Feb. 27, 2026, 10:10 a.m. ET

PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers were able to come up with a much-needed 124-117 win over the Miami Heat on Thursday to expand their lead to 2.5 games over the Heat for the final play-in spot in the Eastern Conference. The Sixers also tied the 3-game season series at 1-1 with one final matchup on March 30 in South Florida.

The Sixers received 28 points and 11 assists out of Tyrese Maxey on a historic night for him as well as a big night from VJ Edgecombe who had 19 points. The two of them had to break an aggressive Heat zone defense–which is what they’re known for–and they did so in a big way.

Edgecombe, especially, was able to find open seams in Miami’s defense and take advantage of his quickness and size in order to get to his spots. He explained how he was able to do so after the win.

“Just see how they was rotating,” Edgecombe stated. “I think that’s what it was. It was like a 1-3-1 kind of. Just seeing how they was rotating and just attacking once that first guy gets beat, now they’re kind of at our mercy. So, I was trying to make the right reads, and the middle was open.”

The Heat have a lot of length on the perimeter led by the likes of Pelle Larsson and Jaime Jaquez Jr. in an effort to slow teams down. It certainly bothered the Sixers in the third as Miami rallied from a 16-point deficit to lead and again in the fourth, but Philadelphia was able to rely on Edgecombe and Maxey to break that zone late and come up with big shots.

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“I was able to get to my mid-range shot, be able to get some 3-point shots out of it,” Edgecombe added. “Good looks. We either missed some, we made some, but at the end of the day just drive the zone. I feel like every team preaches that, especially a team that’s in zone. Just drive the zone. That’s what we did.”

When playing against the Heat, the key is to keep attacking the zone and continue to make them play defense on the perimeter. The Sixers have two of the best at doing that in the form of Maxey and Edgecombe, and it paid off on Thursday. Miami will throw so many different coverages at teams as coach Erik Spoelstra is a mastermind at things like this, but Philadelphia found a way to break it.

“Yeah, they play like a little funky zone,” added Maxey. “It’s not like a normal 2-3 zone. They do, like, a tandem. They do different things out of it, but we did a good job, honestly. VJ, did a good job of just driving the zone, making plays out of it. Like, OK, you know what? I’m gonna get behind it. Just drive it and make a play.”

The Sixers and Heat will match up for the final time in the regular season on March 30.