Miami's veterans have never pretended the second night of a back-to-back is a throwaway. On Monday night it was anything but. After a loss in Indianapolis that Tyler Herro plainly called embarrassing, the Heat flew home and beat Joel Embiid's Philadelphia 76ers with a zone-heavy defensive plan and a locker-room reset one teammate described as the best halftime of his Miami career.
"Spo says it, the second night of back-to-back, it stands for something," Herro said postgame. "It's not everything, but it stands for something. To be able to come from Indiana last night, land, a tough, embarrassing loss in our organization — we thought that was a horrible loss last night — to fly here and still come up with a game plan. And the game plan was really just to come out and play harder, obviously play smart, but play harder."
Miami was uneven through two quarters. Then, according to one unnamed Heat player at the podium, Herro and Bam Adebayo took over the room.
"Halftime happened. It was great. It was one of our best halftimes ever. Like, I want to say since I've been here at least," the player said. "Tyler and Bam really brought us together during that time for sure. Get a win by any means necessary. It was great to see those two really pull us through. When those two are going, we feel unstoppable. So when them two are on the same page, it was great. We just follow their lead, seriously."
That teammate was blunt on what the win meant in a choppy stretch. "I think it might have been our best win of the year."
The tactical centerpiece was Miami's zone, which Herro said disrupted Philadelphia's core actions. The 76ers depend on Embiid post-ups, Tyrese Maxey drives and passing out of those two gravity points, and Herro said the Heat used roughly 60% zone — one of their highest deployments of the season — to take those sets away.
"When we're flying around in that zone, it's a really good defense," Herro said. "We were able to get them out of some of their actions that they like to get to. Obviously there are a handful in man with P.J., Maxey and Embiid. And then shooting around it. So we're able to take them out of their normal flow, their normal rhythm."
In transition, Miami made Embiid work the other way, too.
"Joel is obviously a great offensive player who draws fouls and does a great job of manipulating the game and slowing it down," Herro said. "So we had an emphasis on just whether the ball goes in or not, let's get the ball out and run, get in transition. Make Joel get back on defense."
The bigger question in Miami right now is whether the Heat can keep their footing. They have won seven straight and then lost seven straight in the last month, and Herro said the group is trying not to ride the season too emotionally.
"I try not to get too high and not too low in this league. It's a long season. I was hurt for half of more than half of the year. Some games you're obviously higher than others," he said. "We're obviously on a terrible stretch right now as a team. Just sticking with it, understanding that it is a long season. Last week we won seven straight. The next week we lost seven straight. So who knows what next week looks like."
Adebayo, who carries a larger defensive load than the box score usually reflects, said the ending of the regular season will require the same thing the team found in that halftime.
"Knowing that we got six games left, that says it right there," Adebayo said. "Me and T need to be more vocal in these next six. But just understanding, it's going to take that type of will we play with tonight on every game from here on out to get these W's."
