Jimmy Butler Had 38 Points In Three Quarters As The Heat Blew Out The Sixers

The Sixers faced the Heat in Miami on Monday night and were rudely welcomed to South Beach by their former teammate Jimmy Butler, who erupted for 38 points in 29 minutes of play, sitting out the fourth quarter of what ended up as a 137-106 blowout win for Miami.

Butler was exceptionally efficient, going 14-of-20 from the field, including 2-of-2 from deep, and made all eight of his free throw attempts. He also dished out seven dimes to go along with his 38 points, as he simply carved up his former team.

Along with Butler’s performance, Bam Adebayo continues to have success against Joel Embiid and the Sixers this season, posting 18 points, 11 assists, and eight rebounds as he stuffed the stat sheet and created havoc inside against Philly.

https://twitter.com/MiamiHEAT/status/1224500285051166730

Goran Dragic had 24 points off the bench in a fantastic showing as well, as seemingly everyone on the Heat had their way on Monday night. While it may have been exacerbated by having a free night in Miami for Super Bowl festivities, it was another concerning showing from a Sixers team that simply seems out of sync. Al Horford continues to struggle to find comfort in his role when Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid are on the floor, and Tobias Harris had a dismal performance as well.

Embiid had 29 points and 12 rebounds in the best outing of anyone on the Sixers, but the offense looked stagnant and lacked flow, as it has much of the season. That kind of offensive showing on a night where the defense, which has carried them many nights, doesn’t show up is a recipe for disaster.

With the trade deadline looming on Thursday at 3 p.m. ET, one can’t help but wonder if such a flop will lead the Sixers to being any more aggressive in addressing the roster imbalance and the clear need for more shooters and spacing. Philly has shown it can be a dangerous team when everything is clicking, but that has not happened consistently enough to where anyone can feel all that confident about this group moving forward. This game put all of their various issues on display against one of their fellow contenders in the East.