3 biggest takeaways for Sixers following latest road loss to Heat

MIAMI -- The Philadelphia 76ers have now lost 12 in a row following a 117-105 loss to the Miami Heat on Monday. The Sixers are just looking to play out the string in what has been a miserable 2024-25 season. The Sixers were unable to corral Heat rookie Kel'el Ware who had 19 points and 17 rebounds for Miami.

The undersized Sixers were unable to match up with the skilled big man out of Indiana in this one. Duncan Robinson added 21 and Tyler Herro had 20 for the Heat.The Sixers were led by Quentin Grimes who had 29 points, eight rebounds, and six assists while Lonnie Walker IV added 29 points.



Adem Bona added 16 and 10 rebounds, Jared Butler had eight and four assists, and Marcus Bagley had six and six rebounds.Here are the three biggest takeaways following the loss:Lonnie Walker IV hitting clutch shotsIt seemed that whenever the Sixers needed a big shot to keep up with the Heat, it was Walker who provided it. He shot 6-for-13 from deep and 10-for-18 from the floor overall.

He had eight points and knocked down two of those 3s in the fourth as he did his best to keep the Sixers in it. He could have grabbed more than just one rebound, but Walker was terrific on Monday as he continues to play at a high level to end the season. "It’s good to see, I think, almost a career high for him," coach Nick Nurse said after the loss.

"I think tonight, but again, being able to find, I mean, a lot of those 3s were kind of his generation. Kind of shaking guys down, looking at them, jabbing, dribble, you know, making them from that. He was the beneficiary of some good swing, swings as well, but again, we need the shooting for sure.

Probably would say the same thing. I know he's capable of taking the ball to the rim a little more, and I know he's capable of rebounding more. Just going to keep after him about that, but it's great to see him kind of take a bunch and make a bunch tonight, for sure.

"Bona staying consistentThis will be the challenge for Bona to end the season. He did have three fouls in this one, but the Sixes will certainly take the double-double. Nurse and the Sixers just want to him to be consistent the rest of the way.

In what has been a rookie season filled with plenty of lessons and many more minutes than what was originally expected, the Sixers are just looking for him to remain consistent and get the job done at a high level."Like from beginning of the year day one, when I got here, I told you my goal was to be able to, like, contribute to the team and like, do what I do consistently for the team, defensively, offensively," Bona said after the loss to the Heat. "Well, now I'm getting actual real minutes, and I can actually put that to action.

So we're working towards that. The coaches are starting to trust me more, telling me to go get every every shot in the paint. So yeah, gotta be able to do that consistently.

"Butler plays a solid floor gameIt wasn't a high scoring game for Butler as it has been in previous games. He only had eight points, but he had four assists, three rebounds, and four steals. He was tough defensively all night against some of the skilled guards that the Heat employ and he earned some praise from Nurse for his strong performance.

The Sixers are looking for consistency at this point in the season despite what the record and the results say. This is all about growth and Nurse was happy.Nurse said of Butler:I actually liked him tonight a little better, to be honest with you.

I think his job is to read the plays, and tonight it wasn't a ton of opportunities for him in the pick-and-roll. It was a couple lobs, but most of the time the play was elsewhere, and as the game was going on, we were talking about that a lot, to just keep making the right play and what's available out there. Yeah, he'd like to turn the corner to lay it in like everybody, but the paint was crowded, and they were sending bodies, and he just had to make the right play.

I thought he did a great job of keeping us running, keeping us executing. What did he have? Six points? Whatever, but it was one of this better games even though the scoring was down. I thought he played one of this better games.

This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: 3 biggest takeaways for Sixers following latest road loss to Heat.