Sixers punch playoff ticket with 105-104 win over Heat, will face Knicks in first round

The 76ers are recognized as a championship-contending team when Joel Embiid is healthy.

Perhaps that’s what added to the excitement of Wednesday night’s achievement. With Embiid back on the floor, the Sixers took their first step toward what they hope is a long postseason run.

The Sixers punched their playoff ticket, securing a seventh straight postseason appearance with a 105-104 NBA Play-In Tournament win over the Miami Heat Wednesday at the Wells Fargo Center.

Embiid finished with 23 points and a game-high 15 rebounds while making 9-of-10 foul shots. But on this night, Nico Batum was the hero.

The reserve power forward made 6-of-10 clutch three-pointers while finishing with 20 points. He also completed what might have been the game-saving defensive play, blocking Tyler Herro’s three-point attempt with 24.7 seconds left. Then he wisely let Herro take an uncontested three-pointer right before the buzzer to pull the Heat within one point. If Batum would have fouled him, Herro could have tied the game with a made basket and made free throw.

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With their win secured, the Sixers will advance as the East’s seventh seed and face the second-seeded New York Knicks in the first round. Game 1 of the best-of-seven series will be played at 6 p.m. Saturday at Madison Square Garden.

“I think they’re for real,” coach Nick Nurse said of the Knicks. “They’ve been really good. I think they’re really fast. I think they can pick-and-shoot and hit the glass. I think they guard you. I think they earned that seed. They played really well and beat a lot of good teams.

“So we’ll have our work to do here in the next couple of days.”

The Sixers will worry about that in the coming days. On Wednesday, they were celebrating a thrilling victory.

Tyrese Maxey finished with 19 points and six assists. Herro paced the Heat with a game-high 25 points, while Jimmy Butler added 19. Bam Adebayo had 10 points and 12 rebounds. However, while the Sixers pulled out the win, Embiid was lackluster on the offensive end. He made 6-of-17 shots.

Early on, the moment appeared too big for several of his teammates. In addition, the Sixers looked shocked against Miami’s trademark zone. And the Heat appeared to want it more. But the Sixers fought back from a 51-39 halftime deficit to pull within 71-69 after Cam Payne’s three-pointer with 12 seconds left in the third quarter.

Then Embiid knotted the score at 74 on his first three-pointer 54 seconds into the fourth quarter. Batum gave the Sixers a 79-76 lead on his fifth three-pointer with 8:58 to play. He later hit his sixth shot from deep 47 seconds later to make it an 82-78 game.

After the Heat regained the lead, Batum’s putback closed the gap to 89-88 with 4:12 left. The lead seesawed before Embiid’s three-point play gave the Sixers a 96-94 advantage with 1:47 left. The Heat tied the score before Kelly Oubre Jr.’s three-point play put the Sixers up 99-96 with 36 seconds remaining.

Then Batum’s blocked Herro’s three-pointer with 24.7 seconds left. Maxey got the rebound, was fouled and converted a pair of free throws to give the Sixers a five-point cushion.

After the win, the Sixers have a tough matchup with the Knicks, having lost three of this season’s four meetings to their Atlantic Division rivals. Knicks All-Star point guard Jalen Brunson, a former Villanova standout, averaged 22.3 points, 7.8 assists, and 3.0 rebounds during those four games. However, New York will be without All-Star Julius Randle, who opted earlier this month to have season-ending shoulder surgery.

Embiid only played in the first of the teams’ four meetings. He had 30 points, 10 rebounds, three blocks, and six turnovers in a 36-point home loss on Jan. 5.

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But the new-look Sixers believe they’re better prepared to compete for a title. They also believe that they would have had one of the conference’s top seeds — instead of being a play-in team — if Embiid wasn’t sidelined for two months after tearing the meniscus in his left knee on Jan. 30.

“It’s funny because New York is the second seed. Miami finished [with the eighth-best record],” Batum said. “There were only four games [in the win column] between those two teams. Usually, there’s a 10-, 15-game gap. There’s four games, so it’s pretty much nothing. That’s a week of basketball.

“So we know we missed the big guy for a while and we got a couple of new guys to come in and we were still in the race. We could have easily been the second seed, though, maybe.”

As Batum alluded to, the Sixers have welcomed Embiid back and learned how to play with newcomers Kyle Lowry, Buddy Hield, and Payne. As a result, they’re finally able to run their offense.

“Now everyone knows what he has to do,” Batum said. “Everybody knows his job now. Now, we are back to ‘OK, this is your job. This is your job. This is your job. … I think when you are back to your stuff, and respect each other’s space … I think you are a good team to win it.

“We have a great coach, a great coaching staff, and two big-time players [Embiid and Maxey], great role players who know their roles. That’s the recipe to be a good team.”