PHILADELPHIA, Pa. (WSVN) — The Miami Heat is set to arrive in Philadelphia on Tuesday evening, one day before they are set to face the Philadelphia 76ers.
Even though a loss wouldn’t mean elimination for the Heat, the team is approaching the game as a one-game season.
7News cameras captured the Heat’s final practice match before the big game on Wednesday.
“It’s going to be fun, it’s going to be competitive, competitive as always, we’re going to go out there complete and play off,” said Heat center Bam Adebayo.
The Heat will play against 76ers in the Seventh-Eighth Eastern Conference play-in game.
Head Coach Erik Spoelstra said he is keeping things very simple for his team ahead of the tip-off.
“We’re looking forward to it. You don’t know what to expect unless other than it’s going to be a high level competition and you have to be about that,” said Spoelstra.
The coach said his team is focused on the upcoming game.
“You don’t want to overthink at this time. There’s only one day in between. We’ve played them four times. We are who we are, they are who they are at this point. Let’s tip this thing up,” said Spoelstra.
The Heat players tell 7News they are very confident about the outcome of the game.
“We’ve been in a lot of these games before, we’re all experienced, we’ve been to the finals, we understand what’s at stake,” said Adebayo.
“It’s going to be everything we expect it to be, even regular season games are pretty live in there. Obviously, everybody knows what’s at stake, you just expect it, you know, a dogfight. I think coming with the right mentality, and you know, as long as we do that, we’re always going to give ourselves a chance,” said Heat forward Caleb Martin.
The team announced more good news on Tuesday afternoon, saying that Duncan Robinson will be available for the contest. Robinson has been battling a back injury for roughly a month.
With this announcement, the Heat’s entire roster, with the exception of Terry Rozier who is out with a neck injury, will be available for the game on Wednesday.