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Miami Heat vs Philadelphia 76ers
Christmas Day around the world is such a special day and people love the tradition of watching NBA basketball on that holiday. The Miami Heat love the holiday as well because they're 11-2 overall on the times they've played on Christmas. So many memorable moments have occurred on the 25th of December for the Heat facing teams like the Los Angeles Lakers, Cleveland Cavaliers, New Orleans Pelicans, and Oklahoma City Thunder. This year the Miami Heat have the pleasure of hosting the Philadelphia 76ers.
Bad news would hit the airwaves on Christmas Eve afternoon as it would be reported that Jimmy Butler would miss the Christmas Day game. The rest of the team would hold down the fort as the rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr had his best game in the NBA with 31 points. Bam Adebayo would end the evening with 26 points followed by Tyler Herro with 22 and Duncan Robinson with 16.
Same story as the Heat would be the same for the Philadelphia 76ers as announced on Christmas Eve afternoon that Joel Embiid would not partake in the game. Tobias Harris finished the night with 27 points followed by Kelly Oubre Jr with 25. Mo Bamba would score 18 points and surprisingly it was Tyrese Maxey with an off night with 12 points.
Philadelphia got off to a hot start and it wasn't looking promising but it would be the Sixers that would go stone cold. Philly would go on to miss 14 shots in a row allowing Miami to go on a 21-1 run in the first half opening up a huge lead. Miami would also benefit going to 56-36 crashing the boards which allowed Jaquez Jr to earn a double double.
It took the 76ers just one quarter to evaporate the Heat lead that was up to 21 points and finish the 3rd quarter being tied 86-86. Once again the Heat have not figured out how to maintain their leads in second half of basketball games. The Heat were able to hang on and get the 119-113 victory over Philadelphia making Erik Spoelstra 9-0 on Christmas Day. They now jump up to 5th in the Eastern Conference with a 18-12 record.
Next up for the Miami Heat is a road trip visiting the Golden State Warriors on Thursday night.
Written by: Daniel Torres
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