Jimmy Butler wanted it, Jimmy Butler got it. Sixers MVP, Joel Embiid, gave Miami Heat a tough game and an L as per their desire.
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The Miami Heat were cruising through the Eastern Conference Semi-finals with Joel Embiid out of the lineup indefinitely with an orbital fracture. But then he came back, and the Philadelphia 76ers are back in it.
The Sixers started Friday night 0-2 behind in the series at Wells Fargo Center. However, they never trailed their first game back home, apart from the first 5 minutes. Most of which had to do with the presence of the man in the mask.
Jimmy Butler had been awaiting Embiid’s return as much as anybody else in Philly and man did he and his Heat team get the competition they said they wanted in the series as it was clearly going their way in a one-sided way.
Jimmy Butler and Joel Embiid go back and forth in the game and after it
Although Embiid didn’t have his typical MVPesque performance and came up with 18-points, 11-rebounds, an assist, steal, and a block, his dominant presence on the court was enough for teammates to go off.
Danny Green had a season-high 21 points, the same were the points scored by Tyrese Maxey who also had 6 assists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals in a 99-79 victory. James Harden had a 17-8-6 with the highest plus-minus on the floor (27).
Meanwhile, for Miami nobody other than Butler (33 pts, 9 rebs, 2 ast, 2 stls) and Tyler Herro (14 pts) scored in double digits with Bam Adebayo going for 9 points, shooting just 2/9 from the field. The Heat big man was shooting over 70% from the field in the first two games while he shot just 22.2% guarded by Embiid.
The Sixers big man went to social media immediately after the game to talk some trash to the Heat Nation and Butler was there for a quick, friendly banter.
