By Dante Nelson, Sports Talk Philly Staff Writer 
The Philadelphia 76ers are visiting the Miami Heat in a battle of playoff seeding. The Sixers sit at the 7th seed while the Heat sit at the 8th seed. The Sixers had their seven game winning streak come to an end on Sunday against the Washington Wizards. The Miami Heat are coming off of a blowout win over the Memphis Grizzlies. While they do have that win, they are 2-8 in their last ten games.
Playing for seeding
The Sixers and Heat, as previously mentioned, are battling for a playoff spot. The Sixers are ahead of the Heat by two games, which means if the Sixers lose, they will remain in 7th place. The Heat are three games ahead of the 9th place Detroit Pistons, so a loss to the Sixers won’t drop them below the precious playoff line.
However, the Sixers are a half game behind the Milwaukee Bucks, so a win would be nice for a chance to move up.
The hottest team in the league
Sorry, this isn’t a put for the Heat. No, this is about the Sixers and how they are the 4th best team in the league over the last 10 games. Yup. The Sixers are 8-2 in their last ten games, which matches both the Toronto Raptors and Utah Jazz. All three of these teams, of course, are behind the Houston Rockets, who are 10-0 in their last 10 games as they are currently riding a 13-game winning streak. This is a great sign to see from your team.
Last time these two teams met
Well, the Sixers overcame a large deficit against the Miami Heat back almost exactly two weeks ago as they played on February 14. In fact, this is the third time this month they are facing the Heat. While the Sixers have won both games, the grand total of points the Sixers have over the Heat is just eight.
For this year and last year, these two teams have developed a bit of a rivalry. Now, both of the wins this season came at home for the Sixers. They are now on the road. The last two times they visited the Heat, they lost by more than 20 points each with results of 23 and 27. That’s 50 points in two games. That’s in the 2016-17 season.
At the same time, the two home wins for the Sixers last year were, like this season, by single digits. They won by seven and eight points, which adds up to 15.
The theme, it seems, is the Sixers win close games at home and then get completely blown out on the road when it comes to the Heat. That’s slightly alarming, and there’s no sign this will change tonight. Technically, the Sixers were blown out last game, they were able to come back to win. For what it’s worth, the last time the Sixers won in Miami was in 2014, so, again, there’s a trend.
Time to break the cycle.
Projected Starters
| Matchup Preview | February 27, 2018 | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| Philadelphia 76ers (32-26, 13-16 Away) |
Miami Heat (31-29, 15-12 Home) |
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Game Info
Where: American Airlines Arena, Miami, Florida
When: 7:30 PM ET
See It: NBC Sports Philadelphia
Hear it: 97.5 The Fanatic
