Miami Heat

The Miami Heat got a W behind the stellar play of Jimmy Butler in Game 6 over Philly, heading to the ECF. He hasn't forgotten how he got here though.

Behind their leader in Jimmy Butler, who has been one of the absolute best players in these 2022 NBA Playoff proceedings, the Miami Heat have managed to dispel their two playoff opponents while only playing three extra games. For whatever it’s worth, we are glad, as Miami Heat fans and faithful, that Philly made this ultimate mistake but again, Jimmy will never forget it. As Butler would state after the game, he loves the Miami Heat, but he still feels a way about that choice.

The Philadelphia 76ers are set to square off against the Miami Heat for the sixth time this postseason on Thursday night. To no surprise, the Sixers have ...

Fortunately, he'll continue to do his job on Thursday as the Sixers face a do-or-die scenario. Ever since he got back out on the floor for the Sixers last week, Embiid proved that he'd be good to go as long as he doesn't suffer any setbacks. With their season on the line, the Sixers once again listed Embiid as questionable for Thursday night's game.

The Miami Heat beat the Philadelphia 76ers by a score of 99-90 on Thursday night, which means that they will advance to the Eastern Conference Finals to ...

- COMPLETE 2022 NBA PLAYOFFS RESULTS AND SCHEDULE: Fastbreak on FanNation updates the results and schedule for every 2022 NBA Playoff game.CLICK HERE. In 2020, they made it all the way to the NBA Finals, but lost to LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers. The Heat are now headed to the Eastern Conference Finals for the second time in just three years.

In a wide-ranging interview after Philadelphia's season ended Thursday night, Joel Embiid noted that James Harden is no longer the Houston version everyone ...

Embiid, meanwhile, said that he still expects to have surgery on the torn ligament in his right thumb but that he doesn't expect he'll need it for his facial fracture. I think that you know, on the flip side of that, we didn't do a great job of that when things weren't going our way." Every man to himself with the intent that you're coming into the game, with the energy that you come in with, I think that's a huge part of it. Missing guys, not being healthy, and, they still found a way to be the No. 1 team in the East, and to be able to come in and do what they did, they deserve a lot of credit. The ball just didn't get back to me." I just gotta keep building and keep trying to reach that goal." But when it came to his future in Philadelphia, Harden had a little more to say. What's clear is the 76ers will need more than what they have to compete at the level they hope to. You look at defensively, he plays with so much energy, believes that you can get from point A to point B, and he believes that no one can beat him and he's tough, like he's just physical and he's tough. "Everybody's got to get better," Embiid said. "For sure," Embiid said. They took advantage of a lot of stuff that we tried to do defensively.

Jimmy Butler scored 32 points to send the Heat into the Eastern Conference finals with a 99-90 victory over the 76ers on Thursday night in Game 6.

He held the back of his head after he knocked it on the court after a fall late in the second quarter. Embiid missed the first two games of the series as he recovered from the concussion. Dallas is playing beyond the first round for the first time since winning the title 11 years ago. Harden scored all of his 11 points in the first half. Harden, who has a $47.4 million player option for 2022-23, missed both shots in the second half and scored his last basket at the 3:31 mark of the second quarter. He did not mess around and scored 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting in the third quarter when the Heat used a 16-2 run to take control. Coming off a 35-point victory in Game 5, the Heat wore down a battered Sixers team. Embiid again gutted out a postseason game in his mask (right orbital fracture) and with torn ligaments in his right thumb after he was only cleared to return last week from a concussion. The 76ers just fell flat. The Sixers parted with Butler in large part because they chose Ben Simmons over him. The defending champion Bucks lead that series 3-2, with Game 6 on Friday night in Milwaukee. I do love the Miami Heat though.

The Philadelphia 76ers' roller-coaster season came to an end Thursday thanks to the Miami Heat's 99-90 victory over them in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference ...

