On Thursday, the Miami Heat put the Philadelphia 76ers out of their misery by knocking them out of the playoffs with a 99-90 win.
Jimmy Butler led the way with 32 points, and he used the occasion to throw shade at one of the Sixers’ most important players, Tobias Harris.
The Sixers came into the series with a real shot at winning, but they had issues.
Joel Embiid missed the beginning of the series with an orbital bone fracture and concussion, and James Harden continued to struggle offensively like he did all season.
To a certain extent, Harris was called upon to pick up the slack and put Philly in position to win.
But in Game 6, he had just 14 points, and it came on the heels of another lackluster performance in Game 5 in which he mustered only 12 points on 5-of-14 shooting.
Harris failed to play up to his standards overall in the series, and Butler outplayed him by a wide margin.
The Heat leader averaged 27.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game throughout the series.
After tying the series at two games apiece, Philly came out lethargic in the final two games. In particular, Embiid, who was one of the top candidates for this season’s MVP award, played very poorly in Games 5 and 6.
On Thursday, he went 7-of-24 from the floor and scored just 20 points.
Miami now heads to the Eastern Conference Finals and will face the winner of the Milwaukee Bucks-Boston Celtics series.