A retrospect of the Joel Embiid and Jimmy Butler saga as 76ers host Heat in play-in tournament
Although the Philadelphia 76ers closed out the regular season on an eight-game win streak and finished 12 games over .500 (47-35), it simply wasn’t enough to avoid the NBA Play-In Tournament.
The Indiana Pacers beat the Atlanta Hawks and the Orlando Magic handled business against the Milwaukee Bucks on the final day of the regular season to usher the 76ers into the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference Standings and a spot in the NBA Play-In Tournament.
Now for the first time in franchise history, the 76ers will go to war with Jimmy Butler and the No. 8 seed Miami Heat tomorrow night at 7 pm in South Philly.
NBA Playoffs: 76ers full schedule and path to Finals via the Play-In Tournament >>
Jimmy Butler’s 76ers tenure and departure (2018-2019 season)
Philadelphia has quite the history with Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat. The 76ers traded for Butler at the beginning of the 2018-2019 season after a playoff run that included a gentleman sweep of the Brooklyn Nets in the first round and a devastating Game 7 loss to Kawhi Leonard and the Toronto Raptors – who eventually won the NBA Finals.
Even his strong friendship with Joel Embiid and the fact that the duo proved to be one of the best in the NBA couldn’t save Jimmy in Philadelphia.
Jimmy Butler left Philadelphia via a sign-and-trade involving four teams where Philadelphia acquired Josh Richardson. The 76ers front office attempted to fill the void that Butler left by retaining Tobias Harris on a max contract and signing Al Horford from the Boston Celtics to another max contract.
The 76ers reportedly felt like they had to choose between Butler and Ben Simmons, a former franchise cornerstone. Both Butler and Simmons shared a similar role, which was to be the facilitator in the offense by setting up plays and creating advantages, so when Butler got traded to the 76ers, Simmons, who couldn’t do much off the ball due to his lack of shooting, had a bit of a reduced role in the offense.
Revisionist history often plays a role in this situation, but Simmons just finished his second season in the NBA and still had loads of star potential, even without being a shooting threat.
The 76ers were still under the assumption that Simmons’ offensive game would evolve over time and with him being their first overall draft pick in 2016. They had no intention of breaking up their rising star duo of Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons in any way, shape, or form.
Obviously, that proved to be a mistake as Simmons never improved his offensive skill set. In hindsight, Philadelphia should have unquestionably kept Embiid and Butler together.
76ers paid the price for letting Jimmy Butler go (2019-2020 season)
Those vital decisions came back to bite Philadelphia as in that very next season (2019-2020). The Miami Heat advanced to the NBA Finals, while the 76ers got swept by the Boston Celtics in the first round during the “bubble season” in Disney, albeit Ben Simmons missed the entirety of the series due to a back injury.
It was no secret that Philadelphia’s roster construction and Brett Brown’s services as head coach were issues the 76ers faced all season, and getting knocked out in the first round didn’t sound impossible even with Ben Simmon playing.
Joel Embiid’s fit next to Al Horford and Ben Simmons, the 76ers’ lack of shooting and depth, and a poor coaching job by Brett Brown, who didn’t have a whole lot to work with, led to a nightmare season for Philadelphia where Embiid was visibly unhappy and there was a ridiculous amount of debate on if the 76ers should choose between Embiid or Simmons, who played his best basketball when Embiid was sidelined throughout the year.
Meanwhile, Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, rookie Tyler Herro, and the defensive masterminded head coach Erik Spoelstra clicked at all cylinders and though Miami was just the 5th seed this season, the Heat breezed through the Pacers in a sweep, surpassed the Bucks in five games, took care of the Celtics in six games, and fell to the Lebron James and Anthony Davis-led Los Angeles Lakers in six games.
The Heat had culture and identity under Spoelstra and Miami was and still is a team built for the postseason and Philadelphia this season, was the polar opposite.
Jimmy Butler’s revenge against the 76ers (2021-2022 season)
Jimmy Butler would later get his revenge on the 76ers in the 2022 playoffs where Miami sent Philadelphia to an early vacation, defeating the 76ers in six games in the Eastern Conference Semifinals after the Heat closed out the series, Butler notoriously screamed “Tobias Harris over me?” as he walked off the court. Embiid missed two games of the series due to a variety of injuries, one that required him to wear a face-mask for the second time in his playoff career against the Heat.
