Player grades: Sixers come up short to Heat in critical matchup

MIAMI -- The Philadelphia 76ers paid a visit to the Miami Heat on Monday night in another must-win game in terms of the East standings. With everything so jam-packed, the Sixers and the Heat did battle in downtown Miami with the winner earning the tiebreaker on the season--much like Philadelphia's previous matchup with the Charlotte Hornets on Saturday. The Sixers found themselves in trouble early as they trailed the Heat by 12 in the first quarter, but they settled themselves down, and took the lead by halftime, but Miami did rally and earn a 119-109 win led by Tyler Herro's 30 points.

The Heat drew a game on the Sixers and they now own the tiebreaker for the final standings if it comes down to that. Paul George had 19 points for Philadelphia while Joel Embiid had 26 points, seven rebounds, and four assists, Tyrese Maxey had 23 points, nine assists, and seven rebounds, and VJ Edgecombe had 13 and four assists. Kelly Oubre Jr.

added 11 points and 11 rebounds while Quentin Grimes had 11 points. Here are the player grades following the loss: Tyrese Maxey: B Easing himself into this game, Maxey got going late in the first quarter. The Heat run a really funky zone defense and it can throw off opposing guards at times, but Maxey was able to get a jumper on the baseline which allowed him to get going on the offensive end as he found a bit of a rhythm in that respect for a bit.

After that stretch, it was tough sledding for Maxey as he was unable to really find any type of groove. The Heat deserve credit for bottling him up a bit as their zone slowed them down in a number of ways. To his credit, he kept his head down and attacked which led to him getting to the line and helping the scoreboard move.