Miami Heat: 3 takeaways from Game 5 vs. 76ers

2. Repeat of second-half fadeouts

Despite never trailing at the main break over the course of the series, the manner in which the Heat were overrun by the Sixers in the second half throughout the series was brutal.

Game 5 saw the two teams tied at 46 apiece, with the Heat being a +24 in the first half over the first four games of the series. However, the second half numbers were hardly a sight for sore eyes. Overall, the Heat were a -78 after the main break, winning just one of those 10 quarters over the five games, being the fourth quarter of Game 5.

In fact, the Heat ranked second in points per first half with 57.4 per game, and 15th in the second-half at 46.0 per game. On the flip side, while the Heat ranked third in defensive rating over the first halves of the series, they wound up ranking dead last over the second halves with a disastrous ranking of 124.7.

Following Game 5, head coach Erik Spoelstra noted the Heat’s struggles overall, particularly in the fourth quarters of the series:

"“In the second half, I felt like the majority of our fourth quarters vs. Philadelphia. Each one of the games, except for Game 2, they stepped up their defense in the fourth quarter, and it was tough for us to generate good, clean offense, or at least getting the ball where we wanted it to go and executing with some sort of coherency.”"

While Spoelstra pointed out their shortcomings offensively, he also commended the Sixers’ defensive output:

"“….you have to credit them, they have very good length, they have a good system, they’re well coached, well drilled, a big in the paint who can fill in the gaps in a lot of different areas. I would say as their offense has gotten better over the course of the season, their defense was always pretty darn good.”"

In essence, the Heat were simply no match for the Sixers in all departments over the course of a seven-game series.