Jimmy Butler’s near triple double helps Miami secure 101-99 win in Philadelphia

The Heat get their first W after all-star break and snap 4 game losing streak.

After speaking to Media and address that he is “tired of losing”, Jimmy Butler went playoff mode and backed up that statement to pick up a huge win against the Philadelphia 76ers on the road. The Heat improve to 33-29 after beating Philly 101-99, now 2 games back of the 6th seed instead of 2.5. Butler was spectacular, leading the Heat on both ends of the floor in a near triple double performance. He finished with 23 points, 11 rebounds, 9 assists and 4 steals on 9/14 shooting.

Jimmy Butler once again proved that he can indeed do it all. His presence and effort on the court lead Miami to gut out this win. He did this with highlight after highlight… put-back and fast break dunks, fancy finger rolls, tough mid range pull ups, and one of the craziest reverse lay ups anyone could ever see late in the 4th quarter.

The supporting cast did their share as well. Both Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo struggled to shoot the ball, but guys like Gabe Vincent, Max Strus and Victor Oladipo all had their moments offensively. Vincent, still starting in place of the injured Kyle Lowry, contributed 4 triples.

Even the new guys in Kevin Love and Cody Zeller played solid on route to a couple of highlights themselves. In the beginning of the game, Love had a gorgeous full court outlet pass to Tyler Herro. The accuracy was on point, and he continues to show previews at some of the things you get by having a player of his caliber out on the floor. Zeller had a nasty block on Joel Embiid in the 3rd that he pinned against the backboard.

Bam Adebayo, although struggled to shoot, had some key rebounds and defensive stops. Including a blocked shot on Embiid with under 30 seconds left to go in the game. As a team, the Heat shot the ball much better tonight. They shot 15/37 from three as a group, good for 41%. They also limited their turnovers to 12 compared to Philadelphia’s 18. Even with having an elite 7 foot big man in Embiid and feisty PJ Tucker out there, Miami stayed very competitive in the rebounding department. Only lost that category by 2, 37-39.

James Harden was contained to 5/14 shooting and Miami was able to get Tyrese Maxey into foul trouble. Maxey was forced to exit the game late in the 4th after committing his 6th foul. The Miami Heat-PJ Tucker (and Dewayne Dedmon) reunion ended with the Heat being on the right side of this one. Tucker tried to guard Butler all night, but Butler got the best of him most of the game. Tucker, who still has lots of respect for the Heat organization, made sure to embrace his former teammates post-game.

These two teams will get ready for an immediate rematch, with the Heat and 76ers set to play again Wednesday night at 7:30 PM ET, this time inside Miami-Dade Arena.