The Miami Heat kicked off with a win in the Eastern Conference semifinals of the NBA playoffs by beating the Philadelphia 76ers 106-92.
Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo overflowed with 25 points and seven assists and 24 points and 12 rebounds, respectively, to give Miami the first point.
The second game of the Eastern Conference semifinals will be played on Wednesday in Miami.
The Heat, the top seed in the East, played without star point guard Kyle Lowry, who is injured in his hamstring.
For their part, the Sixers did not have their star Joel Embiid, who is out indefinitely due to the orbital fracture he suffered in the last game of the first-round series that they beat the Toronto Raptors (4-2).
Jimmy Butler added 15 points for Miami, which also had 10 points from Gabe Vincent and forward P.J. Tucker.
The 76ers were without Embiid, the regular-season MVP finalist, who isn’t even in Miami as he recovers from his injury.
The Cameroonian is not expected to play in the second game of this series on Wednesday. And as expected, he was missed.
For the Sixers, Tobias Harris scored 27 points, followed by Tyrese Maxey with 19, and James Harden with 16 points, nine rebounds and five assists.
It might interest you: Mike Tyson pierde la paciencia y golpea a pasajero en un avión
Fired up from the beginning
Miami came out aggressive from the start, putting Tucker on Harden and having him guard him in an approach similar to the one he used against Trae Young in their previous series against the Atlanta Hawks.
The locals came to have an advantage of up to 12 points in the first quarter, after a 10-2 run driven by eight goals from Herro, who started the game on the bench.
The margin was still comfortable (46-36) in the middle of the second after another basket by Herro.
Harden’s jumper with 28 seconds left in the second quarter put the 76ers up 51-50 heading into halftime, their first lead of the night.
However, Adebayo received a pass from Tucker for a dunk that put Miami up 62-61 in the third, and that would be the last lead change on the board of the game.
Late in the third period, a 10-0 run built a good cushion, and then another 13-2 run early in the fourth quarter pushed the Heat’s lead to 98-77.
By: AFP
It might interest you:
La FIA inspeccionará la ropa interior de todos los pilotos de la F1
Noticias Newswire
