R2G6 - 76ers vs Celtics - May 11 7:30pm ET

[mjkvol]

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This guy is a stone loser. The refs have been absolutely putrid this series but even they can’t be blamed for his 3 awful games so far.

Let's be honest here. Without his 2 awesome games, this team would have gone fishing a few days ago.

It's a make or miss league. We shot 23% on 3 as a team this game. End of story.

We need to make shots next game.

Absolutely. My question is why the one guy who clearly had his 3-ball going was removed and never saw the floor again? I know Glenn loves Tucker, but him being involved in the offense in crunch time as anything but an offensive rebounder is a disgrace.

[blargh]

Agree that we generally played well enough to win, we just hit a cold spell at the wrong time. It was essentially the opposite of the Game 1 fourth quarter. For those complaining that we don’t have a closer, Harden in Game 1 literally did the exact same thing Tatum did last night. The things we might have done differently to me are minor.
- we probably got a little too cute leaving Niang in too long in the fourth, instead of bringing PJ back for more D
- Embiid should have touched the ball more, although the shots we got were still good shots
- we kind of gave up around the 1:30 mark. The odds of winning at that point were pretty slim, but it would have been nice to see us play hard to the buzzer.

[76ciology]

Agree that we generally played well enough to win, we just hit a cold spell at the wrong time. It was essentially the opposite of the Game 1 fourth quarter. For those complaining that we don’t have a closer, Harden in Game 1 literally did the exact same thing Tatum did last night. The things we might have done differently to me are minor.
- we probably got a little too cute leaving Niang in too long in the fourth, instead of bringing PJ back for more D
- Embiid should have touched the ball more, although the shots we got were still good shots
- we kind of gave up around the 1:30 mark. The odds of winning at that point were pretty slim, but it would have been nice to see us play hard to the buzzer.

Agree with most except the Niang part.

And this is where i agree with MjKov, I thought Niang should have played more minutes. He was playing well on defense and would have atleast made 1-2 3s that Melton or Tucker took.

I thought, and I just finished Spike Eskin’s podcast and they also agreed, that Doc did a good adjustment by putting Niang in. The double big was good to start but it came to a point when it wasn’t working.

I’d still play Tucker next game and maybe play more Niang if Tucker becomes a liability so I wont dig myself into a hole like in G6.

[the_process]

You choke less if you have experience and acknowledge variance

Are you trying to say the Sixers haven’t been to the 2nd round five of the last six years? They need more experience?

You missed out on variance

You mentioned both though. Experience is there.

Now let's talk about variance. It's a math concept. But see, sports is not a math equation, or a computer simulation. Real time, sack up, make your shots, don't wilt in the moment. Tatum sucked all game until the clutch, then he came through and salvaged it.

This is why Mike Schmidt got booed for most of his career, as an aside here. Because until 1980, the guy was an auto out in the clutch. Sure, he racked up numbers in pressure less situations. See: Abreu, Bobby.

They have to hit shots. Period. But they won't because their collective sphincter is way, way, too tight. 1997 Flyers style, we have a choking situation here.

[Ferry Avenue]

Are you trying to say the Sixers haven’t been to the 2nd round five of the last six years? They need more experience?

You missed out on variance

You mentioned both though. Experience is there.

Now let's talk about variance. It's a math concept. But see, sports is not a math equation, or a computer simulation. Real time, sack up, make your shots, don't wilt in the moment. Tatum sucked all game until the clutch, then he came through and salvaged it.

This is why Mike Schmidt got booed for most of his career, as an aside here. Because until 1980, the guy was an auto out in the clutch. Sure, he racked up numbers in pressure less situations. See: Abreu, Bobby.

They have to hit shots. Period. But they won't because their collective sphincter is way, way, too tight.

You have to look at the cause of team variation, and that is largely emotional factors. There is certainly some variation that is random in nature, but the vast majority of it is emotionally-driven.

[Ferry Avenue]

Agree that we generally played well enough to win, we just hit a cold spell at the wrong time. It was essentially the opposite of the Game 1 fourth quarter. For those complaining that we don’t have a closer, Harden in Game 1 literally did the exact same thing Tatum did last night. The things we might have done differently to me are minor.
- we probably got a little too cute leaving Niang in too long in the fourth, instead of bringing PJ back for more D
- Embiid should have touched the ball more, although the shots we got were still good shots
- we kind of gave up around the 1:30 mark. The odds of winning at that point were pretty slim, but it would have been nice to see us play hard to the buzzer.

Harden is unreliable in that capacity, however, and even if you structure the offense around him in the attempt to have him function in that manner in the clutch, he doesn't generate the gravity necessary to open up other players. He's too easily defended on penetration to the rim at this point.

[blargh]

Agree that we generally played well enough to win, we just hit a cold spell at the wrong time. It was essentially the opposite of the Game 1 fourth quarter. For those complaining that we don’t have a closer, Harden in Game 1 literally did the exact same thing Tatum did last night. The things we might have done differently to me are minor.
- we probably got a little too cute leaving Niang in too long in the fourth, instead of bringing PJ back for more D
- Embiid should have touched the ball more, although the shots we got were still good shots
- we kind of gave up around the 1:30 mark. The odds of winning at that point were pretty slim, but it would have been nice to see us play hard to the buzzer.

Harden is unreliable in that capacity, however, and even if you structure the offense around him in the attempt to have him function in that manner in the clutch, he doesn't generate the gravity necessary to open up other players. He's too easily defended on penetration to the rim at this point.

And Tatum was unreliable in that capacity in Games 1 and 5. These are inherently low percentage shots, even for the best players.

[blargh]

Agree that we generally played well enough to win, we just hit a cold spell at the wrong time. It was essentially the opposite of the Game 1 fourth quarter. For those complaining that we don’t have a closer, Harden in Game 1 literally did the exact same thing Tatum did last night. The things we might have done differently to me are minor.
- we probably got a little too cute leaving Niang in too long in the fourth, instead of bringing PJ back for more D
- Embiid should have touched the ball more, although the shots we got were still good shots
- we kind of gave up around the 1:30 mark. The odds of winning at that point were pretty slim, but it would have been nice to see us play hard to the buzzer.

Agree with most except the Niang part.

And this is where i agree with MjKov, I thought Niang should have played more minutes. He was playing well on defense and would have atleast made 1-2 3s that Melton or Tucker took.

I thought, and I just finished Spike Eskin’s podcast and they also agreed, that Doc did a good adjustment by putting Niang in. The double big was good to start but it came to a point when it wasn’t working.

I’d still play Tucker next game and maybe play more Niang if Tucker becomes a liability so I wont dig myself into a hole like in G6.

Niang gave us good minutes, but I just think we were gambling Tatum was going to stay cold, and even though Niang tried defensively, he just let Tatum get a little too comfortable. He was switching on D with Maxey too readily, whereas PJ would have fought harder over the pick, to stay in Tatum’s grill.

[Jailblazers7]

You could tell from the opening tip that Harden didn’t have it. He has these games where he’s not playing basketball but instead looks like a bumper car bouncing around begging for a foul. I think the officials are unkind to him now too but that behavior won’t be rewarded.

Embiid was also sloppy & clearly didn’t have control of his emotions that game. He had a nice rhythm going in the 4th so he’s understandably pissed that the ball didn’t come his way during crunch time.

Maxey had a rough crunch time but I don’t blame him at all. His running mates (Harden, Embiid, & Tobi) were all physically & mentally MIA all game so he tried to finish the game himself.

[Jailblazers7]

It’s always interesting to listen to national podcasts after a loss like this. I hyper focus on our negatives so it’s interesting to hear an objective view of the Boston positives.

[Hipster Doofus]

For the love of god can we please get rid of Tobias Harris this offseason? Feels like he's been here for a decade and a half.

[76ciology]

I think we’ll win this one because national media and fans are again underrating us.

[Iverson Armband]

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This guy is a stone loser. The refs have been absolutely putrid this series but even they can’t be blamed for his 3 awful games so far.

Let's be honest here. Without his 2 awesome games, this team would have gone fishing a few days ago.

It's a make or miss league. We shot 23% on 3 as a team this game. End of story.

We need to make shots next game.

Nahhhh man. Harden’s floor should be a game 5 where he gives you like 15 & 9. He doesn’t need to give you 45 a night, but games like last night and those other two DUD performances cannot happen. If he plays like that again on Sunday and we lose he deserves to be killed I don’t give a damn what he’s done in the past.

[Jailblazers7]

I gotta say, the refs are such a dramatically under discussed component of that game nationally. We had all the momentum up 2…refs literally stop play for 2 minutes, take points away from us, and makes Tyrese reshoot FTs. We didn’t score a point again after that for like 5 mins. Really feels like the refs purposely mind f*cked us and have been in the Celtics back pocket all series.

[ExplosionsInDaSky]

I think we’ll win this one because national media and fans are again underrating us.

Once again (I've mentioned this in previous threads), take a look back in time at the 06 WCSF series between Dallas and San Antonio. The entire series was nothing but a bunch of back and forth momentum grabs from each team. One minute it looked like Dallas was in total control and then a few games later they were all tied up 3 even and game seven was being played in San Antonio. I remember thinking Dallas was dead in the water after not being able to close them out in game 6 at home. Dallas beat them in game seven and went on to the Finals where they lost to the Heat.
In short, I agree with you. I think we can win game seven in their house. It's obviously going to be difficult, but I think we can do it. Either way win or lose I can't really be mad at what we've accomplished in this series. Many people thought this was going to either be a sweep by Boston or a 4-1 type of finish. We had them on the ropes last night and they came back, but now we have a game seven, one more chance to get this done and I think we will.

