By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
The Miami Heat pulled off a decisive fourth-quarter run to repel the Philadelphia 76ers at home, 117-105, in the ongoing NBA regular season on April 8, 2025.
After letting their eight-point lead evaporate at the end of the third quarter, Miami banked on the veteran experience of Duncan Robinson and Tyler Herro who iced the game with their big-time shot-making prowess.
Robinson entered an unconscious state when the Heat needed his three-point shooting the most in the fourth as he dropped 12 of his 21 total points in the final 12 minutes of action.
With only nine points on the board through the first three frames, Robinson caught fire at the start of the fourth after swishing back-to-back treys that put the Heat back in a favorable position.
The streaky shooter continued to torch the 76ers and scored six more points before Herro took over in the remaining six minutes of the ball game.
Herro schooled Philadelphia with his ability to navigate gaps in the pick-and-roll and made the 76ers pay when they sag off and go under the screen.
With those defensive choices that Philadelphia decided to make, Herro unleashed a barrage of mid-range jumpers that protected Miami’s lead until the final buzzer sounded.
Without the presence of Bam Adebayo who is nursing left back spasms, Herro involved Kel’el Ware in their PNR sets. The savvy guard fed him several times with lob passes resulting in alley-oop dunks while also dishing out perfect pocket dimes that piled up his scoring.
Robinson led the Heat in scoring with 21 points in just 25 minutes. The spitfire shooter shot an efficient 5/6 from downtown and also tallied two rebounds, an assist, and a block.
Meanwhile, Herro chipped in 20 markers derived from an 8/14 shooting from the field alongside five boards, two dimes, and a steal. Ware made the most out of his minutes and capped off the win with a dominant double-double stat-line of 19 points and 17 rebounds including two assists and a block.
On the other hand, Philadelphia received a huge scoring performance from Lonnie Walker IV after erupting for 29 points off six made treys but Miami’s more balanced offense proved to be too much in the most crucial stretch in the fourth.
With the win, the Heat just secured a sure slot in the NBA Play-In stage with a win-loss record of 36 wins and 43 losses. However, the last three remaining games will determine their fate if they can improve to no. 7 or 8 in the Eastern Conference.
Miami is currently sitting at the no. 10 spot, a position that will be hard in the Play-In as a single loss can diminish your hopes of advancing to the first round of the postseason.
The only thing that the Heat could wish for is for Orlando, Atlanta, and Chicago to wrap up their remaining games below .500 so that they can seal a better seeding given if they sweep their duels against the Bulls, Pelicans, and the Wizards.
