Bucks, Heat Losses Allow Sixers to Snag East's Top Seed For Now

The Philadelphia 76ers are right back where they finished off the 2020-2021 NBA season -- in the Eastern Conference's top seed. In a week that's gone rather

The Philadelphia 76ers are right back where they finished off the 2020-2021 NBA season -- in the Eastern Conference's top seed.

In a week that's gone rather well for Philadelphia, the Miami Heat can't say the same. After the Sixers took a disappointing loss against the Toronto Raptors at home last Sunday, they were set to face the Heat, who were in first place, on Monday.

Since the Sixers were coming off of the first game of a back-to-back, they rested their top two stars, James Harden and Joel Embiid. The last time the Sixers played the Heat without Harden, they took on a tough loss.

Therefore, many expected a Harden and Embiid-less Sixers to have an even harder time picking up a win against a rather healthy Heat team. However, that wasn't the case. Tyrese Maxey and the Sixers came alive utilizing the next-man-up mentality.

And the next thing you know, the Sixers bounced back from a disappointing loss to the shorthanded Toronto Raptors by picking up a shorthanded win of their own against the first-place team at the time.

For the Sixers, they thrived from then on. After taking down the Heat, they got Joel Embiid and James Harden back in the mix for their matchup against the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night.

While it was an ugly showing for Philadelphia, they still collected a 126-121 victory. After getting a day off, the Sixers returned to the Crypto.com Arena to face the Los Angeles Clippers, and unlike Wednesday's game, the Sixers dominated from start to finish and picked up a convincing 122-97 win.

On the other hand, the Heat have collapsed since their loss to the undermanned Sixers. On Wednesday, Miami hosted the shorthanded Golden State Warriors and lost 118-104. Then on Friday, the Heat started up a back-to-back set of games, beginning with a matchup against the New York Knicks.

Despite leading the Knicks by as much as 17 points in the second half, the Heat had a fourth-quarter collapse and ended up taking on a 111-103 loss on their home court. Just as it seemed things couldn't get worse, the Heat hosted the Brooklyn Nets the following night and couldn't keep up as they lost once again.

With four-straight losses from Miami and the Milwaukee Bucks recently falling short to the Memphis Grizzlies, the Sixers hop in first place for the time being, ahead of their Sunday night matchup against the Phoenix Suns on the road.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.