Bam Adebayo’s actual first name among 20 odd things to know about the Miami Heat

The Sixers will participate in the NBA’s play-in tournament for the first time when they host Miami on Wednesday (ESPN, 7 p.m.). 

Going through the play-in isn’t optimal, but as the Heat showed last season, it isn’t a death sentence, either. What might be more problematic is having Jimmy Butler in the way. Here are 20 things to know about the Heat.

1. Miami was the East’s 7-seed last season, lost the 7-8 play-in game to Atlanta, but beat Chicago three days later to get into the main playoff bracket. Despite virtually no rest, they needed just five games to take out 2-seeded Milwaukee and then made it all the way to the NBA Finals. 

2. In his last two playoff seasons, Heat star and former friend Jimmy Butler is averaging 27.1 points per game. In his last two regular seasons, Butler averaged 21.9. 

3. In his last six games with Miami at the Wells Fargo Center, Butler has scored 24, 23, 32, 40, 33 and 27 points. Miami has won the last three.

4. Tyler Herro actually led the Heat in scoring this year, not Butler. Herro averaged 20.83 points to Butler’s 20.77. But Herro played in just 42 games to Butler’s 60. Herro did not play in the two games the Sixers beat Miami this season. He had 23 and 22 points, respectively, in Miami’s two wins over Philly this year. In fact, Miami has won six of the last seven games against the Sixers when Herro has played. 

5. Heat center Bam Adebayo’s first name is Edrice. He picked up his nickname when he flipped over a table as a 1-year-old while watching The Flintstones. So the family started calling him “Bamm Bamm,” which has morphed into “Bam.”

6. In order to stay grounded, Adebayo keeps a photo of his humble childhood home – a trailer, actually – which is engraved with the following: “Never forget where you came from, and never lose sight of where you are going.” Right on.

7. Starting swingman Duncan Robinson missed the final four games with left facet syndrome (back injury, in layman’s terms). Miami went 11-0 this season when Robinson scored at least 20 points this season.

8. Point guard Terry Rozier, who averaged 16.4 points and had nearly a 4:1 assist-to-turnover ratio since being acquired from Charlotte, missed the final four games with neck spasms.

9. Caleb Martin, who went undrafted out of Nevada in 2019, has been starting in Rozier’s place. He shot just 2-for-16 on three-pointers in four games against the Sixers this season.

10. The Sixers and Heat split their season series 2-2, with each team going 1-1 at home. 

11. Sixers guard Kyle Lowry played for Miami the last two years before he was traded to Charlotte and had his contract bought out. That left him free to sign with the Sixers on Feb. 13. 

12. Miami was 8-4 in games decided by 3 points or less. The Sixers were 3-4.

13. Miami was 29th out of 30 teams in pace of play. They averaged 96.2 possessions per 48 minutes, according to Basketball-Reference.com. The Sixers were 13th at 97.5. The fastest-paced team was the Wizards (102.7). Washington, it should be noted, went 15-67.

14. Backup center Thomas Bryant shot 64.6% on 2-point field goal attempts, and just 18.2% on three-pointers (4-for-22). In other words, if he wants to shoot from distance, let him.

15. In his spare time, Thomas enjoys drawing and training dogs. Interesting hobbies.

16. The Heat’s defense was third in the league in fewest points allowed at 108.4. They allowed 113, 104, 98 and 109 in their four games against the Sixers for an average of 106.0. The Sixers (111.5) were ninth.

17. Joel Embiid missed three of the four games against Miami, playing only in the Sixers’ 109-105 win on April 4 in Miami. Embiid had 29 that night.

18. Miami’s Erik Spoelstra has 859 career wins (750 regular season, 109 postseason), fourth-most for one franchise in league history. Only Gregg Popovich (1,559/Spurs), Jerry Sloan (1,319/Jazz) and Red Auerbach (885/Celtics) have more with one club.

19. The opening point spread for Wednesday’s game was Sixers -4.5.

20. “Those guys have been in a lot of playoff moments, home and away, that tends to matter in this league,” Spoelstra said on Sunday. “It doesn’t guarantee anything, obviously. But you can turn to that when you have a lot of moving parts during the regular season, you know that the core group has been together for a long time.”