Sixers facing nemesis Jimmy Butler, Miami Heat in NBA Play-In Tournament is ‘tricky situation’

The Miami Heat it is.

The 76ers will host the Heat in Wednesday’s Play-In Tournament game at the Wells Fargo Center. Philly is in the play-in round after failing to advance to the playoffs Sunday, the final day of the regular season.

“We have to win Wednesday,” Nico Batum said of what will be the Sixers’ first of two chances to secure a playoff berth. “It’s a tricky situation. We are playing a very good team. They been here before. Last year, they showed that you can be a play-in team and go all the way, pretty much close to.

“So they’re going to be a team that’s been there.”

Batum is right.

» READ MORE: Allen Iverson looks like he’s finally found stability and inner peace. Let’s hope so.

Last season, the Heat went from a team that suffered an opening-round play-in loss to representing the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals. They would lose to the Denver Nuggets in five games in the Finals.

This time, however, the Sixers are the seventh-place team while Miami is eighth in the tourney designed to determine the final two spots in the playoffs among teams that finish from seventh to 10th place in their respective conferences. Games will be played Tuesday to Friday.

The seventh- and eighth-place finishers will get two chances to win a play-in game. The ninth- and 10th-place teams will meet, with the winner needing an additional victory aganist the 7-8 loser to secure a playoff berth.

The Sixers had hoped to automatically advance to the playoffs as the East’s sixth seed. They did their part, defeating the Brooklyn Nets, 107-86, at the Wells Fargo Center. However, they needed a loss from the Orlando Magic or Indiana Pacers. Unfortunately for the Sixers, both teams won.

The Magic defeated the visiting Milwaukee Bucks, 113-88, at the Kia Center. Meanwhile, the Pacers rolled over the visiting Atlanta Hawks, 157-115, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. The Sixers, Orlando, and Indiana all finished the season with identical 47-35 records.

However, the Magic were awarded the fifth seed because they won the Southeast Division title. The Pacers are sixth because they held the head-to-head tiebreaker against the Sixers.

Now, the the Sixers and Heat will play Wednesday for the opportunity to face the second-seeded New York Knicks in the first round of the playoffs.

The loser will host the winner of the Chicago Bulls vs. Atlanta Hawks on Friday for the opportunity to face the top-seeded Boston Celtics in the first round. The playoffs are set to begin Saturday.

“I’m not going to say I’m disappointed,” Sixers forward Paul Reed said of being forced to play in the play-in tournament. “It would have been nice to have some extra off days. For us, I feel like we can use this as an opportunity to get better and prepare ourselves for the playoffs. You can look at that as a positive thing, too.”

» READ MORE: Sixers top Nets in regular-season finale

But at 46-36, the Heat finished seven games ahead of the ninth-place Bulls in the standings. They were 10 games ahead of the 10th-place Hawks. Critics of the play-in argue that a team’s postseason fate should be determined during an 82-game regular season, not a four-team postseason tourney.

“If I was the ninth or 10th seed, and I got a chance to get seventh or eighth, I wouldn’t say I would be opposed to it,” Sixers guard Buddy Hield said. “I’d say I think it’s a good idea what the NBA is doing. But when you are in the seventh and eighth, you are like, ‘Why in the [heck] are we doing it? But I get it, you know. It’s fun.

“You get a chance to go and compete against a really good Miami Heat, who’s been in this situation before and who had success in it. You just have to go out there and approach it the right way.”

The Sixers finished the season with their worst record in an 82-game season since finishing 28-54 in the 2016-17 campaign. But a win Wednesday or Friday would advance them to their seventh straight postseason appearance.

However, they are trending in the right direction, ending the regular season with a season-best eight-game winning streak.

“So I don’t think [competing in the play-in] is disappointing,” guard Cam Payne said. “On the bright side of it, we won eight in a row. Going into the playoffs winning eight in a row, that’s big time. Going into the playoff healthy, that’s big time. I think anything besides that is pretty cool.

“We’ve been losing games. We come on a winning streak heading into the playoffs, you can’t ask for anything better than that, for a team to be rolling going into the playoffs.”

Miami, on the other hand, has won two straight and seven of their last 10 games. The three losses during that stretch were to the Sixers (April 4), the Pacers (April 7), and the Dallas Mavericks (April 10).

The Heat are led by six-time All-Star Jimmy Butler, who played for the Sixers during the 2018-19 season. His costar is three-time All-Star Bam Adebayo.

Butler averaged 20.7 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 1.3 steals, while Adebayo averaged 19.2 points and 10.3 rebounds. Miami is a physical and relentless team that plays under one of the league’s all-time best coaches in Erik Spoelstra.

“Obviously, we’ve had some great battles with them,” Sixers coach Nick Nurse said. “Always expect that vs. them. Mindset is we want to keep playing well and have to put everything we can into it. It’s kind of the way we’ve been treating the last month of the year. We’ve been digging in and playing our guys as whatever we have to and doing whatever we have to do to win. We’ve got a good mindset, I think, and just take that into Wednesday.”

The Sixers and Heat split this season’s four meetings.

In their last meeting, the April 4 contest, the Sixers prevailed, 109-105, at Miami’s Kaseya Center.

Tyrese Maxey had game-highs of 37 points and 11 assists to go with nine rebounds on that night after missing the previous two games with left hip tightness. Joel Embiid finished with 29 points, four rebounds, three assists, and one block in his second game back after left knee surgery.

Embiid missed Sunday’s game for precautionary reasons after tweaking his knee on Friday. He will be ready to play on Wednesday.

Butler finished with 20 points and five assists in the teams’ last meeting. Terry Rozier paced Miami with 22 points.

The Sixers’ Tobias Harris feels just being ready is the key to defeating the Heat.

“We’re confident,” he said. “We know what’s at stake here and we’re not going out. We’re not looking for any sympathy on how our season has gone. We obviously understand where we’re at right now and all we’re looking forward to is our next opponent and being ready to win and go forward into the playoffs.

“I mean, we have to get it how we get it right now and be locked in and focused for that. So, we’re excited for it. It’s a challenge and at the end of the day we know what’s at stake for us as a team, as a group, and we’re ready for it.”