Heat at 76ers
THE STORY: The Miami Heat have not lost since April 6 and have shown no signs of letting that streak end in during their first-round playoff series. The young Philadelphia 76ers have had a nice run and should have plenty of confidence going into next season, it doesn’t appear that an upset is in their immediate future. Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and company will be looking to complete a series sweep when they visit Philadelphia on Sunday for Game 4 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.
TV: 1 p.m. ET, ABC
ABOUT THE 76ERS: Philadelphia had its chance on Thursday, leading into the fourth court in front of its home crowd. But as well as the 76ers have been able to defend the “Big Three” at times during the series, they have not been able to create much of their own offense down the stretch. Miami ended up outscoring Philadelphia, 27-19, in the fourth quarter on Thursday, beginning the frame with a 15-4 burst to take control. Elton Brand collected 21 points and 11 rebounds and Jrue Holliday chipped in 20 points and eight assists but Thaddeus Young, who kept the 76ers in the first game with his fourth-quarter scoring, was held to four points on 1-of-8 shooting.
ABOUT THE HEAT: Miami was built basically from scratch last summer for the specific purpose of winning championships. After going through some growing pains during the regular season as Wade, James and Chris Bosh learned to play together and the rest of the cast settled into their roles, the Heat look like they have found the perfect division of labor. James has become more of a distributor, running the offense and limiting himself to high-percentage shots while Bosh crashes the boards and takes mid-range jumpers and Wade attacks the basket. The “Big Three” combined for 75 points in Game 3 as Wade led with 32 and took over down the stretch.
WHO’S HOT/WHO’S NOT: Andre Iguodala is shooting 28 percent (7 of 25) in the series for the 76ers, topping out at 10 points on Thursday. James is shooting 52.9 percent (18 of 34) from the floor in the last two games for Miami.
KEY STATISTIC: The Heat dominated on the glass, 50-34, in Game 3, including pulling down 20 offensive boards. Philadelphia is going to have a tough time avoiding a sweep of they can’t find someone besides Brand to battle inside and box out James and Wade crashing the glass from the wings.
LAST WORD: The 76ers have attempted 54 free throws through the first three games while the Heat have gone to the line 98 times, converting 78.