NBA Playoffs 2022 on Wednesday, 11.05.2022
The Conference Semifinals, which are currently being played in the NBA Playoffs, are extremely exciting! Three of the four pairings are tied at 2-2 after wins.
Miami Heat vs. Philadelphia 76ers is one of those exciting series that enters its 5th round tonight! The Sixers are getting better and better and in my Heat 76ers tip, I’m not assuming their third straight win for no reason.
I still favoured the Heat in the first two games, but then switched fronts at the right time. Because the return of Joel Embiid brought the expected turnaround in favour of the Sixers.
First Philadelphia won 99:79 and then forced the series tie with yesterday’s 116:108. But something else stood out in this latter duel that makes me confident that, despite the upcoming trip to Miami, the next blue-white victory is more than possible.
James Harden scored 31 points, by far his best playoff game that night! In the regular season, such an output would not be unusual for the brilliant guard, but in the postseason, The Beard has always been said to have a certain weakness of nerves.
If Harden turns it up tonight as he did in Game 4, even the Heat’s outstanding defence, which has had no problems in the first two games of this series, will be simply overwhelmed.
The return of Joel Embiid in Game 3 has already significantly upgraded the Sixers’ offensive game. If James Harden has actually overcome his years of “playoff weakness”, that would be too much of a good thing, even for Miami.
The Sixers’ offensive stats in the last duel speak for themselves: Philadelphia hit 54% from the field and 47% from the three-point line. 37 field goals were preceded by 25 assists – the best output of the Blue and Whites in this series so far.
The Heat, on the other hand, are not only having problems on defence, but now also on offence – especially the current slump beyond the three-point line must be overcome to become competitive again.
Miami converted a terrible 7 of 35 attempts from downtown, with only Butler (2 of 6) and Max Strus (2 of 5) hitting more than one three-pointer. In both losses to the Sixers, these sloppinesses from long range were ultimately game-changing.
The Sixers’ only problem is that they still allow themselves too many ball losses – 17 in the last duel alone! Nevertheless, the power duo of Embiid and Harden is currently able to drown out this shortcoming.
An analysis of the course of the last two games shows that the Heat’s home-court advantage in Game 5 is less important than the Sixers’ advantages in the zone, which now seem to be getting bigger and bigger.
Philadelphia was able to secure more rebounds in the last duel and really intimidated the opponents with Joel Embiid. With the exception of Jimmy Butler (40 points) and Cam Adebayo (21 points), nobody in Miami is reaching normal form.
Incidentally, I like Adebayo, the Heat’s centre, less and less. His output in the first two games without Embiid was quite different defensively and offensively than it has been since the return of the physically superior Cameroonian, who is an obvious challenge not to be shouldered.
The top providers reviewed by our experts, who not least distinguish themselves with a wide-ranging basketball programme, expect a close game with possibly the better end for the home side.
The Heat 76ers odds have been designed in such a way that the home side are favourites at 1.70, while the Sixers are only slight underdogs at 2.40 on average.
Conclusion: The series started out easy for the Heat defence! But then Joel Embiid came back in Game 3, thanks to whom James Harden has really blossomed by now!
Harden is getting better and better at evading coverage as the Floridians have to pay more attention to the recovering centre. This has turned the series on its head in my eyes.
Miami is also struggling from distance and losing more and more ground in the battle for the zone! It will undoubtedly be a close game, but in my eyes there is a lot to be said for the Sixers to win in the end.
Heat 76ers tip: Philadelphia takes a 3:2 lead!