The Sixers could always try to buy a pick if so desired, but they're already flush with young players at the end of their bench. They traded their 2022 first-round pick to the Brooklyn Nets for Harden, but the Nets could defer it for their 2023 first-rounder instead. Even if they re-sign Harden for less than the max and waive Green in the wake of his knee injury, they'll be limited to the $10.4 million non-taxpayer mid-level exception and the $4.1 million bi-annual exception, provided they can stay under the $155.7 million luxury-tax apron. All of this sets the stage for a momentous offseason. Backup center will be another critical area of need to address this offseason. The free-agent market is relatively barren in terms of impact players, but between Embiid, Harden, Tyrese Maxey and Tobias Harris, the Sixers don’t necessarily need another star. The Sixers were sorely lacking in that department. Shake Milton and Furkan Korkmaz showed positive flashes at times, but both were in and out of the rotation throughout the series. The biggest decision they'll have to make this offseason revolves around James Harden, their blockbuster acquisition at the trade deadline. Matisse Thybulle, who started in 50 of his 66 regular-season appearances this year, might have cost himself tens of millions of dollars with his postseason no-show. Heat guard Tyler Herro, this season's Sixth Man of the Year, nearly single-handedly outscored every Sixers reserve in the series. Kyle Lowry played only two games in this series before aggravating his hamstring injury and missing Games 5 and 6.

The Miami Heat are headed to the Eastern Conference Finals after beating Philly in Game 6. Along the way, they made James Harden look far less than himself.

The Miami Heat were not having it on Thursday in Game 6. The Miami Heat would hold James Harden to just 11 points, four rebounds, and nine assists. Well, he was, however, the Miami Heat were there too.

With Butler scoring 32 and the Heat at the height of its game defensively, Miami closed out the 76ers in six games despite playing again without injured Kyle ...

The 76ers, in their history, have never won a series that it trailed 0-2. Butler scored 12 points in that third quarter spurt, stretching a one-point Heat halftime lead to 68-52. And Miami was outscored by 9 during Martin’s minutes. You can’t hear anything in the huddles, but we had great poise and responded. Tyrese Maxey - who torched the Heat in Games 4 and 4 in Philadelphia - shot 1 for 7 in the third quarter, closing with 20 and four turnovers. This is not an easy place to play. Adebayo - who took only one shot in the first half - closed with 10 points and 8 rebounds, shooting 5 for 5 from the field, with two steals and a block. It’s not everything, but it’s something.” And I wanted everyone in the locker room to acknowledge that. The Heat will play Boston or Milwaukee in the Eastern Conference Finals, with Game 1 set for 8:30 p.m. Tuesday and Game 2 at 8:30 p.m. Thursday, both at FTX Arena. “It’s not easy in this league. For the second time in Jimmy Butler’s three years in Miami, the Heat is headed to a conference finals.

Jimmy Butler scored 14 of his 32 points in the third quarter to help the Heat reach the Eastern Conference finals for the second time in three years.

Game 6 of that series is Friday night in Milwaukee. A Bucks-Heat matchup would mark the third straight season the two teams have met in the playoffs. Butler had 73 points combined in Games 3 and 4 and racked up 23 points, nine rebounds and six assists during a crucial Game 5 win Tuesday night. "I guess where I should have been a long time ago, a place where I'm welcome. I'm here for a reason, and we're going to ride this wave and take it back to the 305. He wasn't going to let this go to [Game ] 7." "Jimmy is a great competitor," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of Butler. "I think he's one of the ultimate competitors in this profession. Butler acknowledged there was a moment he thought he would be teammates with Embiid in Philadelphia for a long time, but "it didn't work out." "Now I'm where I belong," Butler said. And when his only focus is just about driving a team to win, all the other things are just irrelevant -- that a lot of players and teams get caught up in. Get ready for the next round and work our way towards this championship." Joel Embiid's injuries were the main storylines, both coming into and during the series. As has been the case throughout the series, it was Jimmy Butler who led the way when his team needed him the most.

