Getty James Harden and Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers
Though the Miami Heat blew out the Philadelphia 76ers on April 6, Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra singled out their star duo, Joel Embiid and James Harden, and how much better they look this season. Spoelstra cited specifically that they’ve had more time this season to form the connection they have.
“More continuity, more time together,” Spoelstra said, per Ky Carlin of Sixers Wire. “People think you can put together teams, and it’s automatically going to work. You have to take time and work through a lot of different things that a long NBA season can provide you.”
The Heat were the ones who eliminated the Sixers in the Eastern Conference semifinals last season in six games. Harden had only been with the Sixers three months prior after the Sixers had acquired him at the NBA Trade Deadline.
The Sixers are 1-2 against the Heat this season, but with Miami outside the top-6 in the Eastern Conference standings, the Sixers won’t have to worry about potentially facing them until, at the very earliest, in a rematch in the Eastern Conference semifinals, and that would only be if they get the no. 7 seed, and if they beat the no. 2 seed, the Boston Celtics, in the first round.
Erik Spoelstra’s Thoughts on Sixers’ Duo Last Year
Before the Sixers took on the Heat in the 2022 Eastern Conference semifinals, Spoelstra praised the Sixers for the completely different look they had with Harden on the team.
“He definitely changes the dynamic,” Spoelstra said, per Nick Friedell of ESPN. “You’re talking about an MVP player. A guy who can manipulate the game; he can hurt you whether he’s scoring or whether he’s assisting, or whether he’s just manipulating the defense.”
Spoelstra added how disciplined a team has to be defensively to stop the likes of Embiid and Harden together, knowing their abilities to draw fouls.
“They have two guys that really know how to draw fouls and do it exceptionally well,” Spoelstra said. “So you have to do things with great discipline, great focus, but you don’t want to back off on your aggressiveness, and that’s that dance that we’ll be wrestling with this series.”
At the time, the Heat had homecourt advantage since they were the no. 1 seed playing the Sixers, who were the no. 4 seed. Would they meet up in the postseason again, the Sixers’ higher seeding would give them homecourt advantage.
Jimmy Butler Believes Joel Embiid is MVP
According to Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports, Jimmy Butler went on the record to declare that his former teammate Embiid was the league’s MVP – and not just for this season – after finding out that Embiid had put up over 50 points against the Celtics on April 4.
“Joel’s the MVP,” Butler said, per Goodwill. “He should’ve been MVP last year too.”
Upon hearing Joel Embiid put a 50 burger on the Celtics, Jimmy Butler: “Joel’s the MVP. He should’ve been MVP last year too.”
Embiid, who played with Butler for the Sixers during the 2018-19 season, has finished second in MVP voting for the last two years, finishing behind only Nikola Jokic the previous two seasons. Embiid could potentially win the award this season when it’s all wrapped up.