Both the Philadelphia 76ers and Miami Heat are reporting for Christmas duty at 100 percent.
The Sixers will travel to Miami without the NBA's leading scorer, Joel Embiid, while the Heat will be missing leader Jimmy Butler. Nicolas Badum, Josh Richardson and Haywood Highsmith have also been dropped.
It's not quite the matchup the NBA was looking for when it slotted two of the Eastern Conference's best teams into a prime-time slot, but there's still plenty at stake with the Sixers sitting in third place in the East.
In earlier action, the New York Knicks defeated the Milwaukee Bucks, the Denver Nuggets steamrolled the Golden State Warriors and the Boston Celtics steamrolled the Los Angeles Lakers.
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Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey 2-of-16 with no FT attempts, and Sixers win 4th???
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) December 26, 2023
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End of third quarter: Heat 86, 76ers 86. If you can believe it, the Heat led by 21 points at one point in the third quarter.
— Anthony Chiang (@Anthony_Chiang) December 26, 2023
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The play-by-play era — dating back to 1996 — is 19 years old, when Milwaukee beat Boston two years ago and squandered a lead in the Christmas game.
The Heat had a 21-point lead in the third quarter. The quarter isn't over yet, and now Philly is in the lead.
— Tim Reynolds (@ByTimReynolds) December 26, 2023
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The @sixers Tobias Harris wanted@tobias31) tonight, he delivered in a big way.
21 PTS
7 REB
5 AST
8-14 FG
3-5 3FGTie the game at 82, 1:13 to play in Q3.
— Lauren Rosen (@LaurenMRosen) December 26, 2023
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We are bound. 21 point lead, gone.
— Tim Reynolds (@ByTimReynolds) December 26, 2023
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The zone threw Miami out of rhythm in the 3Q, but one can imagine Spoelstra turning to Duncan Robinson soon.
Nice adjustment from Nurse, but he needs to decide if he should continue to sit in the zone or adjust before taking Robinson into account.
— Austin Krell (@NBAKrell) December 26, 2023
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Maxey scored his first points with 9:40 left in the third quarter.
— Anthony Chiang (@Anthony_Chiang) December 26, 2023
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The Heat started the 2nd half on a 7-0 run, with a Jaime Jacques Jr. triple extending their lead to 70-49. It could be everything, folks. #Sixers
— Ky Carlin (@Ky_Carlin) December 26, 2023
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RJ Hampton starts the second half in place of the sidelined Caleb Martin.
— Ira Winderman (@IraHeatBeat) December 26, 2023
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Halftime: Heat 63, 76ers 49
Tyler Hero, Bam Adebayo and Jaime Jacques combined for 44 points.
Tyrese Maxey, meanwhile, had his worst half of the season, going 0-for-9 as Philly got off to a hot start.
— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) December 26, 2023
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Heat went up by 17 in the second period and took a 63-49 76-run lead into the half. Hero 16. Adebayo and Jacques 14 each.
— Ira Winderman (@IraHeatBeat) December 26, 2023
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The Sixers needed a big night from Tyrese Maxey to survive tonight. They… don't get it.
You don't see this stat line from Tyrese Maxey very often: 0 points on 0/9 shooting and 0/4 in the 2nd quarter. #Sixers
— Ky Carlin (@Ky_Carlin) December 26, 2023
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Jaime Jacques Jr. had 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the field in the first half.
— Anthony Chiang (@Anthony_Chiang) December 26, 2023
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The Sixers' backup big man scored 14 points on 6-of-6 shooting and four rebounds. As we all expected.
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They do the same thing again where they make their threes. Now 6 of 8 from deep.
— Anthony Chiang (@Anthony_Chiang) December 26, 2023
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Martin's injury left the Heat without four regular rotation players, with RJ Hampton entering midway through the second quarter.
— Anthony Chiang (@Anthony_Chiang) December 26, 2023
