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

1. The Sixers are a matchup nightmare in the making

Whatever head coach Brett Brown said to his team at halftime of Game 1, it worked. Redick scored 23 of his 28 points in the second half and Dario Saric, Marco Belinelli and Ersan Ilyasova combined for 35 second half points.

On the back end, point forward Ben Simmons had nine assists in the second half while putting in just seven points. Simmons’ offense took a backseat to his playmaking ability in the second half, which is scary. He made his fair share of plays slashing to the basket and getting his teammates involved and did well to control the tempo of the game.

https://twitter.com/sixers/status/985335836928544768

Philadelphia came out firing on all cylinders in the second half and never looked back. Even scarier, they did it all without their best player in Joel Embiid. In Embiid’s absence, Hassan Whiteside didn’t make much of an impact, which should be good for everybody’s confidence in Philadelphia.

Next: Power ranking all 16 teams in the 2018 NBA Playoffs

It was their most points in a playoff game since April 27, 1986. Simmons also became the first rookie since 1986 (Terry Catledge) to achieve a double-double. We’re only one game into the playoffs, but one team that looks scary good already is the Philadelphia 76ers.