Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro (14) reacts during the second half of a game against the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday, March 30, 2026, at the Kaseya Center in downtown Miami, Fla.
Alie Skowronski
askowronski@miamiherald.com
Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 119-109 win over the Philadelphia 76ers (41-34) on the back end of a back-to-back set Monday night at Kaseya Center Arena to open a three-game homestand. The Heat (40-36) continues the homestand on Wednesday against the Boston Celtics:
With losses in seven of its previous eight games, the struggling Heat found some relief just 24 hours after one of its worst losses of the season.
A day after losing to the woeful Pacers in Indianapolis on Sunday night, the Heat returned to Miami and defeated a healthy 76ers team on Monday for just its second win in nearly three weeks. The Heat nearly wasted a 15-point second-half lead, but held on in a contest that included 14 lead changes to improve to 2-7 over its last nine games.
Heat players and coaches pointed to a spirited locker room at halftime as one of the reasons for Monday’s bounce-back victory.
“It was a productive halftime,” Heat guard Tyler Herro said. “We were able to get things done. We were able to speak on things, eye-to-eye communication. … We came out with a lot of energy in that second half and we won.”
The Heat led by as many as 13 points in the opening quarter behind hot three-point shooting, making 6 of 10 shots from behind the arc in the period.
But the Heat then went cold to shoot just 1 of 11 from three-point range in the second quarter.
As a result, the 76ers flipped the game to enter halftime with a 61-58 lead. After the Heat went ahead by 13 points with 2:23 left in the first quarter, Philadelphia outscored Miami 37-21 for the rest of the first half to take that three-point advantage into halftime.
Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo (13) get fouled by Philadelphia 76ers center Adem Bona (30) during the first half of a game on March 30, 2026, at Kaseya Center in Miami. Alie Skowronski askowronski@miamiherald.com
The Heat then regained control of the game, though, beginning the second half on a 29-11 run to pull ahead by 15 points with 3:29 left in the third quarter.
That’s when the 76ers closed the period on a 15-4 spurt to cut the deficit to just four points entering the fourth quarter.
The 76ers continued their push to take back the lead, pulling ahead by four points with 3:22 to play.
But instead of wilting, the Heat prevailed by responding with 14 answered points to close the door on the 76ers and take a 10-point lead with 45.8 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.
Heat center Bam Adebayo began the game-winning run with a put-back dunk to cut the deficit to two with 3:04 left
Then Herro hit back-to-back threes to put the Heat ahead by four with 2:08 remaining.
“Both were great looks,” Herro said of his two clutch threes. “I was able to knock them down. I rely on my work. I shoot those same shots every day multiple times a day. So it was two great looks.”
Heat forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. then hit a five-footer to give the Heat a six-point advantage with 1:35 to play.
Heat guard Pelle Larsson and Herro then each hit-two pointers to extend the Heat’s lead to 10 with 45.8 seconds left.
Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro (14) reacts during the second half of a game against the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday, March 30, 2026, at the Kaseya Center in downtown Miami, Fla. Alie Skowronski askowronski@miamiherald.com
Herro scored 12 points in the fourth quarter, including eight points in the final 2:36 to lead the Heat to much-needed win. He finished the victory with a game-high 30 points on 12-of-24 shooting from the field, 3-of-10 shooting on threes and 3-of-5 shooting from the foul line, four rebounds, three assists, one steal and two blocks in 42 minutes.
Adebayo added 23 points, 16 rebounds and six assists in 42 minutes.
Adebayo and Herro both played the entire fourth quarter on Monday.
“It just became so important in the fourth quarter to have both of them on the floor for those final 12 minutes,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “Our backs are against the wall. Everybody knows what the deal is. We need everybody in that locker room, but we need to really lean on our main guys right now.”
Larsson contributed 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the field, 10 rebounds, three assists and one steal in 35 minutes. It went down as the first double-double performance of Larsson’s NBA career.
76ers center Joel Embiid totaled a team-high 26 points, but on 10-of-25 shooting from the field. He finished with a plus/minus of minus 18.
Embiid’s 76ers co-star Tyrese Maxey finished with 23 points on 7-of-20 shooting from the field and 2-of-9 shooting on threes.
The Heat is now an impressive 12-4 on the second night of back-to-backs this season.
“We feel like we’re better than what we’ve been the last two weeks,” Spoelstra said. “It’s been extremely frustrating. And tonight everybody was able just to focus on the task at hand, and it was all the multiple efforts that we needed.”
After a rough few weeks, the Heat’s defense was much better on Monday.
The Heat has had a top-five defensive rating for most of the season, but entered Monday with the NBA’s ninth-ranked defensive rating (allowing 112.8 points per 100 possessions) this season after a recent slippage on defense.
How bad has it been?
The Heat entered Monday with the league’s 28th-ranked defense over its previous eight games (allowing 125.5 points per 100 possessions). In fact, six of the Heat’s eight worst single-game defensive ratings of the season had come in the seven games prior to Monday’s contest.
