Heat at 76ers
Philadelphia fans are concerning themselves with the Eagles heading to the Super Bowl right now, allowing the 76ers to go through a recent slump without much notice. The 76ers will try to pull out of the slide before drawing much more attention and snap a three-game losing streak when they host the Miami Heat on Friday.
Philadelphia worked its way into sixth in the Eastern Conference during a stretch that included wins over Toronto, Boston, Milwaukee and San Antonio, but it dropped the final three of a four-game road trip to fall back to .500 and into the No. 8 spot in the conference. "That's the kind of win we've got to get if we want to be a playoff team," All-Star center Joel Embiid told reporters after a 116-108 loss at Brooklyn ended the trip. "If we're going to lose these types of games, we don't deserve to go to the playoffs." The Heat are trying to emerge from their own funk after dropping five of the last nine games, capped by a 91-89 loss at Cleveland on Wednesday that marked the fifth straight game in which the team failed to score more than 95 points. "We have to develop new layers to our offense and evolve because people are aware of us now and that comes with competition and playing well," Miami coach Erik Spoelstra told reporters. "So, we have to embrace that challenge as well."
TV: 8 p.m. ET, ESPN, FS Sun (Miami), NBCS Philadelphia
ABOUT THE HEAT (29-22): Miami point guard Goran Dragic, who was named as an All-Star replacement on Wednesday, is proud of the way the team played defense on Wednesday but recognizes the problems on the other end. "The opponents are preparing against us and they're scouting us," Dragic told the Miami Herald. "So, it's a little bit tougher on us. But at the same time, that game was winnable for us (in Cleveland). At the end of the day, we had 20 turnovers, missed 11 free throws and we went 3-for-28 from the 3-point line. We didn't have a good offensive game, but we're really satisfied how we play our defense. As long as we continue to play defense like that, we're going to win a lot of games." Dragic scored a team-high 18 points on Wednesday after combining for 18 points on 8-of-22 shooting in the previous two contests.
ABOUT THE 76ERS (24-24): One positive from Wednesday's loss was the return of shooting guard JJ Redick, who scored 20 points in 26 minutes after sitting out seven straight games with a leg injury. "He's going to be a huge help," rookie point guard Ben Simmons told reporters of Redick. "You can't leave him. If you leave him, and I'm going to hit him, and he's going to knock it down, usually." Simmons scored 24 points on 11-of-16 shooting in the setback and is 38-of-51 from the floor over the last four contests.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Embiid recorded a double-double in each of his last three starts.
2. Miami SG Wayne Ellington, who averages 11.2 points, went scoreless on 0-of-4 shooting in 26 minutes Wednesday.
3. The home team took the last five in the series.