Game 63: Sixers @ Bucks 8:30 pm ET ABC Game Thread

[ExplosionsInDaSky]

You're very irritable. Relax, man.

As for trying out different lineups....this is exactly the time to experiment.

Maxey on the bench did not work. I don't think what Tobias brings is what we need in the starting lineup.

We need more athleticism, defense and rebounding. If Reed wasn't such a foul merchant, I'd start him.

The situation is not ideal. Morey has done a bad job with roster construction and Doc makes things worse with his lineups/substitution patterns.

You suggested benching Tobias Harris for Jalen McDaniels. If anyone here is overreacting and needs to relax, it's probably you. You like to come on here and stir it up for some reason. That's totally cool, but don't play victim when someone gives it back to you.

Now, Doc is not going to meddle with the starting linueps any more than he already has. We aren't just suddenly going to tell Tobias to come off the bench because McDaniels needs to start. McDaniels isn't even that good. If you don't like Tobias Harris or his huge contract that's fine, but lets not get distorted here and suggest that McDaniels has a better skillset or that he should be starting. He...Just...Got...Here.

I never said McDaniels had a better skillset than Tobias. I don't think McDaniels is that great, or even good.

If you're starting Harden and Maxey, you really need to have the right Forward combo to maximize the unit.

Have you seen McDaniels shoot? He can't shoot. Sure, he hits a three once in a while, but he can't shoot, he can't stretch the floor, he can try and go and get his, but he's not going to rattle of 12 points in a quarter for us while Joel and Harden are struggling. Tobias can go and get you that if he digs deep. McDaniels can make you plays, he can help shift the momentum the same way George Niang can with a couple of threes. He's a chess piece at this current time until he improves his shooting. I personally think it's going to happen for him, but he's going to have to put in the work this summer. I absolutely love Jalen McDaniels, I just don't think he should start of Tobias Harris.

[NYSixersFan]

I still think the 1 seed is a possibility. We just have to take care of business. We do have a tough schedule, but nothing like what we have just been through over the last two weeks. Memphis, Boston, Miami, Miami, Dallas, Milwaukee = Gantlet.
Here are our next six games

Indy, @Minnesota, Portland, Washington, @Cleveland. @Charlotte.
I don't want to jinx us, but I feel pretty good about that schedule. We just went through two weeks of hell and came out even. These next six games are there for the taking.

Stop it! You don't really believe we have a chance at the top seed or even #2. There's a better chance we drop to 5th.

I expect to finish 3rd.

[FlyingArrow]

This season no longer feels like another hollow second round stoppage although it still may very well end up that way.

Yep. We're right up there with the Celtics, Bucks, and Nuggets. Unfortunately, we may have to go through all 3 of them. We could lose to the first one that we face or beat them all. But I don't think anyone else is beating us.

[Sixteen]

Knicks are going to upset somebody. I hope it's not us

[76ciology]

I still think the 1 seed is a possibility. We just have to take care of business. We do have a tough schedule, but nothing like what we have just been through over the last two weeks. Memphis, Boston, Miami, Miami, Dallas, Milwaukee = Gantlet.
Here are our next six games

Indy, @Minnesota, Portland, Washington, @Cleveland. @Charlotte.
I don't want to jinx us, but I feel pretty good about that schedule. We just went through two weeks of hell and came out even. These next six games are there for the taking.

I think we’re projecting a 2nd-3rd seed with match up with the Bucks in the 2nd round. We need that 2nd seed with how the refs are calling it for the foul merchant, Giannis.

[Kova]

Best win of the season, no doubt.
Again, very unlikely comeback. I was already kind of bummed that we are unable to beat best team (Celtics, Mavs..), but this one gives hope.

I think once we tighten our bench, we'll be better because our rotations so far have been really wide and that's when the opponents would make big runs.

Need Niang to play consistent minutes because that's how he can get in a position to consistently hit 3s, and we need that.

[Sixercise]

A big shoutout to Bball Paul and McD for staying very active on 50/50 possessions. Even though we still suck overall on boxing out, the motor on both aforementioned guys really stood out in key moments (especially the putbacks).

[phillynative]

I don't want to hear a soul on this forum ever count us out for the rest of the season. We can beat anyone in this league.

Any team can beat any team in the league.

Again, you have nothing to stand on after tonight. This isn't a fluke game.

My stance still stand they are a dangerous team but not quite Celtics or Bucks. I'm happy they won though they needed it. The Bucks played playoff type defense and the sixers were able to navigate it with the playmaking of Harden and Embiid.

[phillynative]

Dbl post

[76ciology]

This McDaniels-Biid or Tucker-Biid duo is interesting. We had McDaniels on Jrue. Jrue can’t run the 2 man game with Giannis because we can switch it and deny any mismatch they want to generate. Its a trick we learned in last year’s playoffs against the Raps and the Heat.

[76ciology]

Tatum struggled against us last game and Giannis can’t score unless he become a foul merchant on crunch time

[phillynative]

McDaniels length ,athleticism and defensive versatility is something that no one else on this team can give. Doc said post game him knocking down that wide open 3 was huge because than the defense wouldn't leave him and the lane was open for Harden in the 5 out.

I hope Doc got it into his rock stubborn head that we needed his size and length to combat with theirs. Lopez will always be the Decoy so that Embiid isn't planted in the paint and gives Giannis the driving lane. Having McDaniels out there helped with the switching and he has enough length and athleticism to bother shots at the rim. The truth is Tobias is not athletic enough and Tucker is too short to help out around the rim. He even had a put back dunk that neither Tucker or Tobias could never.

