3 observations: Jimmy Butler leads Heat past Sixers, deny the No. 1 seed
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The Philadelphia 76ers invaded American Airlines Arena on Thursday with some work to do. They needed a win to clinch the No. 1 seed and have home-court advantage in the Eastern Conference. They even had Joel Embiid return after missing a game as things seemed all set to get it done as they have been resilient all season.
Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat had other plans, however. The Heat still had something to play for as well in terms of seeding and they came out with the right energy and urgency as they knocked off the Sixers 106-94. Butler had 16 points in the opening quarter on his way to 21 and five rebounds for the game.
Tobias Harris led Philadelphia with 21 points, Danny Green had 11, Ben Simmons had eight and six assists, and Seth Curry also had eight points. Embiid did struggle a bit as he only had six points on 3-for-9 shooting with four turnovers as he looked out of rhythm a bit. Shake Milton had 12 off the bench.
Here are the observations from the loss in Miami:
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