The Philadelphia 76ers had rotten timing in facing the Miami Heat on Feb. 23. Not only were the Sixers facing the Heat during one of the worst stretches of their season, they were facing Miami during the best stretch of its season. To rub it in further, the Sixers were facing LeBron James during one of the best stretches of his career, which continued on in Philadelphia.
James wasn’t the big scorer of the night in the Heat’s 114-90 victory. He only had 16 points while Dwayne Wade poured on 33 of his own. But although the Sixers became the rare team to hold James under 30 points, they still let him rack up 11 assists and 10 rebounds.
As such, the story of the night became James’ triple-double, even though he did the bare minimum to get it. Of course the Sixers had such little life in them, James barely needed to break a sweat, much less the Heat as a whole.
This was a rare game where James scored under 20 points and barely shot over 50 percent, as he only went seven-for-12 shooting. His long run of games with 30+ points and 60+ percent shooting went down in NBA history a few weeks ago, and he still hasn’t let up. Neither have the Heat, as they now have a 10 game winning streak and are starting to coast like they were supposed to all season.
James is so blessed that he can have a relatively light night, yet still get a triple-double in an easy win. In contrast, the Sixers are so unlucky right now that they can cool James off on the floor, yet still get burned by him in every other aspect. What’s more, they let Wade light them up and let six Heat players score in double figures.
Everything the Heat touch turns to gold these days, while the Sixers are a far different story. More and more, that story seems destined to end with Philadelphia missing the postseason, while James and Miami are the last ones standing in the postseason for the second year in a row.
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