BBNBA: Sixers score historic 144 points; Heat remain in first place

The Playoffs are drawing nearer by the day, and the 76ers and Heat picked up crucial victories in the race for the Eastern Conference one-seed on Saturday. Let’s chat about it.

Sixers rout Hornets behind offensive explosion

Philadelphia absolutely molly whopped Charlotte at home via a 144-114 blowout, marking their highest-scoring game since 2019, and the second-highest scoring game since 1990 for the franchise. All with a little help from Tyrese Maxey, who poured in 19 points on efficient 7-12 shooting.

He flied for layups in transition and hit a few setback threes, a skill he’s sharpened of the course of the 2021-22 season. He nailed this one right after Philly’s 45-point third-quarter.

Tyrese Maxey stepback threes are NOT gonna get old 🤩 pic.twitter.com/XDnE2Hl7Mt

— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) April 2, 2022

Incredibly impressive win by the Sixers. But even with the W, they remain at fourth place in the East, just a half-game back from Boston in third, and a full game behind Milwaukee for second. So with five more to play, seeding is certainly up in the air. However, the team down in South Beach tightened their grip on first place on Saturday…

Heat defeat Bulls behind strange shooting night from Herro

A week ago, the Heat were in peril. They lost four straight, saw a coach trying to fight a player and lost the one-seed in the East after occupying the position for most of the season. Seven days later, Miami just won its third straight and regained a game-and-a-half lead on Milwaukee for the top spot.

Saturday’s victory came against the Bulls, which is solidly in the playoffs, but just can’t beat good teams. Chicago is just 3-19 against top-five teams in either conference. They’ll beat up the bad teams but all the decent opponents seem to have little trouble with them — evidenced by Miami’s 127-109 win in Chicago on Saturday.

Among former ‘Cats, Tyler Herro produced one of the strangest shooting stat lines I’ve ever seen. With Patrick Williams finally back from injury and guarding Herro, he missed all 10 of his two-point shots. But he made six of his seven threes to still end up with 19 points. A bizarre performance. Just goes to show, even when he struggles driving to the hoop, Herro’s still able to catch fire from deep.

Bam Adebayo had an efficient night of shooting inside the arc, making 7-9 shots for 16 points along with seven rebounds and three assists. Of course, he played terrific defense on Nikola Vucevic and the rest of Chicago’s front line as well. Miami hit a bump in the road last week but appears to be back on track.

Knicks lose, Randle possibly done for the year

Well, a miserable year of Knicks basketball might finally be over for Julius Randle. After getting booed his last time out, the All-Star forward was ruled out Saturday with a quad injury and reports state that he’s “likely” to miss the rest of the season. I think all involved parties will be fine with that decision. The Knicks disappointed all year and Randle never got back to 2021 form as Knick fans grew angrier with every loss.

At last, they are officially eliminated from the 2022 playoffs, losing again on Saturday to the Cavaliers. Immanuel Quickley drained three 3s and tallied 17 points, seven rebounds and seven assists — one of his more productive nights across the board this season. Much like Randle, after a solid 2021 season, IQ had more trouble finding consistency this year. But perhaps he’ll have an opportunity to play heavy minutes and build momentum for 2023 over the Knicks final few regular-season games.

Statistics

Player	Result	Points	FG(3PA	Rebounds	Assists	Steals	Blocks	Turnovers	Minutes	+/-
Tyrese Maxey (PHI)	144-114 W vs. CHA	19	7-12 (3-5)	2	4	2	0	0	33	+21
Tyler Herro (MIA)	127-109 W @ CHI	19	6-16 (6-7)	8	2	0	0	1	29	+11
Immanuel Quickley (NYK)	119-101 L vs. CLE	17	6-17 (3-6)	7	7	2	0	2	29	-4
Bam Adebayo (MIA)	127-109 W @ CHI	16	7-9 (0-0)	7	3	0	0	4	25	+14
PJ Washington (CHA)	144-114 L @ PHI	14	6-10 (2-4)	3	1	3	0	1	26	-3
Nick Richards (CHA)	144-114 L @ PHI	4	2-2 (0-0)	1	0	0	1	2	3	+0
Julius Randle (NYK)	119-101 L vs. CLE	DNP – Quad	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Kevin Knox (DNP)	122-115 W vs. BKN	DNP – CD	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–

Today in the NBA

1:00 p.m. Wizards @ Celtics

1:00 p.m. (ABC) Mavericks @ Bucks

3:30 p.m. (ABC) Nuggets (Cousins, Murray*) @ Lakers (Monk, Davis, Gabriel)

5:00 p.m. Pistons (Diallo) @ Pacers (Jackson)

6:00 p.m. 76ers (Maxey) @ Cavaliers (Rondo*)

6:00 p.m. Knicks (Quickley, Noel*, Randle*) @ Magic

7:00 p.m. (NBATV) Heat (Herro, Adebayo) @ Raptors

7:00 p.m. Timberwolves (Towns, Vanderbilt) @ Rockets

7:00 p.m. Suns (Booker) @ Thunder (Gilgeous–Alexander)

7:00 p.m. Trail Blazers (Bledsoe*) @ Spurs (Johnson)

9:00 p.m. Warriors @ Kings (Fox)

9:30 p.m. (NBATV) Pelicans @ Clippers (Boston)