Sixers help their lottery odds with loss to Heat as Nets beat Wizards

The Sixers were able to stick around in the first half but a big Heat third quarter led to another welcomed loss Saturday night.

There it is, *checks notes, the Alec Burks revenge game.

After a hard fought two and a half quarters, the Sixers packed it in and fell 118-95 to the Miami Heat Saturday night. More importantly, the Brooklyn Nets beat the Washington Wizards 115-112 to go a game up on Philadelphia.

Now losers of their last seven, they are 23-51 and officially eliminated from the playoffs.

Jared Butler led the Sixers with 19 points and 10 assists, his first double-double as a Sixer. Justin Edwards went for a late 17 points, Adem Bona had 16 and Quentin Grimes had 15.

Tyler Herro led all scorers with 30 points while Burks had 20.

Lonnie Walker IV returned again to give the Sixers a whopping 10 available players, while the Heat were without Andrew Wiggins, Kevin Love and Duncan Robinson.

Here are some grades at the buzzer.

Justin Edwards

He didn’t cool off like the rest of the team after his good start from three, but it was the quietest game from Edwards in some time from a usage perspective. He took about two shots a quarter before letting it fly in the fourth. He was making some other things happen early with three steals in the first half with as many assists. Foul trouble also became a problem for him when he picked up his fourth early in the second half, but the game didn’t remain competitive for much longer.

Grade: C

Adem Bona

In just his third start of the year, Bona was eased into things thanks to a lob from Jared Butler. Most of his shots came from lobs or dump offs, but he was as efficient as can be, shooting 8-of-9 on the night.

While he got beat up on the offensive glass again, his presence as a rim protector was the team’s only hope at getting stops on the night. He had two exciting blocks in the first half, including a complete smothering.

Grade: A

Quentin Grimes

Despite a quick heater from beyond the arc to start the game, Grimes seemed to be playing with an emphasis on showing off his passing chops. He had quite a few opportunities for shots at the rim but was trying to get in dump-off passes to Bona, to varying degrees of success. He only had three assists to show for it, but the passes he threw weren’t bad.

Before the game Nick Nurse talked about the idea of getting him more point guard reps. While his passing might get there, his handle might not. He just struggles getting through heavy traffic.

After a scoreless second he got going again in the third with a flurry of pull-ups that have quickly become familiar before having the fourth quarter off.

Grade: B-

Jared Butler

Another one of his strongest performances here, Butler just played a comfortable, table-setting game. It seems to help him a lot to have a lob-threat as a center so he can run pick-and-rolls. On top of that, his own shot was falling, giving him a productive night all around.

Grade: A

The Sixers are right back in action on Sunday with another important one in the tanking race — the Toronto Raptors come to town for a 7:30 p.m. tip off.