Butler led the Miami Heat to a close-out win over the 76ers on Thursday night.

"Even going back to the reason we signed Al. We got rid of Jimmy, which I still think was a mistake, but he needed the ball in his hands and that's the decision they made." Writing for Fox Sports last summer, Weitzman reported that Simmons was frustrated when Butler essentially became the point guard, and that management was concerned that Simmons wouldn't handle it well if this continued, which played a role in Philadelphia deciding not to stay in the Butler business. I'm proud of him." There is an extremely long list of what-ifs about the Sixers spanning the six years since Embiid made his NBA debut. Simmons added that he had played there before and "just made more plays from there tonight." The Sixers won the game, and it was easily Simmons' best all-around game of the series. Butler and Embiid were thick as thieves during their short time together, and their team came literally as close as one can get to defeating the eventual champions. Butler and Embiid were teammates for less than one full season, and no iteration of the Sixers since then has been better. "I love him. Just gotta keep building and keep trying to reach that goal." Embiid gave credit to the Heat, their coaching staff and their front office, then continued about Butler: "I'm happy for him. But I got so much respect and love for Joel Embiid."

Jimmy Butler, Miami's charismatic front man, has sat on the cusp of being considered an elite NBA player for what seems like years.

The top-seeded Miami Heat won 4-2 in their series with the Philadelphia 76ers and it’s full speed ahead towards the Eastern Conference Finals for Jimmy Butler and his gang. "When you get into a competition, he understands the full deal -- that you have to do it on both ends” said Spoelstra, “And he's able to compete with a ferocity and an incredibly stable mind. That is really unique -- when it gets the craziest is when he's really locked in on making sure that it's solid winning basketball for our team." He is continually making sure his team is in the right set and getting good shots according to the game plan. He’s averaging 25 points per game this postseason and has his squad up 3-2 against the Dallas Mavericks, looking to close out and head to the Western Conference Finals. The numbers back that up too, as Butler’s 11.8 plus/minus is the highest of anyone in these playoffs, except for his own wingman, Miami Heat shooting guard Max Strus (11.9).

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jimmy Butler knocked Joel Embiid out of the playoffs, then walked over to his former 76ers teammate and hugged him, told him he loved ...

76ers: Danny Green left in the first quarter with a serious left knee injury. Embiid missed the first two games of the series as he recovered from the concussion. “At some point, you've got to stop looking at coaches and the front office,” Embiid said. "You've got to look at the players. Embiid still played 22 minutes in the first half and scored 14 points. A lot of love for guys in that locker room. He did not mess around and scored 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting in the third quarter when the Heat used a 16-2 run to take control. Harden scored all of his 11 points in the first half. Harden, who has a $47.4 million player option for 2022-23, missed both shots in the second half and scored his last basket at the 3:31 mark of the second quarter. Coming off a 35-point victory in Game 5, the Heat wore down a battered Sixers team. The Sixers parted with Butler in large part because they chose Ben Simmons as the cornerstone ball handler. The defending champion Bucks lead that series 3-2, with Game 6 on Friday night in Milwaukee.

After the Miami Heat clinched a trip to the Eastern Conference finals by defeating the Philadelphia 76ers, Jimmy Butler was seen throwing shade at his ...

Miami has advanced to the NBA Finals in their past six Conference Finals appearances. Meanwhile, Butler will have the chance to make the NBA Finals for the second time in his career, while the Sixers will fail to make it past the second round once again. Sixers star Joel Embiid even questioned the front office’s decision to not bring Butler back to the team. Butler was a member of the Sixers in 2019, establishing himself as one of the team’s star players. Despite his success with Philadelphia, Butler was traded to the Heat the following season in a four-team deal with the Portland Trail Blazers and Los Angeles Clippers. The Sixers kept Harris, signing him to a five-year, $180 million contract. In the 2019 playoffs, Butler averaged 19.4 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 5.2 assists.