Just before Thanksgiving the Miami HEAT flew into Philadelphia and were effectively run out of the building, trailing by as many as 41 points. It was in many ways a throwaway game with the HEAT playing on a back-to-back against a team with the size to be a matchup problem for just about anyone, but there was one big picture item that was impossible to ignore. Even with Miami missing a few uncharacteristic threes, the offense hardly resembled the democratic, pass-happy attack that had previously led to blowout after blowout win.
Instead, with Joel Embiid sagging off Bam Adebayo – legally, given that you can be in the paint as long as you want while your man has the ball – everything appeared to be stuck in the mud and nobody was around to toss a rope.