On Monday night, the Philadelphia 76ers went into their match without Joel Embiid, as the reigning MVP sat out due to an ankle injury that he suffered last week against the Toronto Raptors.
In games without Embiid, the Sixers have struggled, dropping all three games without him before Monday night, which wouldn't be any different from the previous matches.
Third-year big man Paul Reed would take the Cameroonian superstar's spot in the starting lineup, only to struggle against Miami.
In the opening half, Reed would only manage to put up two points across a few seconds shy of eight minutes on the court, mainly due to the four fouls he accrued.
This cold spell would carry into the second half, as Reed finished the night with four points, two rebounds, and five fouls.
With the former DePaul player struggling, Philadelphia head coach Nick Nurse opted to sub in Mo Bamba, who has received mixed game time throughout the year, averaging four points and two rebounds.
Yet, Bamba would throw these numbers to the side and go off against the Heat, scoring 18 points, which includes three makes from beyond the arch.
Despite the Sixers getting the loss, Nurse had more than enough good things to say about the 25-year-old.
"We got a good look at Mo, I thought he provided some stuff," Nurse told reporters, "He was rebounding, he was protecting the rim a little bit, providing some pretty good offense, he did a good job."
As Nurse alluded to, Bamba did just more than scoring against Miami, managing to grab five defensive rebounds, as well as record two steals.
With Embiid slated to be out against the Orlando Magic on Wednesday night, Bamba could be in for a revenge game against his former team.
Bamba was originally drafted by the Magic as the sixth pick in the 2018 NBA draft, spending five seasons with the Floridian side, before getting traded to the Los Angeles Lakers last season as part of a four-team trade.
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