Player grades: Jimmy Butler leads Heat past James Harden-less Sixers

MIAMI–The Philadelphia 76ers had to head down to South Beach to take on the Miami Heat for a tough second night of a back-to-back following a rallying win over the Cleveland Cavaliers at home on Friday. The matchup was going to be tough enough, but they then found out they would be missing James Harden as well.

The Sixers got off to a slow start on the offensive end as they scored only 14 points on 21.7% shooting in the first quarter and that was the beginning of an overall tough night. To Philadelphia’s credit, they battled and they stayed in it, but it was not enough as Jimmy Butler made big plays for the Heat in a 99-82 win for Miami.

Joel Embiid had 22 points on 14-for-14 shooting from the free-throw line and 15 rebounds, Tyrese Maxey added 17 Tobias Harris had 16 and eight rebounds, and Georges Niang added nine off the bench.

Here are the player grades following the loss:

Tyrese Maxey: A

The only good thing about Harden not being out there was the continued development of Maxey. He was the only real consistent scorer in the early going in this one outside of Embiid. His 3-point shooting continues to be outstanding since the All-Star break so there is another big development for the Sixers. As the game went on, the Heat gave him more defensive attention, but he still found ways to score and that shows off his continued growth on the offensive end of the floor.

Furkan Korkmaz: D-

With Harden resting, the Sixers turned to a struggling Korkmaz to try and get him going a bit. It didn’t pay any dividends early as he missed his first three triples with the Heat playing off of him to focus on Embiid. He was switched onto Tyler Herro and Gabe Vincent often on defense and that went about as well as one would think. To his credit, he did draw a charge when the Sixers made their run in the third quarter.

Matisse Thybulle: D-

The Heat did not pay any mind to Thybulle when he had the ball at the perimeter. He missed an open triple and he struggled to chase around Duncan Robinson off screens in the early part in this one. This was not his finest game out on the floor. He did have an impressive block on Butler in the third quarter, however. Overall, he has got to be a game-changer on the defensive end if he isn’t going to score the ball and he wasn’t in this one.

Tobias Harris: C-

It’s tough to evaluate Harris in this one considering he’s under the weather and Harden wasn’t there, but he just had to give more. This was one of those games where he had to pour in somewhere between 20 and 25 points and he wasn’t able to do so. In his defense, Embiid not playing very well didn’t help either. He was big in the first half to keep Philadelphia afloat a bit, but he didn’t do much after halftime. Again, a little under the weather so it’s tough to fairly judge him.

Joel Embiid: B-

The Heat turned to P.J. Tucker to defend Embiid and the big fella was able to get his due to his size, strength, and skill, but the Tucker also had help. Miami sent really aggressive double teams at him and he had to make quick decisions while under a lot of duress. Miami really pressured him led by Tucker and Bam Adebayo and the Sixers could not figure it out at all. He shot 2-for-10 at the half as he had a really tough time even getting the ball. After halftime, he was more assertive and he was able to get to the line a bit more which allowed him to get some offense going.

Georges Niang: B-

The Minivan did not have the same success against the Heat as he missed a lot of his open looks from deep, although he did make a clutch one in the fourth quarter. He also had his issues on the defensive end, but his presence out there gave Philadelphia some needed spacing on the offensive end. He also made some nice plays with his passing and his energy was infectious for a team needing some.

Danny Green: C-

At least Green made a couple of triples in this one to give the Sixers some type of shooting. His efforts were much needed in this one on the offensive end as Philadelphia really needed somebody to give help out on the perimeter and he knocked down some, but it was an overall tough night shooting the ball.

Shake Milton: B-

After a really tough start to the season, Milton has been playing very well as of late. It is important that the Sixers continue to feed him minutes as they move forward because he was giving the Heat some trouble all night long from the backup guard spot. He brought some needed physicality to the game.

Paul Millsap: C+

With DeAndre Jordan active, the Sixers still turned to Millsap to play the backup 5. It makes some sense since Jordan has played sparingly this season, but the 16-year veteran had a tough time against Heat big man Dewayne Dedmon out on the floor. To his credit, he was solid on the glass and he had some tough baskets which helps the Sixers.

Isaiah Joe: C-

Joe got a brief look in the first half and he did just enough to earn more in coach Doc Rivers’ eyes. He missed an open triple and he picked up a foul on the defensive end, but he was active and that was helpful in helping the Sixers get some momentum going on the defensive end.

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