PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers fell short to the Miami Heat 127-117 on Sunday afternoon to drop to 9-7 on the season. It was a wire-to-wire win for the Heat as they jumped out to a 16-point lead before the Sixers did rally to tie the game, but the Heat then put them away with a big third quarter and then another run in the fourth.

Tyrese Maxey led Philadelphia with 27 points and six assists, Andre Drummond had 14 points and 23 rebounds, Quentin Grimes had 15, and Paul George added 10 points and five assists. Trendon Watford was big off the bench with 19 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists, and Jared McCain had 15 points.

Here are the three biggest takeaways following the loss to the Heat:

Not able to get over the hump

The Sixers had their chances in this one. They trailed by as many as 16 and rallied to tie it in the second quarter, but the Heat responded with a Davion Mitchell 3 and then a Norman Powell 3 as they pushed the lead back up to 14 in the third quarter. The Sixers then did respond again as they cut the deficit to three in the third, but the Heat would then push the lead back up to 14 in the fourth to finish the game off. Miami received big efforts from up and down the roster including Jaime Jaquez Jr. who stepped up to give the Heat 22 points off the bench.

“It came down to a lot of things,” Watford said after the loss. “Obviously, offensive rebounds was a big thing in the half, and honestly, just being able to guard out man. I think they was able to get some straight line drives. Jaquez was able to get downhill and get in the paint, and sort of do what he loves to do, and I just don’t think we could control that enough tonight.”

Rebounding was a big problem

The Sixers had a tough time handling Heat big man Kel’el Ware who went for 20 points and 16 rebounds for Miami. He led a charge that allowed the Heat to outrebound the Sixers 58-46 on the afternoon and give them a big advantage throughout the game. There was a big stretch in the late in the first and into the second quarter when Drummond exited and Ware was a problem for guys like Dominick Barlow and Jabari Walker. Coach Nick Nurse then tried to match Drummond’s minutes with Ware’s the rest of the way.

“I think he really got going when we got into our rotations for Drum being out and it just was his size was just a little too much for our other guys tonight with what we had out there,” Nurse explained. “So then we tried to do as much as we could of matching Drum with his minutes, right? But again, he was just a little too long and bouncy down there for us for most of the game.”

McCain gets going

The Sixers have been waiting for McCain to bust out and have a big game and he responded in this one. He shot 3-for-4 from deep and gave the Sixers a big boost with his scoring ability off the bench. This is going to continue to be a process for the second-year guard out of Duke as he works his way back into the swing of things, but this is also a big step forward for him as he goes through that entire process.

“I mean, it definitely felt the best,” McCain said after the loss. “I think each game is just getting more reps on the knee and more reps of movement. I felt really good today. I felt like I got a little burst from my first step and, yeah, just continuing to build off each game, and the more minutes I play and the more time I’m in, I feel like, get more reps up. I felt really good, though.”