This was the first season of Joel Embiid and James Harden’s partnership as Philadelphia essentially swapped Ben Simmons to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for James Harden after Simmons, who never improved as a floor spacer, and the 76ers flamed out and shockingly lost to the Atlanta Hawks in seven games in the second round of the 2021 playoffs.
Simmons’ great loss of confidence and flat-out inability to contribute to the offense in any form along with Embiid sustaining a meniscus injury led to this unthinkable upset.
After stunting on his ex-best friend Joel Embiid, Butler and the Heat once again reached the Eastern Conference Finals in 2022, something Embiid and the 76ers have so desperately attempted to do for the last five seasons. But, the Celtics advanced past Miami in six games and later fell to the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals.
76ers steal P.J. Tucker from Heat (2022-2023 season)
Following another disappointing playoff run, the 76ers and Joel Embiid admitted to themselves that the team lacked mental toughness and snagged P.J. Tucker from Jimmy Butler’s Miami Heat in the 2022 offseason.
Tucker was known for his high defensive motor and toughness on the court and in the locker room as well as his ability to knock down a corner three or two.
Tucker was a key member of Miami’s 2022 playoff run and meshed perfectly with the Heat’s culture that Butler and Spoelstra emphasized. Not to mention, Tucker was a notable contributor to the Houston Rockets during James Harden’s prime with Daryl Morey and the Rockets, so stealing Tucker from Miami was a no-brainer.
At this point, the 76ers were more poised for a Finals run than they had ever been before with an elite duo in Joel Embiid and James Harden, a rising star in Tyrese Maxey, Tobias Harris, and now P.J. Tucker.
Although Philadelphia had an elite regular season campaign where they finished 3rd in the Eastern Conference with a 54-28 record, the 76ers once again fell short in the second round, this time to the Boston Celtics in seven games.
Joel Embiid once again suffered from an injury, this time a sprained knee that required him to miss one game of the series. It was a hard-fought series that featured both monstrous and horrendous performances from James Harden and Embiid simply didn’t look like himself at times. P.J. Tucker ironically hurt the 76ers in this series more than he helped as Boston sagged off Tucker and doubled Embiid in the post.
Philadelphia got slaughtered in Game 7 112-88 as Jayson Tatum exploded for 51 points.
On the other hand, Miami made another unprecedented Finals run led by no other than Jimmy Butler. The Heat ran through the Bucks in five games, who were without Giannis Antetokounmpo for some time due to injury, defeated the Knicks in six games, upset Boston in seven games, then fell short to Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets in the NBA Finals in five games.
76ers and Joel Embiid seeking redemption against Jimmy Butler (2023-2024 season)
Fast forward to the current 2023-2024 season where the 76ers and Heat faced off four times this season and split the season series two games apiece.
In their first matchup, the Heat knocked off the Joel Embiid-less 76ers on Christmas 119-113 and then defeated a short-handed Philadelphia once more on Valentine’s Day 109-104.
The tables turned in the last few weeks of the regular season where, without Embiid, Tyrese Maxey’s 30-piece led the 76ers to a crucial March victory over Miami 98-91 and once Joel Embiid returned, the 76ers star duo cooled off the Heat 109-105 in April, which ultimately gave Philadelphia control of the 7th seed.
Although Joel Embiid and Jimmy Butler are on different teams, they’ve still stayed close friends and Butler has given Embiid much praise and MVP love over the years. However, Jimmy Butler poetically represents the shortcomings in his career and with the 76ers organization throughout the entire “Process” era.
From poorly-thought free agency decisions and draft selections to Butler’s constant success in the postseason and his ability to put the team on his back and carry them into a deep playoff run.
Butler has infamously taken his game to unbelievable heights when the stakes are at their highest, while Embiid has never been able to seize the moment in crucial playoff games due to injuries and other factors.
Joel Embiid and the 76ers have the chance to erase the stigma around them and disprove the postseason narratives and it starts with defeating an old friend in Jimmy Butler and after that, the chance to go on a Finals run that’ll completely reshape Embiid’s career and the 76ers organization.
Mandatory Credit: Copyright 2024 NBAE(Photo by Issac Baldizon/NBAE via Getty Images)
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