The Miami Heat and Philadelphia 76ers have played a close series filled with drama, aggression, and pettiness. The first three games of the series gave us a Dwyane Wade and Justin Anderson fight, and Justise Winslow stepping on Joel Embiid’s mask.
Sixers-Heat has been off the rails. Here’s how Game 4 made its contribution
This series should NEVER end.
Photo by Eric Espada/Getty Images
But Game 4, a 106-102 Sixers win to take a 3-1 series lead, took things to another level.
Here are the most ridiculous things that happened.
Ben Simmons and James Johnson scuffled
I guess nobody warned Ben Simmons when he entered the league, but pissing off James Johnson is never a good idea. After Robert Covington fouled Goran Dragic hard, seconds after the whistle had already blown, Johnson got in Covington’s face.
Daringly, Simmons intervened, and went face-to-face with the black belt.
Ben, fam, I know you’ve got that Rookie of the Year hype and the Process crowd behind you, but maybe don’t do that.
The scuffle lasted so long, fans just waited for a punch to be thrown, and thankfully that never came to fruition. I doubt Simmons will try that act again, though.
On the other end of the floor, Justise Winslow had a bloody eye
Winslow got hit in a scrum with his teammate Josh Richardson and Joel Embiid on the floor in the play before Simmons and Johnson fought. He was bleeding pretty badly as all attention flashed to the fight.
Winslow needed stitches to stop the corner of his eye from bleeding. Yikes.
And somehow, there’s still more from that play.
Josh Richardson had his arm accidentally yanked by Joel Embiid. Somehow, he was fine
On the same play, Embiid landed on Richardson, bruising his shoulder in an ugly collision. Richardson laid on the floor for a while as two players fought 70 feet away, and his teammate bled profusely from his face. He went to the locker room, but quickly returned.
Truly A WHOLE LOT happened in just 20 or so seconds of this game.
Joel Embiid tried dragging Justise Winslow off of a teammate
After the many fights that have happened in this series, any altercation is prone to escalate into something worse. That nearly happened here after a hard foul sent Winslow flying towards the crowd.
With feet tangled, it looked as if Winslow wanted to leave the pile unscathed, but Embiid had other plans, as he attempted to drag him. Confusingly, Embiid’s teammate, Anderson, who had his arm dragged by Wade just two nights earlier, tried to help Winslow up as he was being dragged. (Yep, that’s a lot of dragging). But Winslow was busy trying to kick Embiid away.
Anderson likely stopped a true fight here.
The Sixers had 26 turnovers and still won
They may not have broken the playoff record of 36 in a game, but few teams have any business winning a game turning the ball over 26 times. The Sixers’ only saving grace is that Miami still had a whopping 19. This game was a basketball mess.
The core of The Process — Embiid and Simmons — were the sloppiest of all with eight and seven turnovers respectively. Philly was off beat for most of the game, creating its own mistakes, but Miami’s defensive pressure was stellar, too. The Heat had 18 steals, seven of which came from Richardson, and four from Dragic.
Despite egregiously sloppy play, and 23 percent 3-point shooting, the Sixers still pulled this one out. They now have a 3-1 series lead with Game 5 in Philly on Tuesday.
See More:
