Philadelphia 76ers: Josh Richardson beats the Heat

While Jimmy Butler earned all of the pregame headlines, it was Josh Richardson who took revenge in the Philadelphia 76ers’ blowout win over the Miami Heat.

Revenge is a sweet, sweet thing when used correctly.

Whether it’s Ben Simmons coming at Donovan Mitchell for his Rookie of the Year win, Joel Embiid coming at Malcolm Brogdon/Hassan Whiteside/Lavar Ball/Karl-Anthony Towns etc etc etc for all sorts of things, or Al Horford‘s opening night game routing of the Boston Celtics, the Philadelphia 76ers have had great luck in games where one of their players has a bone to pick.

But in a weird twist of fate, the most impressive revenge game of the season may have come from the chillest hombre on the team: Josh Richardson.

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That’s right, in a must-watch game top-billed on account of Jimmy Butler‘s return to South Philly, it was the player he was traded for, the player some call Butler-lite, who took out his frustrations on his former squad in what will certainly go down as a career game.

In his first game back in the lineup since the team’s 114-95 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, Richardson hand-delivered Wells Fargo Center fans easily his best game in a Sixers uniform, putting up 34 points and four assists on 15 shots from the field.

Oh yeah, and he went 6-7 from 3 point range for 18 of those points – seven more points than Butler had in 30 minutes of action.

Now to some, Richardson’s output came as a bit of a surprise, as the 6-foot-6 Tennessee product’s play has never quite surpassed good-to-very good over the first month of the regular season, but when looked at his career as a whole, the game wasn’t too unprecedented.

In 2018-19, Richardson passed the 30 point mark three times, with his career-high (37) coming against the Golden State Warriors back in February. In those games, Richardson went 20-31 from 3 point range while shooting a minimum of 18 shots from the field.

Simply put, Richardson has more than enough talent to get buckets on the offensive end of the court, but believe you me, this was no garbage time stats stuffing effort in a blowout win. No, to Richardson’s credit, he played some of his best defense of the season against his former team.

Facing off against everyone from Butler, to Goran Dragic, to Kendrick Nunn, and the Heat’s high-man Tyler Herro, Richardson, and company held Miami to 86 points on 75 shots with no individual player scoring more than 20 points.

Fun fact: Saturday Night’s South Philly street fight was the fewest points the team has surrendered all season.

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While it may not have been the flashiest game the Philadelphia 76ers have ever played, the team’s 113-86 win over the Miami Heat has a similar feel to last season’s buzzer-beating win(s) over the Charlotte Hornets. With a total commitment to playing lockdown defense against even the most prolific offenses in the league, Brett Brown and co made a statement against Jimmy Butler and his chosen team, all the while watching his replacement have a career evening. Revenge is sweet.