[FlyingArrow]

I gotta say, the refs are such a dramatically under discussed component of that game nationally. We had all the momentum up 2…refs literally stop play for 2 minutes, take points away from us, and makes Tyrese reshoot FTs. We didn’t score a point again after that for like 5 mins. Really feels like the refs purposely mind f*cked us and have been in the Celtics back pocket all series.

What exactly happened that caused Embiid to shoot the free throws in the first place? What I mean is... how could the refs screw up so badly?

Just checked the rulebook... and they played it right. Rule 2, Section VI.A.f.b. I bet that rule doesn't come up very often.

[ExplosionsInDaSky]

It's not a matter of 'complaining and finding scapegoats'. We are analyzing a game and what went wrong when we had leads and all the momentum and self destructed. I don't think it's as simple as "we missed shots" when our franchise player doesn't get a shot in the last 4 minutes of a closeout game against our biggest rival.

But I suppose we could just say "I'm done with this team" or variations of such that litter game threads even during games and after every loss.

Hopefully everyone has had time to settle down. I'm not saying you're wrong at all for feeling this way. All I am saying is that the older I get, the more I just try and enjoy what we currently have going on this roster. Embiid just took home the MVP. We've got a budding superstar in Tyrese Maxey, we've got a complete team that is capable of going toe to toe with anyone in the league, and we're heading into a game 7 with an opportunity to create legacies for some of our guys IF they're up to the task. I don't know about anyone else, but I'm super stoked for game seven. Boston is going to have to earn that $hit.

If we lose...Fine... This isn't the end of our run by any stretch. You loathe Doc Rivers and that's totally ok with me (he's earned his criticism). But I personally can't put all the blame on Doc when he's not the one missing WIDE OPEN threes. On top of that, I can only imagine what the teams record would be if Chauncey Billups (who just lets his guys do whatever they want) or Jason Kidd (who has the vocabulary of a10 year old) were at the helm. There are some lousy, lousy coaches in the NBA right now. Glorified babysitters basically that wouldn't even have gotten a team with the talent that we have to the second round. Let Steve Nash coach this team and watch us struggle to make the play in. People griped about Doug Collins while he was here and yeah...He was a whiner, he wore guys down, but he held them accountable. Doc does the same thing. He holds players accountable. I don't think it's throwing them under the bus. We can revisit Ben Simmons all day. Yeah, he ripped Simmons in the post game presser after game seven and ya know what? Ben Simmons deserved every bit of that criticism, because Ben Simmons is a little 8itch who got too far up in his feels to man up and hold himself accountable. Looks like Vaughn (another coach who holds players accountable) is having the same issue with him over in Brooklyn. Notice Ben had no problem playing for Steve Nash. That's because Steve Nash had no control over that roster. Kyrie, KD, Simmons, Curry, a plethora of solid role players and that team was trash until Vaughn took over.
You're referring to Doc clapping his hands and saying "lets go" which suggests that you watch the "In the huddle with Doc" crap that ESPN/TNT spews during the games. "Lets go inside the huddle with Doc Rivers and listen to what he's saying to his guys Jim" I heard Steve Kerr the other night basically doing the same stuff. "C'mon, we gotta get rebounds, need stops".
The sooner we stop expecting some philosophical speech of motivation that solves the Riemann hypothesis with one of those "in the huddle" tidbits, the quicker we can get on with our lives. I think those are the dumbest things to show on TV. Notice they don't ever show one when there's 4 seconds left on the clock and the coach is drawing up a play to get a game winning shot. Coaching happens behind the scenes. It doesn't happen "In the huddle" with Reggie Miller commenting afterwards about it. "Oh boy Kevin, you can just hear Doc trying to get his guys motivated, hopefully that knee of Embiid's doesn't shred.".

IDK, I'm trying to keep this respectful and I hope that its' reciprocated. We're talking basketball here. You don't like Doc, I don't necessarily love the guy, but my stance is that, well....It could be a whole lot worse with some other dummy coaching these guys.
Doc has his flaws, he's especially not free of blame with what went down last night. He's a career choker in game 6s. I expected this. It's been maddening, but we're still here and we still have a shot.

[M2J]

This guy is a stone loser. The refs have been absolutely putrid this series but even they can’t be blamed for his 3 awful games so far.

Let's be honest here. Without his 2 awesome games, this team would have gone fishing a few days ago.

It's a make or miss league. We shot 23% on 3 as a team this game. End of story.

We need to make shots next game.

Nahhhh man. Harden’s floor should be a game 5 where he gives you like 15 & 9. He doesn’t need to give you 45 a night, but games like last night and those other two DUD performances cannot happen. If he plays like that again on Sunday and we lose he deserves to be killed I don’t give a damn what he’s done in the past.

I don't see Harden being good. I hope he comes in looking to drive when they are easy lanes but playmaking otherwise and taking open shots. That means that he doesn't feel the pressure to win the game, and he may actually play well. I hope everybody else is just aggressive as hell.

Joel needs 15 boards at least. Maxey needs his touch from 3.

[76ciology]

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Good summary