I think if we play the Bucks in the playoffs Doc have to figure out how he can incorporate McDaniels in the rotation. Not sure how you go about it though you need Niangs floor spacing, Tuckers defense& hustle and Tobias scoring. Maybe you play him over whoever is playing the worse out of those 3.

[phillynative]

Tatum struggled against us last game and Giannis can’t score unless he become a foul merchant on crunch time

And Doc ruined it by putting 6'1 Melton on him in the last possession

[ExplosionsInDaSky]

I still think the 1 seed is a possibility. We just have to take care of business. We do have a tough schedule, but nothing like what we have just been through over the last two weeks. Memphis, Boston, Miami, Miami, Dallas, Milwaukee = Gantlet.
Here are our next six games

Indy, @Minnesota, Portland, Washington, @Cleveland. @Charlotte.
I don't want to jinx us, but I feel pretty good about that schedule. We just went through two weeks of hell and came out even. These next six games are there for the taking.

Stop it! You don't really believe we have a chance at the top seed or even #2. There's a better chance we drop to 5th.

I expect to finish 3rd.

Sure I do. By the time the playoffs come around I expect things to look a bit different in the standings. I don't feel that is an unreasonable thought. I mean...Not as unreasonable as suggesting the Jalen McDaniels is better than Tobias Harris or that he should be starting. That would be unreasonable...That's what you suggested .
Jalen McDaniels...The starter over Tobias Harris with less than 20 games remaining in the season. Sure...Let's totally screw the chemistry up. I mean, can you even give me an solitary example of where an idiotic move like that was ever made on a team that had a shot to win it all? This is something you'll have to live with on here. It's almost as bad as suggesting Omer Asik is better than Joel Embiid. Hey! Maybe we should trade Tyrese Maxey to Utah for Kelly Olynyk while we're at it?

[Jailblazers7]

I’ll be interested to see some lineups without PJ & Tobi and if they miss time. I assume Melton/McDaniels replace them as starters. But we could see some weirder lineups like a Reed/Embiid frontcourt. This would be the type of scenario where we find a hidden gem lineup if we’re gonna win a title.

[ExplosionsInDaSky]

McDaniels length ,athleticism and defensive versatility is something that no one else on this team can give. Doc said post game him knocking down that wide open 3 was huge because than the defense wouldn't leave him and the lane was open for Harden in the 5 out.

I hope Doc got it into his rock stubborn head that we needed his size and length to combat with theirs. Lopez will always be the Decoy so that Embiid isn't planted in the paint and gives Giannis the driving lane. Having McDaniels out there helped with the switching and he has enough length and athleticism to bother shots at the rim. The truth is Tobias is not athletic enough and Tucker is too short to help out around the rim. He even had a put back dunk that neither Tucker or Tobias could never.

I think if we play the Bucks in the playoffs Doc have to figure out how he can incorporate McDaniels in the rotation. Not sure how you go about it though you need Niangs floor spacing, Tuckers defense& hustle and Tobias scoring. Maybe you play him over whoever is playing the worse out of those 3.

100% I think Doc is going to have to use him in the playoffs and just roll with the outcome. If the matchup calls for it, that's what we have to do. I think if anyone gets phased out, it'll be Niang. McDaniels should end up with a lot of minutes in the postseason depending on who we are playing. For example, I can see him playing 20+ minutes against Boston or Milwaukee. If we were to somehow make it to the Finals against say, Denver. Then I can see him not being needed as much. Either way he's a great chess piece that Doc simply can't ignore. The starters are the starters at this point, I don't expect that to change, but McDaniels is going to figure heavily into our playoff plans. A lot more than Thybulle would have. By next season, we could see McDaniels in a starting role if we move Tobias in the summer.

[HotelVitale]

Any team can beat any team in the league.

Again, you have nothing to stand on after tonight. This isn't a fluke game.

My stance still stand they are a dangerous team but not quite Celtics or Bucks. I'm happy they won though they needed it. The Bucks played playoff type defense and the sixers were able to navigate it with the playmaking of Harden and Embiid.

Sounds right, we’re a good team that’s too dependent on streaks and/or secondary players having good games, in large part because we don’t have a simple system to default to. Boston for example can beat almost anyone if they have an average game just by playing their game, similar thing for MIL as we saw in the 3rd (though it’s not quite as system-y in general). We can beat anyone if we’re locked in but can lose to almost anyone if we let up and we don’t get good games from 3 of our 5 beat guys.

[Ferry Avenue]

Well if James Harden is going to perform like that -- in the clutch and overall -- the sky is the limit for this team.

The question is, how replicable is that kind of performance.

[Kobblehead]

A big shoutout to Bball Paul and McD for staying very active on 50/50 possessions. Even though we still suck overall on boxing out, the motor on both aforementioned guys really stood out in key moments (especially the putbacks).

Here ye, here ye.

From this day forth, the defensive tandem of Paul Reed and Jalen McDaniels shall henceforth be known as Anorexia Deflectsia.

[Jailblazers7]

Sixers played 6 playoff caliber games since the ASG and went 3-3. Lost a couple heartbreakers to Boston & Miami. Won a couple against Bucks & Grizz. Going 5-1 obviously would have been a great statement to make but not a bad outcome for such a tough stretch.