Well, winning the Super Bowl was fun. Because it appears the Super Bowl high that the Sixers and Flyers got appears to be over:

The Sixers looked to get revenge from last week’s one-point loss to the Miami Heat in South Beach. They didn’t.

Instead, they lost again by nine. And it was an important game for both teams. With the season series split at two games apiece, the tiebreaker if needed would go to conference record. Currently, the Heat would win that tiebreaker with a 24-18 record compared to the Sixers’ 21-17 mark.

The turning point would be a big fourth quarter for the Heat. Miami went 13 for 18 on field goal attempts and five for six from the three-point line. That was much more efficient than Philly’s seven makes out of 22 attempts.

Dario Saric had a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds, while JJ Redick, Joel Embiid, Marco Belinelli, and Ben Simmons scored in double digits.

Hassan Whiteside led the way for Miami with 26 points, while Dwyane Wade added 16. Both players scored eight points in the final frame to help Miami run away.

With the win, Miami is now one game back of the Sixers for sixth in the East. The Sixers are now a game and a half behind Indiana and Milwaukee for fourth and fifth place.

After the game, Embiid wasn’t happy with Whiteside. He called him soft:

Embiid didn’t look good for most of the game. Maybe he was right in regards to having a bad stretch?

The Sixers begin a relatively easier seven-game stretch Sunday night in Brooklyn against the Nets. Tip off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. In that stretch, they take on only one current playoff team in Indiana on Tuesday night at home. A home meeting with Brooklyn, along with games against New York, Charlotte, Memphis, and Orlando fill that stretch.

It also helps that last night’s game was the last road game against a playoff team.

The Roundup: 

In other Sixers news, LeBron is maybe interested in joining the Sixers next season, along with the Cavaliers, Lakers, and Rockets.

Let’s take a look back at our predictions from earlier in the season. Most of us had them making the playoffs.


On the ice, things haven’t looked good for the Flyers. Ever since the calendar turned to March, the Flyers have gotten only one point out of a possible eight.

You can make that one point out of a possible 10, thanks to a late 3-2 loss to the Boston Bruins in Beantown, one night after falling to archrival Pittsburgh. Jake Voracek and Jori Lehtera (!) scored the pair of Flyers goals before heading to the third period, where it was still tied at two until Brad Marchand knocked home a rebound on the far side of the net with 22 seconds left.

Alex Lyon made 24 saves on 27 shots in his first start since the Petr Mrazek trade. He looked pretty solid on the night.

Probably the best thing to come out of the loss was this unbelievable no-look between-the-legs pass by Nolan Patrick on the power play to Jake Voracek:

The rookie’s starting to blossom right before our eyes.

The Flyers look to end their five-game losing streak Saturday afternoon when the Winnipeg Jets come to town for a 1 p.m. matinee.


With the Eagles needing some depth at tight end, could they sign another Bennett, Martellus Bennett?

Kevin also dove into Michael Bennett’s character issues, as well as his incident in Las Vegas.

He appeared to be a pain to some coaches in Seattle last year:

A player who isn’t quite what he was and picked his spots more than he has in the past, according to the three offensive coaches I asked about him. He was also a pain in the ass for the Seattle coaches. The good news? With the depth of the Eagles defensive line, Bennett will be more of a spot player there, and Philly’s locker room, on paper, is a good fit.

What players do some mock drafts have the Eagles taking with the 32nd overall pick?

There’s also another Eagles-only mock draft.

Enjoy this new No One Likes Us song from Rob Snyder and The Underdogs.


In Spring Training action, the Phillies scored four runs in the sixth and two in the eighth to rally past the New York Yankees 7-6. Ryan Flaherty had two RBIs on the afternoon, while Ben Lively pitched four innings, giving up three runs on five hits with a strikeout and two walks.

Lively and Zach Eflin are two pitchers battling for that final starting spot in the rotation:

Lively has pitched well this spring, looking more mature than the pitcher who made 15 major-league starts last season. One rough inning against one of baseball’s best lineups won’t spoil that.

“A couple of those four seamers came back, and they barreled it,” Lively said. “Can’t do anything about that. Two pitches. That’s baseball.”

Eflin is finally recovered from the pair of knee surgeries he underwent at the end of the 2016 season. He has looked strong this spring, and manager Gabe Kapler said Eflin “came out looking beautifully” after his simulated game on Tuesday. He has more life on his fastball and has the attraction of the unknown. How good could the former first-round pick be now that he’s fully healthy? The Phillies still have three weeks to figure that out.

“I think they both responded to competition … beautifully,” Kapler said. “We never said like, ‘You guys are competing for a fifth spot in the rotation.’ That’s more external. Internally, you guys are competing, and that’s it. They’ve both competed beautifully.”

All aboard the Scott Kingery hype train!

Phillies take on Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay, and Baltimore this weekend.

Finally, screw Desi Relaford.


In college hoops, Villanova pulled away from Marquette with a 94-70 win in the Big East quarterfinals. They’ll take on No. 6 seed Butler tonight at 9 PM on FS1 in the semifinals. Butler has defeated Villanova in both meetings this season.

In the first round of the AAC tournament, Temple defeated Tulane 82-77 to advance to tonight’s quarterfinal showdown with Wichita State at 7 PM on ESPNU.

This afternoon, St. Joe’s kicks off their run in the A-10 tournament with George Mason in the quarterfinals at 2:30 PM on NBCSN. Penn plays Yale tomorrow at 3 PM in the Ivy League semifinals at the Palestra.


In other sports news, looks like the Seahawks will release Richard Sherman today.

The Tide rolled past Texas A&M, thanks to Collin Sexton:

They play Auburn in the SEC quarterfinals this afternoon. A basketball version of the Iron Bowl is good.

The LA Rams acquired cornerback Aqib Talib from Denver. He’ll be paired alongside Marcus Peters in the backfield. They also signed Sam Shields, formerly of the Packers.

Somehow, Jaylen Brown is okay after this scary fall:

Former Houston Rocket great Steve Francis wrote about his journey to the NBA for The Players’ Tribune.

Arizona asked safety Tyrann Mathieu to take a paycut. That didn’t go so well.

Former Eagle DeMarco Murray will be released by the Titans.

Pitt parted ways with really bad basketball head coach Kevin Stallings.


In the news, Donald Trump is meeting with Kim Jong Un to discuss denuclearization in May.

A deadly shooting is under investigation in Pottstown.

Time is slowing down in Europe.