Sixers Feeling The Heat Down 3-0

Game 3 started out great but ended in yet another disappointing defeat for this young Sixers team.

The Sixers jumped out to an early lead and it looked as if they were going to be able to put up a victory in front of their home crowd against the Heat. In the first half Elton Brand played extremely well, and Jrue Holiday and Lou Williams were getting in on the action. It was especially nice to see Lou Will shoot the ball well after his struggles in Games 1 and 2. In the first half the Sixers did a great job of getting high percentage shots on the fast break. But the lead was short lived and D-Wade continually torched the Sixers through out the first half scoring 18 points, 12 of which came in the second quarter. Wade repeatedly drove to the basket and made some unbelievable off balance shots. As a result the Sixers clung to a 52-50 lead going into halftime.

In the second half the Sixers tried their best to hold off the Heat. They jumped out to a great start and led by 8 points early in the 3rd quarter. But D-Wade was simply too much to handle. The Sixers failed to put a body on Wade who grabbed a ton of offensive boards and slammed them home for easy points. The Sixers also got burned by the Heat on the fast break. When LeBron James and D-Wade get into the open floor, you can pretty much just chalk up 2 points. To the Sixers credit they did a good job of keeping things close but were unable to get big plays when they needed it most. In the end the Sixers lost by a final of 100-94.

The Heat owe a lot of their success tonight to the work they did on the offensive boards. The Heat grabbed 20 offensive rebounds, and when you give a team like the Heat 20 extra chances, you are simply not going to win. The big three led by Wade with 32 points combined for 75 of the Heat's total 100 points. The Sixers had no answer for James Wade and Bosh tonight.

For the Sixers, Andre Iguodala continued to struggle. Iguodala went 3-10 from the field and scored just 10 points. I am clueless as to why Doug Collins continues to play Iguodala. As a team the Sixers failed to box out tonight and they allowed way too many extra opportunities. The Sixers once again forced the issue and failed to let the game come to them.

On Sunday the Sixers will try to avoid the sweep. The series isn't over but it is obvious from the first 3 games that the Sixers are starting to melt under the Heat of the playoffs.