The Miami Heat and the Philadelpia 76ers square off at Wells Fargo Center tonight for the final time in the regular season.
Miami leads 2-1 and wants to win the season series vs Philadelphia. The East leaders (47-24) will also aim for their third straight victory, which will let them make another step towards the top spot.
On the other hand, the Sixers will seek to return to the winning track. They are coming off a home loss to the Toronto Raptors on Sunday (93-88).
On Monday, the hosts will be without superstar duo of James Harden and Joel Embiid. Both stars wil be out to rest.
Embiid is dealing with a back injury (soreness) and the team wants to protect him ahead of the postseason. The big man of the Sixers has appeared in 58 games this season, while his career high is 64 back in 2019.
For his part, Harden will sit out the game to manage the hamstring injury he sustained in late January. Head coach Doc Rivers noted there are no setbacks, but this is just a precautionary measure.
Doc Rivers tells media pregame that @JHarden13 is out vs the @MiamiHEAT for precautionary reasons. No setbacks on his hamstring injury #Sixers — Hedge_out (@hedge_out) March 21, 2022
On the other hand, Miami will have Jimmy Butler and Tyler Herro available. They are both averaging 21.1 points per game and are among the main reasons for the team’s success this season.
The Heat, currently three games above second-placed Milwaukee Bucks (44-27), will need a few more wins to clinch the top spot.
Head coach Erik Spoelstra told reporters, including Hedgeout.net, that he wants the Heat to ‘gear up’ and ‘get ready’ for the playoffs.
Head coach Erik Spoelstra says the @MiamiHEAT want to 'gear up' and 'get ready' for the playoffs#HEATCulture — Hedge_out (@hedge_out) March 21, 2022
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