In their playoff opener against the Heat the Sixers showed the same resiliency they have all season. Unfortunately it wasn't quite enough. They actually stunned everyone by jumping out to an early 14 point lead and holding it into the 2nd quarter. Miami then turned on the switch and rallied all the way back to as much as a 16 point lead of their own. The Sixers did not give up though. They locked up on D in the 3rd quarter as Andre Iguodala held Lebron James to just 1 field goal the entire quarter and after Jrue Holiday hit a couple late threes and Thad Young put in a miracle layup they found themselves down 1 with 2 minutes to play. Sadly they ran out of gas and Miami eventually hung on to win game 1 97-89. There's plenty for the Sixers to hang their heads on though. Iggy's defense and the Sixers D on the whole was outstanding as they held all of the big three under 50% shooting for the game and in fact, Lebron himself had just 4 field goals. The Sixers also outscored the Heat in the paint by 10 and on the break by 7. Most responsible for the points in the paint were Thad Young who had 20 and 11 rebounds, and Elton Brand who had 17 and 7 rebounds. Holiday also had a great first playoff performance with 19, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists, and Lou Williams found a way to score 10 on one leg. All in all it was a good start to the playoffs for the Sixers and something they can build on moving forward in the series.
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