The Season: Sixers at Heat Round 2, Game 2 -- 5/4 @ 7:30 PM

[76ciology]

If you listen to what Spo says on the bench, which TNT covered. Their plan is to collaspe/wall on Harden and let Harden know it.

If Harden is washed, teams would just let him score. He is nowhere as good as he was before. But he’s still a very good player.

We just need better depth.
We got 0 to negative from Niang,Thybulle&Kork.

If you guys aren’t going to score like Dipo and Herro, which I’d say is the most potent bench duo right now. Then you might atleast be a positive on defense and slow them down.

[ExplosionsInDaSky]

Stormi is right on point. We need to obviously retool the roster to better fit what we have. Hope for internal growth out of Maxey, Springer, Bassey, and Reed. I think it's time to sell high on Thybulle if possible. Shake is done, Danny Green should be done, bye to Jordan and Millsap. Korkmaz could come back, but I'm not a believer in him anymore either. It'll be an interesting offseason. Series isn't ovah yet, but we're not beating this Miami team. They are too damn good. Just a well put together team. Hard to really dislike them. Max Strus looks like a big time douche, but other than that I like most of their players. They're coming out of the East this year.

[UptownPhilly]

Harden going to take a major pay cut. Book it. Need to get someone that can shoot and play defense.

huge if true. if harden takes a paycut then it's a win in my books. he's a suitable 2/3 option as long as mvpiid is in the lineup.

the defensive personnel and bench need a massive makeover. and the maxey leap is needed.

Harden doesn't look like a 2nd option the same way Tobias doesnt

At this stage, he’s a 4th option at best. He’s only good for facilitating. Great passer, doesn’t capitalize on closeouts off the dribble as much as he should. Would much rather fish for fouls than look to score. We’ll be making a big mistake if we sign him for anything more than $25 mil per year.

[PhillyFan11]

Cross our fingers and hope to get lucky in a 2nd round matchup…what else is there?

The Process was already a smoldering pile, but the Harden trade officially killed it. We’ve mortgaged the future to get to a final roster that isn’t good enough. And I’m not waiting on cheap vets to come here and help either, we have had a long enough sample size to know Philly isn’t a destination for whatever reason.
What else is there? That Morey can really do? Tobi and Thybulle have little value and we need whatever else we have.

A sucker is gonna bite on Matisse....

We traded Richardson for Curry based just on a false myth about Richardson being a good defender

Possibly…but with Thybulle’s minimal contract and us being over the tax, what are the options? Thybulle isn’t enough value to move Tobi’s contract for anything of value in return. Can Danny Green be traded as an expiring in the off-season with the team option? If so Thybulle + Green might net us something 1/2 decent, but it’s still going to have to be a pretty niche deal. How many teams are looking to unload a good 3 and D player that only makes around 12 mil a year?

Even if that were to happen, then what? Sit and cross our fingers that useful vets will sign here for cheap….for the 4th straight year?

I’d like to be optimistic, but I have a hear time seeing realistic moves that can dig this roster out of the hole it’s in

[eyeatoma]

We get Harden and he's washed up

Simmons has mental issues

Fultz had mental issues

Bynum never plays a game for us

Brand was washed up

Webber was on one leg

What have we done to deserve this?

Apparently the Sixers fans are cursed for booing Santa.

[FireMorey]

If Embiid comes back for game 3, still liking the Sixers. As long as Embiid comes out fired up and not moping around, take games 3 and 4 at home, capture the momentum. The Sixers have been a good road team all year.

[Iverson Armband]

We get Harden and he's washed up

Simmons has mental issues

Fultz had mental issues

Bynum never plays a game for us

Brand was washed up

Webber was on one leg

What have we done to deserve this?

To be fair, we were all right as a Nets fan and hearing the feedback from Sixers fans.

Harden confirmed all of the reasons we heard the trade happened and Simmons confirmed all the reasons you guys fined him. We’ve all taken a massive L from that deal. Total frustration on both ends.

I’m not sure why Morey didn’t go for a better big man than DAJ which has proven to be a declining big man from the Nets to the Lakers. Signing him was pretty brutal. Doc still using him when it’s not working is why we used to hate Atkinson.

The Jordan signing is all Doc. Morey should have forced him to play Reed and Bassey, but I'm not sure he has the organizational juice to do that.

If true, that’s a real problem.

[Murray_17]

Possibly…but with Thybulle’s minimal contract and us being over the tax, what are the options? Thybulle isn’t enough value to move Tobi’s contract for anything of value in return. Can Danny Green be traded as an expiring in the off-season with the team option? If so Thybulle + Green might net us something 1/2 decent, but it’s still going to have to be a pretty niche deal. How many teams are looking to unload a good 3 and D player that only makes around 12 mil a year?

Furkan + Mattise + Danny are 17.5 millions. That alone could net you, for example, Bojan (Not the guy i would go after but an example, the Jazz want to get under the tax and they could trade Danny and get a defender on Matisse).

You can plug Springer as a defensive wing after that

[PhillyFan11]

If you listen to what Spo says on the bench, which TNT covered. Their plan is to collaspe/wall on Harden and let Harden know it.

If Harden is washed, teams would just let him score. He is nowhere as good as he was before. But he’s still a very good player.

We just need better depth.
We got 0 to negative from Niang,Thybulle&Kork.

If you guys aren’t going to score like Dipo and Herro, which I’d say is the most potent bench duo right now. Then you might atleast be a positive on defense and slow them down.

