The Philadelphia 76ers, fueled by 23 points from NBA Most Valuable Player Joel Embiid, rallied to beat the Miami Heat 105-104 on Wednesday and book a first-round NBA playoff clash with the New York Knicks.
Embiid, still not back to peak form after missing two months after undergoing knee surgery, stepped it up in the second half for the Sixers, who trailed by as many as 13 in the third quarter in the NBA Play-in tournament clash.
Embiid scored 13 points in the second half, drilling a go-ahead three-pointer with 2:33 left to play.
The lead would change hands twice before Embiid found Kelly Oubre Jr. in the lane for a basket and a free throw that put Philadelphia ahead for good with 36 seconds remaining.
Sixers reserve Nicolas Batum scored 17 of his 20 points in the second half and came up with a big block on Tyler Herro with 26.2 seconds left, the 76ers draining a series of free-throws to seal the win.
The victory gave Philadelphia the seventh seed for the Eastern Conference playoffs and they will open their series against the second-seeded Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Saturday.
Miami, who emerged from the play-in to reach the NBA Finals last year, can still make the playoffs.
On Friday they play a must-win game against the winner of Wednesday’s later play-in clash between the Chicago Bulls and Atlanta Hawks, with the winner booking a first-round meeting with the top-seeded Boston Celtics.
The Heat will be keeping an eye on star Jimmy Butler, who was rocked by a collision with Oubre under the basket late in the first quarter.
Butler stayed in the game and finished with 19 points and five steals but was limping noticeably by the end of the contest.
Herro led the Heat’s scoring with 25 points — 16 in the fourth quarter to help Miami keep the pressure on until the waning seconds.
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