76ers at Heat
Joel Embiid will try to bounce back from one of the worst games of his career and his Philadelphia 76ers will aim for a rare road win when they visit the Miami Heat on Monday. Embiid had two solid games after returning from a finger injury late last month before he shot 1-of-11 in an ugly 11-point effort during Saturday's 116-95 loss at Boston.
"They rolled out that athletic style, that physical style and Joel struggled tonight," coach Brett Brown told reporters. "Combined with shooting seven for 33 from the 3-point line, it's going to make for a long night offensively." The Sixers have lost three straight on the road and nine of their last 11 away from home, a stretch that includes an overtime setback at Miami on Dec. 28. The Heat are sneaking in one more game at home - where they are 21-3 - before beginning a six-game road trip spanning the All-Star break. They enter Monday's matchup with some momentum following a 102-89 victory at Orlando on Saturday.
TIME: 7:30 p.m. ET. TV: NBATV, NBCS Philadelphia Plus, FS Sun, TSN 1/5
ABOUT THE 76ERS (31-19): Philadelphia is 16-of-64 from 3-point range during its two-game losing streak, starting 0-for-7 from long distance to begin the loss to the Celtics. Ben Simmons scored a team-high 23 points and put up 20 or more in eight of his last 10 games to raise his season average to 16.7. Al Horford returned from a one-game layoff (knee) and was held to nine points while making 1-of-6 3-pointers.
ABOUT THE HEAT (33-15): All-Star Jimmy Butler scored 24 points and rookie Tyler Herro added 23 off the bench in the win at Orlando, but it was big man Meyers Leonard who made the difference. "Everyone in the locker room wants Meyers to be more aggressive," coach Erik Spoelstra told reporters after Leonard produced 18 points and a season-high 14 rebounds. "He really worked on it the last couple of days in practice, letting it fly, almost past his comfort zone. I'm talking about shooting it every time he touched it." Leonard attempted 14 shots - his highest total in the regular season since Dec. 1, 2015 - against the Magic while snapping a string of 11 straight single-digit scoring games.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Embiid had 35 points and 11 rebounds in the last meeting.
2. Heat PF Bam Adebayo had four points - his lowest total since Nov. 29 - against Orlando but recorded 14 rebounds, five assists, four blocks and three steals.
3. Sixers SG Furkan Korkmaz had 14 points Saturday after averaging 5.7 while shooting a combined 6-of-25 over his previous three contests.