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Sixers often dictated the action against the Heat

All series long, Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra and the players repeatedly spoke about the respect they had for the 76ers.

Dwyane Wade and the Heat eliminated the Sixers from the playoffs in five games. (Ron Cortes/Staff Photographer)
Dwyane Wade and the Heat eliminated the Sixers from the playoffs in five games. (Ron Cortes/Staff Photographer)Read more

All series long, Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra and the players repeatedly spoke about the respect they had for the 76ers.

While words are nice, it was the Heat's actions that showed how highly they regard the Sixers.

Although Miami had the noticeable edge in talent, led by LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh, it was the Sixers who often dictated the action in the series and the Heat who were forced to respond.

There is no bigger sign of respect than that.

The Heat won this best-of-seven affair four games to one following Wednesday's 97-91, closeout victory at AmericanAirlines Arena.

In three of the Sixers' four losses, however, the outcome of the game was still in doubt late in the fourth quarter.

More important than the fact that the Sixers won a game and fought the Heat hard was that they were the ones who often set the tone, watching the Heat play a game of follow the leader.

The Sixers held a double-digit lead during some point of the first quarter in four of the five games. Before the fifth game, all the Heat were talking about was matching the Sixers' energy to start a game.

It was an interesting dynamic to see a team billed as an NBA title contender looking to match another that was 41-41 in the regular season.

Point guard Jrue Holiday, who averaged 14.2 points and 5.6 assists and shot 11 for 21 (.521) from three-point range in a breakout series, said he felt the Sixers had the Heat playing on their heels, especially at the start of games.

"I think Miami kind of expected us to back down, like we were going to be a speed bump or just a rollover kind of team," Holiday said on Thursday at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine as the Sixers had exit interviews with the coaching staff before beginning their offseason. "We had them every game except the second, and every game could have gone either way."

Against a team with noticeably more talent, the Sixers had to give the Heat something in an attempt to take something else away.

The priority was to not allow Miami a large number of points in the paint.

"We couldn't let Wade and LeBron and Bosh live in the paint," Sixers coach Doug Collins said. "And we did that, and [Wednesday] they hit 12 threes."

In the last two games, which included the Sixers' 86-82 win on Sunday, their advantage in points in the paint was 80-54, including 44-26 in Game 5.

The Sixers, or any team, can't take away everything from a team of Miami's talent, so the strategy was to make Miami try to beat them with the three-pointer. In the first four games of the series, Miami was 16 for 67 (.239) from beyond the arc.

On Wednesday, Mario Chalmers, who was 4 for 15 from three-point range in the first four games, went wild by hitting 6 of 12 three-point attempts.

"You want to make one of their other guys beat you, and if he does, so be it," Sixers swingman Andre Iguodala said.

Of course the Heat also made plenty of clutch plays in order to advance to the second round against the Boston Celtics. Miami shot 116 for 144 from the foul line (.806) for the series, including 21 of 25 (84 percent) in the clincher. Conversely, the Sixers were 63 for 87 (.724) and just 11 for 17 (64.7 percent) on Wednesday.

"The way they executed and believed in themselves made it very tough and good for us to have that stress of executing down the stretch," the Heat's Bosh said.

Imagine, the Sixers serving as excellent preparation for Miami's second-round series. It's doubtful that the Celtics are saying the same thing about the New York Knicks, whom they swept.