Philadelphia 76ers aren’t who you think they are and that could be dangerous for Miami Heat

The Miami Heat will face a different Philadelphia 76ers team than the one Miami defeated twice in their last two games.

Since Joel Embiid’s injury, the 76ers won eight straight games with the talents of NBA veterans such as Marco Belinelli and JJ Redick, ranked by the number of field goal attempts each player had in the last 8 games.

When it came time to hoist a shot for the team, the 76ers gave the ball to a 33-year-old Redick, a 32-year-old Belinelli, or a 30-year-old Ersan Ilyasova to win the game for them.

Of the 5 players who logged over 200 minutes floor time, four of them are 27 years of age or over, i.e. way past the rookie stage.

Ben Simmons and Markelle Fultz get the press coverage, but the overlooked veterans quietly get the job done as teams game plan against the flashy highlight players and ignore the less athletic players, who make key winning plays.

Fultz is a wild card as his return to health has allowed the 76ers to increase his minutes, leading to under-appreciated results like his triple-double against the Milwaukee Bucks.

The worst result for the Heat would come from falling into the trap the New York Knicks set, where the Heat chased decoy actions in the paint, while leaving the real shooters open at the 3-point line.

The 76ers might pull the same tactic the Heat used with Dion Waiters and Goran Dragic last season, by collapsing coverage on drives to the rim, and then spraying passes to the waiting Belinellis and Redicks at the 3-point line.

A Reminder of the 76ers ability to score from anywhere on the court.

On Feb. 14 the Heat let a 24-point evaporate as the 76ers made Miami’s defense look dazzled and confused with multiple efforts on the boards and open shots from outside the arc, in the second half of the game.