The Miami Heat are off to their 9th Eastern Conference Finals appearance in franchise history after dismantling the Philadelphia 76ers in the second half of Game 6 in their semifinal series on Thursday.
In a battle that further strengthened the belief of culture > process, Miami used a dominant defensive effort to stifle a Philadelphia team that had no answers for the top-seed in the East despite the presence of MVP runner-up Joel Embiid, former MVP James Harden, and young stud Tyrese Maxey.
Miami suffocated the life out of both the isolation-heavy 76ers team and their early-departing fans by staying in front of their assignments, providing rugged help recovery after double and triple teams, and forcing timely turnovers leading to easy points which were key in the game-defining third quarter run.