Philadelphia 76ers: Tyrese Maxey and James Harden need to go hunting

19-0.

When ESPN decided to ask their staff who will win the second-round playoff series between the Philadelphia 76ers and the Miami Heat, all 19 people polled picked the latter.

On paper, I get it; I really do: the Heat were the top team in the East for a reason, and after watching Joel Embiid suffer yet another injury in his team’s first-round contest against the Toronto Raptors – this time, the one-two punch of a concussion and a broken orbital bone – the prospects of Doc Rivers’ squad eking out four wins over seven contests feels rather unlikely.

But why? The Sixers still have James Harden and Tyrese Maxey, too, for that matter. Tobias Harris is playing well, as is Danny Green, and with four other centers on their roster, surely the Sixers can hold down the fort until their best overall player is back, right? I mean, according to Adrian Wojnarowski, Embiid could be back as soon as Game 3, so his presence could very much be felt in the not too distant future once more, on the court of the Wells Fargo Center no less.

With as many as three games on their home court a possibility, all the Philadelphia 76ers need to do is steal a game on Miami before closing things out at home with their big fella manning the painted area.

The Philadelphia 76ers can still attack Miami without Joel Embiid.

Alright, so how can the Philadelphia 76ers give the Miami Heat a tough time without Joel Embiid on the court? Sure, they’ll be without their offensive focal point, their defensive focal point, and the player who draws in the lion’s share of interest from opposing teams on their scouting report, but do you want to know what they still do have?

Eight words: The element of surprise and two scoring guards.

I know, crazy, right, but think back, if you will, to the last time the Sixers beat the Heat; down Embiid and James Harden, Tyrese Maxey and a motley crew of performers stunned Eric Spoelstra’s squad with an all-effort performance that ended with a stunned crowd in South Beach and a 113-106 W in the Sixers’ win column.

So how did they do it? By hunting the not-so-dynamic duo of Duncan Robinson and Chris Herro on the defensive end of the court.

You see, despite playing on a very good defensive team, Robinson and Herro were clearly the team’s weakest links and have remained well below average defensive players, according to FiveThirtyEight. Neither are particularly fast, or particularly athletic, and can get into foul trouble early on due to Harden’s finely-honed ability to draw contact and get to the line.

Now granted, even with Kyle Lowry out, the Heat didn’t start Herro or Robinson in their final game versus the Miami Heat. Gabe Vincent, Victor Oladipo, and Max Strus all earned the start in Game 5 versus the Atlanta Hawks alongside P.J. Tucker and Bam Adebayo, but Herro and Robinson still combined to play 46 minutes, with Herro playing almost the entire fourth quarter versus Trae Young and company.

If the score is close and Herro is in the game, the Sixers need to channel the full strength of their offense his way.

Will it be easy to take down the Miami Heat? No, they are a really good team Kyle Lowry or no Kyle Lowry and losing Joel Embiid in the paint will make things particularly tricky, to say the least, but with “The Process” gone, the Heat won’t exactly know what is coming their way when they take the court on Monday night. Doc Rivers and company have the element of surprise, and if they can parlay that competitive advantage into a win, it’ll go a long way in holding down the fourth until Embiid is ready to return to the court. With as many as three games to play on their home court, the Philadelphia 76ers have to win one game on the Heat’s home court – why not do so while their best player is away to make things easier when he returns?