10 Ways the Sixers Can Get Back Into (And Win) This Series
There’s always a way.
10. Get Tougher
Seems trivial but even the players themselves have said that they need to be the tougher team and be the ones to hit first and I couldn’t agree more. It’s great that four Sixers converge on the miniature Jalen Brunson but incredibly deflating that the result of that was him ending up with the ball and kicking it out for an open three.
9. Get Smarter
This one might be tougher, pun intended, but you can’t lose both the brawns and brains games. And I mean this for everyone, coaching staff included.
8. Make every possession the last one
The Knicks are so annoying because half of them are Nova guys. Nova guys are annoying because they fucking play every possesion like it’s the last one. It’s incredibly annoying until you have one on your team (see you in a few months, Mikal). This shit works though, this team in general doesn’t take a play off and if you’re going to beat them you’re going to have to match that in some form.
7. Trust what you’re good at
This might be hard because we kind of still don’t know what the hell this iteration of this team is good at. But it sounds good so let’s keep it.
6. Let BBall run with Jo
They seemingly cleared up a lot of the rebounding differential in Game 2 so Nick Nurse didn’t have to resort to this pairing, as he hinted at it post-Game 1 – but man, at this rate, I’d still give it a go, just for a few, if only to make it so Jo doesn’t have to drag that leg over to help defend as much in the latter parts of the game.
5. R U N
Would love to see just once an Embiid rebound that turns into a long outlet. In a game where the opponent is younger and quicker you gotta take a page out of Ric Flair’s handbook and try to outsmart them and also work the angles.
4. Let RC4 loose
Not takey or controversial anymore. No offense to Buddy Hield, but Donte DiVincenzo shouldn’t be good enough for us to need to erase a guy from the offensive game plan. It’s been the case so far, though – so this is perfect territory to let a bigger, stronger, more athletic guard/wing take a swing at it instead, maybe in the form of a few energy plays or a couple tough layups, both of which Ricky Council IV could certainly provide.
3. Tell Max to let it rip early
Game 2 Mad Max was almost perfect, especially early on, and they’ll need a lot more of that from the tip.
2. Be sneaky about getting Jo some wind
Jo starts quick, then that knee gets to humming, then it’s good night. So to combat that, Nick Nurse and team should be super-sneaky about getting him even more rest here and there a little earlier in the form of timeouts, different sub rotations etc.
1. Trust the guys who aren’t scared
Can’t say “get other guys involved,” when Nico Batum and Kelly Oubre Jr. gave you a collective 59 minutes and 10 points last game. Not trying to be all back-against-the-wall, but whether you think you should be up 2-0 or tied 1-1 is irrelevant right now – you’re down 0-2 and backs are indeed against the wall. Time to gameplan like it and see who else isn’t afraid to get their hands dirty.
SPIKE’S CORNER - JOEL EMBIID IS DOING SOMETHING HE’S NEVER DONE BEFORE (EVEN THOUGH IT MIGHT NOT LOOK LIKE IT)
When we all discussed Joel Embiid turning a corner in the playoffs, I gather we thought it would look a certain way.
He’d be averaging 36 points per game, maybe 11 rebounds (don’t want to get too crazy), six assists, and would be dominating the way we’ve seen other superstars dominate in the playoffs. “Finally!” we’d think to ourselves, as we shut everyone up across the country forever as they see Embiid crushing when it counts.
I do think Embiid has turned a corner this postseason, but it doesn’t quite look that way. Actually it looks way, way worse.
Embiid only has one functioning leg. In one of those “well there’s a new one” moments that we get a few times a year, Joel also seems to only have one functioning eye. The Sixers are down 2-0 to the Knicks in a first round series that could be over a lot quicker than we imagined, while the big guy is shooting 39%. But still, he’s been different.
We’ve seen versions of the Miami game hundreds of times already. Embiid is a little hobbled, things aren’t going well, and he slogs up and down the court with that “We’re gonna lose and I can’t do anything about it” face he’s got. And he did do all of those things, before he drag them home in the fourth quarter. When someone else plays poorly for three quarters, only to come through “when it counts,” we all say that’s the sign of a champion. Him coming through in the fourth was just different.
Embiid’s mid-range jumper has simply vanished from his arsenal against the Knicks. Whether it’s because of his inability to get lift off of that knee, or because he’s seeing two or three rims instead of one, it’s just not there. Still, he’s been the best player on the court these first two games. Not in the way we hoped, but in a way I didn’t think he had in him. When his body is failing him, it hasn’t affected his will to get the team to the finish line.
Even his comments after Game 2, when he said the Sixers were better than the Knicks, and they’d still win the series, were different. Forget about what it looks like, as he had his head down – most likely to avoid camera lights hitting his mysterious eye ailment (shout out to the Sixers lying about one more injury before we get to the offseason), or out of self-consciousness about how the eye appears. Just listen to him. He doesn’t sound like previous years. He sounds like he believes it, and he’s going to do whatever he can to make it happen.
Coming back from down 2-0 is still a tall task, and it seems as possible that the Sixers lose the next two games in grueling fashion as it is that they win the next two and eventually the series. So all of this about Embiid isn’t to say that the outcome will necessarily be any different.
But as we are historically famous for believing, the process seems different. After this year, I may have a little less faith than Embiid’s body will ever make it through the playoffs, but I will have a little more faith that if it is ever physically possible, he will find a way to get it done.