76ers at Heat
The Miami Heat needed to surge over the final week in order to make the postseason and instead have gone the other direction. The Heat will try to snap a four-game slide and stay alive in the race for the final postseason spot in the Eastern Conference when they host the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday.
Miami heads into its final two contests one game behind the eighth-place Detroit Pistons, with the Charlotte Hornets in the mix as well, after a questionable play at the end of regulation helped force overtime in an eventual 117-109 loss at Toronto on Sunday. The Heat need to beat Philadelphia and the Brooklyn Nets in the final two games, have Detroit drop its last two and have the Hornets split their last two or drop both in order to make the postseason. The 76ers snapped a three-game slide and reached 50 wins with a 116-96 victory at Chicago on Saturday and are ticketed for the No. 3 spot when the playoffs begin. "We all understand that the 50-win milestone goes away quickly when the playoffs begin and that's what people remember the most," Philadelphia coach Brett Brown told reporters. "As it sits, to get back-to-back 50-win seasons is a great accomplishment for the players in that locker room."
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, NBCS Philadelphia, FS Sun (Miami)
ABOUT THE 76ERS (50-30): Philadelphia is concerning itself with keeping players healthy and figuring out the rotations for the playoffs over the last two games of the regular season. "A couple more games now, so it's more of just trying to fix everything," All-Star point guard Ben Simmons told reporters. "Go against a team like Miami will be good for us, more competitive. So we can fix up some things." Center Joel Embiid, who missed three games to rest a sore knee before returning with a triple-double against Milwaukee on Thursday, logged 28 minutes against the Bulls and is expected to play over the last two games to work on his conditioning in advance of the postseason.
ABOUT THE HEAT (38-42): Miami was inbounding the ball with the game tied and 10 seconds remaining on Sunday when officials blew the whistle before handing the ball to the inbounder, causing the rest of the team to begin running its motion and exposing the potential play. "You blow the whistle when you hand the ball to somebody when you're out of bounds, not before it," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra told reporters. "That got us moving into motion before that, and then it was sideways from there. Everybody would have liked to see that last play at least have a chance at it with how it was designed. It affects timing of a play, which is paramount." Future Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade scored 21 points in the loss and could be looking at his final two NBA games on Tuesday and Wednesday.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. 76ers SG Jimmy Butler (back) sat out the last two games and is questionable.
2. Heat SF Rodney McGruder scored two points on 1-of-6 shooting in 23 minutes off the bench on Sunday and was waived after the game.
3. Philadelphia took the last five meetings, including three in a row at Miami, going back to the first round of the 2018 playoffs.