“Just let him score”?? Lol What on earth are you taking about? That’s your baseline for telling how good a player is…just if the defense try’s to stop him?

Shouldn’t you be more concerned with how easy it is to stop Harden and how little of a counter attack he has?

[sixers4real]

I’m feeling okay about what’s going on.

If Joel comes back game 3, I like our chances both home games. If we lose this series, well, okay, no panic. I trust Morey on this very important off-season.
Harden is still very good player, Maxey will absolutely improve. Embiid will be MVP level again. We need good role players around them and then we’ll be title contenders.

We good.

[Murray_17]

“Just let him score”?? Lol What on earth are you taking about? That’s your baseline for telling how good a player is…just if the defense try’s to stop him?

Shouldn’t you be more concerned with how easy it is to stop Harden and how little of a counter attack he has?

He was guarded by 3 guys at times

[SixthStreet]

This Heat team isn't that good. They haven't come out and crushed us without the MVP and our second best player playing on one good hammy. Yes, no Lowry but he's not the needle mover anyways.

If Embiid touch isn't rusty, I think it's about 75% odds this series is coming back to Miami square. Embiid will get the shooters less contested shots giving us some shooting regression. Add in his raw numbers and defensive impact and I think it'll be fine.

[SixthStreet]

Our entire defensive scheme is Embiid and that's why I think we look lost on help rotations and closeouts as well as consistently being out of position on the defensive glass.

Just him being out there will impact things. It won't magically make us a good defensive rebounding team but should cut down their shot attempts nonetheless.

[phillynative]

Matisse looked bad defensively. Shows how important it is having Embiid out there to back him up

[Mik317]

Embiid is going to be partially blind, still has a broken thumb, and coming off a week layoff.

he's going to be terrible in game 3 lol

[76ciology]

If you listen to what Spo says on the bench, which TNT covered. Their plan is to collaspe/wall on Harden and let Harden know it.

If Harden is washed, teams would just let him score. He is nowhere as good as he was before. But he’s still a very good player.

We just need better depth.
We got 0 to negative from Niang,Thybulle&Kork.

If you guys aren’t going to score like Dipo and Herro, which I’d say is the most potent bench duo right now. Then you might atleast be a positive on defense and slow them down.

“Just let him score”?? Lol What on earth are you taking about? That’s your baseline for telling how good a player is…just if the defense try’s to stop him?

Shouldn’t you be more concerned with how easy it is to stop Harden and how little of a counter attack he has?

Harden was the second best ISO player behind Doncic in the playoffs (last time i checked after Raps series) he is enemy number 1 right now for the Heat. They have to put PJ Tucker on him and have a wall around Harden whenever he drives. And this is leading to a lot of open 3s that our guys are failing to knock down.

Harden’s just a 25ppg playoff player for his career. We’re just used to him being that 30-40ppg regular season player that he was before.

Basically all im saying is we need to re-evaluate our expectations from him.

He is not as great as before but he’s a good to a very good player right now.

And if im wrong, you just play the cards you’re dealt with than just keep restarting to no end.

[76ciology]

Embiid is going to be partially blind, still has a broken thumb, and coming off a week layoff.

he's going to be terrible in game 3 lol

Still better than Paul Reed or DeAndre Jordan with X Ray vision and 3 thumbs on each hand

[NYSixersFan]

Thybulle is a massive fraud. Should have been traded instead of Seth. Should have been traded period! Should be traded this off-season.

[Sam Hinkie]

This Heat team isn't that good. They haven't come out and crushed us without the MVP and our second best player playing on one good hammy. Yes, no Lowry but he's not the needle mover anyways.

If Embiid touch isn't rusty, I think it's about 75% odds this series is coming back to Miami square. Embiid will get the shooters less contested shots giving us some shooting regression. Add in his raw numbers and defensive impact and I think it'll be fine.

This would imply the Sixers are ~87% to win each game. The line for game 3 is Sixers -1. They'll be around 50% to win each game which means they'll be around 25% to come back to Miami tied 2-2.

Morey should feel lucky that Doc is such a terrible coach. I thought he had a poor offseason. We have the softest team remaining in the playoffs. We can't rebound the ball with or without Embiid. We're still 2-3 players short. We need our version of PJ Tucker and a Danny Green from 5 years ago. I'm not sure who that might be but Morey needs to find them.

[mjkvol]

If you listen to what Spo says on the bench, which TNT covered. Their plan is to collaspe/wall on Harden and let Harden know it.

If Harden is washed, teams would just let him score. He is nowhere as good as he was before. But he’s still a very good player.

We just need better depth.
We got 0 to negative from Niang,Thybulle&Kork.

If you guys aren’t going to score like Dipo and Herro, which I’d say is the most potent bench duo right now. Then you might atleast be a positive on defense and slow them down.

“Just let him score”?? Lol What on earth are you taking about? That’s your baseline for telling how good a player is…just if the defense try’s to stop him?

Shouldn’t you be more concerned with how easy it is to stop Harden and how little of a counter attack he has?

Outside of losing some of his burst, Harden's game has always been the same. He can still beat guys off the dribble, and if we had guys knocking down the wide open 3's that Green and Niang were bricking the last two games, it wouldn't be as simple as collapsing the defense in the lane on Harden.

Spo has zero respect that this group can make 3's, or for anyone outside of Harden and Maxey offensively in general. Put 2-3 shooters around Harden that need to be accounted for, and it's a different story entirely.