Miami Heat: 3 takeaways from Game 1 vs. Philadelphia 76ers

1. The Hassan Whiteside dilemma

While the postgame histrionics weren’t forthcoming, this was still another bad night for center Hassan Whiteside. Despite the absence of All-Star Center Joel Embiid, Whiteside was unable to make any impact whatsoever in his 12 minutes of action.

While he managed to grab six rebounds in his short stint on the court, Whiteside appeared a step slow throughout on both ends of the floor, and was a simply detriment to the team when he was on the court.

Clearly the Sixers took note of this and started the third quarter by playing Ersan Ilyasova at the center slot to try and further exploit Whiteside’s inability to cover on the perimeter. It therefore came as no surprise that Whiteside was taken out just four minutes into the third quarter, and would not make return to the action.

Following the game, coach Spoelstra refused to put the blame on his starting center:

"“It’s not about him….this series and this game, it’s going to move quickly, there are a lot of subs both ways. There’s not a lot of time based on the flow or the matchups, it’s not really an indictment to his first four minutes [of the second half]. But we all collectively have to be better on Monday.”"

Regardless of the Heat’s approach moving forward, Whiteside clearly needs to become more active and engaged on both ends of the floor, as highlighted by the above clip.

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With Embiid likely to return for Game 2, there can be no better time than for Whiteside to silence his doubters and put the Heat in a position to tie the series as they return home to Miami.