But the Heat’s defense was better on Monday, limiting the 76ers to 109 points on 41.7 percent shooting from the field and 12-of-38 (31.6 percent) shooting on threes. Philadelphia scored just 48 points in the second half.
“We can’t even explain what’s happened in these losses defensively,” Spoelstra said. “But you could see it from the tip, guys were making extraordinary efforts, multiple efforts. And that went all the way through to the fourth quarter.”
The Heat used its zone defense for most of the game, slowing the 76ers offense and forcing them into 17 non-paint two-point shots.
Miami used its zone defense for 53 possessions on Monday, which is the second-most it has used zone in a game this season, according to Genius Sports. The 76ers scored just 0.83 points per possession against the Heat’s zone.
“I think the zone really gets us communicating, and it’s not the normal man-to-man that the NBA plays,” Adebayo said. “It’s kind of like a curveball for us.”
The Heat’s effort was noticeably better on Monday, too, outscoring the 76ers 30-11 in fast-break points. Miami improved to 11-2 this season when finishing with more than 25 fast-break points.
The Heat also outscored the 76ers 19-12 in second-chance points behind a 16-9 advantage in offensive rebounds. Miami is now 10-2 this season when grabbing more than 15 offensive rebounds.
Philadelphia 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey (0) drives around Miami Heat guard Pelle Larsson (9) during the second half of a game on Monday, March 30, 2026, at the Kaseya Center in downtown Miami, Fla. Alie Skowronski askowronski@miamiherald.com
Heat guard Norman Powell has now missed 20-plus games this season.
Powell, who was the Heat’s lone All-Star this season, missed his second straight game on Monday due to an upper respiratory infection. It marked the 21st game that Powell has missed this season, with the Heat now 12-9 in those games.
Powell, who turns 33 in May, is set to become an unrestricted free agent this upcoming offseason unless he signs an extension with the Heat ahead of free agency. He has missed 15 of the Heat’s last 27 games because of various ailments after playing in 43 of the Heat’s first 49 games this season.
Powell is averaging a team-high 22.1 points per game on 47.3 percent shooting from the field and 38.4 percent shooting on threes in his first season with the Heat.
Along with misssing Powell, the only other player out for the Heat on Monday was Terry Rozier (not with team).
The Heat’s two-way contract trio of Vlad Goldin, Trevor Keels and Jahmir Young rejoined the team from the G League.
The only player out for the 76ers on Monday was Johni Broome (right knee surgery recovery).
With the Heat searching for answers amid its rough stretch, rookie guard Kasparas Jakucionis was not part of the roation on Monday.
Jakucionis, the Heat’s first-round pick in last year’s draft, received his first DNP-CD on Monday in nearly two months. It marked his first DNP-CD since a Feb. 6 loss to the Celtics, ending a string of 22 straight games played.
Instead, the Heat went with a bench rotation that included Jaquez, Kel’el Ware, Simone Fontecchio and Dru Smith against the 76ers.
Smith had been a fixture in the Heat’s bench rotation, playing in 67 of the Heat’s first 71 games. But he recently dropped out of the mix, with the Heat playing Jakucionis ahead of Smith.
But after receiving four straight DNP-CDs (coach’s decision), Smith played on Monday. He only logged three minutes in his first game action in more than a week.
Miami Heat forward Andrew Wiggins (22) tries to keep the ball from Philadelphia 76ers forward Paul George (8) during the first half of a game on Monday, March 30, 2026, at the Kaseya Center in downtown Miami, Fla. Alie Skowronski askowronski@miamiherald.com
Even after Monday’s win, the Heat still faces an uphill climb to avoid the play-in tournament.
The Heat (40-36) remains in ninth place in the Eastern Conference, one loss behind the eighth-place Orlando Magic (39-35).
The Heat is also still two losses behind the sixth-place 76ers (41-34), three losses behind the sixth-place Atlanta Hawks (43-33), and four losses behind the fifth-place Toronto Raptors (42-32).
But the Heat now holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over the 76ers after winning the regular-season series between the two teams, 2-1.
The Heat is one-half game ahead of the 10th-place Charlotte Hornets (39-36).
The NBA’s play-in tournament features the seventh-through-10th-place teams competing for the final two playoff seeds in each conference.
The Heat, which has needed to qualify for the playoffs through the NBA’s play-in tournament in each of the last three seasons, needs to finish among the East’s top six teams to clinch a playoff spot and avoid the play-in tournament.
The Heat has just six regular-season games left to play.
“We know where we are in the standings and everything,” Spoelstra said. “But we want to build these last six games.”
This story was originally published March 30, 2026 at 9:51 PM.
Related Stories from Miami Herald
Miami Herald
Anthony Chiang covers the Miami Heat for the Miami Herald. He attended the University of Florida and was born and raised in Miami.