The Heat Exploited The REAL ISSUE For Joel Embiid

Joel Embiid had a lot of problems in game 5. Some of it was this tough Miami defense, some of it was physical, and some was mental.
So let’s go through everything. What up everybody, my name is Stefan and this is Heat Check. Let’s get into it.
Check out the adjustment by the Heat defensively that pretty much sealed the deal for them in game 5.
As he slides to the elbow to get the ball, look at the fight by Adebayo fronting him, not even allowing a clean look for the catch. You can see right here that Butler comes over from the corner to help, while also keeping an eye on his man. All of that fight had Embiid forced to go all the way to the other side to try and get the ball with 5 seconds left on the shot clock, and with that added pressure Harden overthrows it and we got a turnover.
Phenomenal defensive possession.
Miami’s strategy was simple. Don’t switch Tucker off of Harden at any cost on the pick, and fight hard against Embiid.
So on this side pick and roll, Tucker goes under and tries his best to come back and contest the 3, and meanwhile Bam immediately puts a body in front of Joel and boxes out to prevent any chance of an offensive rebound.
Again, the Beard is on the right side, trying to get Struss on him, but Tucker fights through the screen and is able to be there on the drive and meanwhile watch this subtle tap by Butler, basically telling Deadmon go protect the paint, I got Embiid.
So as we stop it right here you see that Harden now has to shoot a floater over the big man, and Jimmy is both boxing out Joel, but at the same time, being ready to get back to his original matchup in case of a potential corner pass.
Great activity from the Heat and another miss.
Even on the occasional switch that the Sixers were able to get, look at the fight by PJ to deny the ball so by the time Joel finally gets it, and communicates the clear out inside, there’s 5 seconds left, and a pitbull all up in his face, so he settles for a contested step back and another miss.
And this is that incredible sequence from the intro where Adebayo did not let Embiid touch the ball for that entire possession, and not only that but also got up to protect the rim and force the miss. This is why he was a defensive player of the year candidate.
But let’s get back to Embiid. He was held to 17 points and only 12 shot attempts. As I mentioned, part of it was the defense of course, but also he re-aggravated that injury and it even looked painful watching him laying down and wincing.
So I give Joel the full benefit of the doubt there. This was obviously the physical aspect that I referred to in the intro.
Now for the final portion. The mental side of it.
Chris Haynes from Yahoo Sports had an interesting report before the game linking the recent MVP announcement to Embiid’s mindstate just moments before tip off.
CHRIS HAYNES INTERVIEW
And Chuck also seemed to have gotten the same vibe watching the game and he spoke about it at halftime.
CHUCK INTERVIEW
All in all, great defense by the Heat, but lack of effort by the Sixers and their leader in a pivotal game 5, brought them to the brink of elimination. So Let’s see how they respond.
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Talk to you in the next one. Peace out.