think at one-point they were 8-for-12 shooting and gotten to the line so many times so now you're taking the ball out of the net. One of the things we started with very well was we were able to push the ball out and get into our early offense. When they get to the free throw line that much the game stops and then you're playing against a team in a halfcourt game and that's tough because they're very, very good."
"We were very happy with the way we played in that first quarter," said Brand. "We moved the ball, hit our shots and we defended them well. It's encouraging that none of the Big Three shot over 50 percent. We just let them get to the free throw line entirely too much throughout the game, especially that second quarter."
The positives were there, but the desired result was not. As well as the Sixers played, as happy as they were with their defensive effort on Wade, James and Bosh, it still wound up being an eight-point loss. Perhaps that's more discouraging than any positives that came out of the game.
Game Two will be Monday night at 7 p.m. Games 3 and 4 will be at the Wells Fargo Center on Thursday and Sunday.
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It wouldn't do any good to complain about the refs anyway, the NBA has to get their hand-picked team to the Finals somehow. In previous years it didn't matter, like last year, either Boston or Cleveland would have been fine for the NBA. The year before that, they did everything but giftwrap the Orlando-Cleveland series for Bron-Bron and he still couldn't close the deal.
Tonight was a travesty of refereeing, and yet despite fighting a very talented team in the Heat (even without the help), a hostile (if lame) crowd, and the 7th man in the referees, they still almost pulled it off. It's a shame we have to have a superstar to get superstar calls -- they shouldn't exist in the first place.
Ugh. Tim Donaghy lives.— evolutionary- The Sixers got most of the calls. A clean steal by Chalmers called a foul. A flagrant shoulder by Speights that wasn't called. If anything, the Sixers got more calls today. — JonKap
- The shoulder thing was intentional, but definitely not flagrant. It was no big deal as far as the amount of contact. It was obvious that Speights was trying to hit him though. A good hard (not really hard enough) foul. — incog69
- needs: 1.big man in middle .. DEFENSIVE PLAYER!
2.pure shooer,not scorer.. there is a difference!
3.trade IGGY please .. turnover machine!
4.either trade TURNER or play him more minutes!
5.for THORN to earn his pay, make some good moves!— bill poore - I totally agree with need number 1. Personally, I hope they get Dalembert back for the mid-level exception. They should also draft the biggest guy they can :) — incog69
Comment removed.- Watched most of the game. What I saw made me sick. The Sixers had no chance what so ever , no matter how good they played. The officals let the heat get away with whatever they wanted to do. They actually threw the Sixers around the floor and knocked them down, often raising their elbows with nothing being called . On 1 drive jamie put his shoulder down and just plowed thru anyone in his way. Of course a foul was called on the Sixers after he walked about 8 steps and imitated a running back in the NFL. A bigger stronger player just bullying other players out of the way. Nothing to do with baskerball as it is supposed to be played. Like I said, the Sixers do not have a prayer. The heat is really not that better a TEAM without the NBA's backing..— broad113
- Nonsense. The refs gave the Sixers a ton of leeway. Speights should have gotten a flagrant for the shoulder. LeBron was getting raked inside. A clean steal called a foul. The refs kept the Sixers in the game. — JonKap
- Nonsense the refs allowed the Heat to comeback into the game. They gave them phantom defensive calls and allowed the Heat do offensive fouls with no calls. Happens all the time when you have superstars. The shoulder by Speights is a playoff foul. When Young got pushed in the air after a layup and falls to the ground was the same type of foul by Speights. Brand blocking Bosh cleanly was called a foul when it was all ball. Joel Anthony's fouls were too obvious and had to be called. The killer noncall was Wade creating space with his knee up to his chest in the air and no offensive foul was called. If that was allowed, so many other players would be doing it. People would do the move by Karl Malone sticking out his knee going for a layup. That changed the game from a 1 possession game to a 2 possession game. — Manok
- Just listened to Coaches and M Jackson. Without laying it at the feet of the officials they echoed my earlier post. All about being professional and not being fined.— broad113
- Sixers were not at their best and still made a game of it. Lou was rusty. Dre' was great against Lebron, but as a consequence,suffered at the other end. Speights didn't make shots that he usually makes. Noc missed open shots. Oh..... Did I mention the bad calls..... Like the one against Thad when Wade pushed him off with his leg= offensive foul. Like the no call charge by LBJ knocking Thad down. Van Gundy said or implied that both those referee calls were wrong.,both late in the game.
DC will out coach Spoelstra on Monday and we go up 2-1 Thursday night. Impressive first playoff start for Jrue. But he must look for the open man more . Big Time game for Thad. What a warrior at his size.
— philsix6 - I'm proud the Sixers, they gave them all they could handle.— bossrjc
- 2day showed what we didn't do to win: 1) execute a half-court offense. With a half-court offense, coupled with our fastbreaks, we continually score, and negate these RIDICULOUS Miami runs. Our offense fuels our defense!! 2) defend that pick-and-roll, GOSH DARN!! They ran that EVERY time down, running those screens. No, we don't get swept, someone just needs to memo Collins to teach his players to defend the pick-and-roll.— BlackFeet01
- @BlackFeet01: we played plenty well enough to win. This was not about what we didn't do today.— evolutionary
- Looking beyond . . . Bundle Iggy & Turner for a real star 2-guard scorer or just Iggy for a VERY high pick to draft one. That might be throwing away #2 pick in last yr's draft, but our brilliant GM did that already when he picked Turner.
That gets Young the start at SF . . . Brand at PF . . . a real shooter/scorer at 2, Holliday at point. Let's give THAT a go!— wordsword
Bob Cooney has been at the Daily News for more than 20 years, working in the sports department for the past 15. This is his third season on the Sixers beat. He has covered just about everything, but mostly college basketball, where he was the La Salle beat writer for six seasons. E-mail Bob at cooneyb@phillynews.com and follow him on Twitter.
