Game 1: Sixers @ Bucks 10/26 @ 7:30 pm ET TNT Game Thread

[HardenGoat]

Refs clearly favored the Bucks. I have seen that before. Makes me sick that there is bias in the system

[Skates]

I am soooo over the PJ Tucker era. I don’t disagree that the team needed someone of the PJ archetype, the problem is that kind of guy is one where you search out the next PJ Tucker, instead we signed the used to be version for more money and years than I liked, plus lost a draft pick in the mix of doing that as well. He is just completely gone as an offensive player, cannot score in the lane and requires a long wind up from three. We complain about Simmons time here making us 4 v 5 offensively, but even with his flaws we were getting 16 points plus 8 assists per game. Tucker is a complete empty void offensively.

[Mik317]

Got a bunch of thoughts on the game, the team and life in general.

sorry but maybe its time to go back to the old me

its recapz time

Biid - As expected he was pretty bad...mid at best tonight. Luckily his regular season bad is most players good but the playoff failure still weighs heavy and its hard to ignore the similarities. He just aint that guy sadly. Now this doesn't mean he's a loser or we should trade him or that hes not good because thats not the case either. His defense on Giannis was also a big reason we got back in this game. I also like that he is at least trying to take more shots at the rim or take the open 3 instead of the slow jabs into contested jumpers (although he went back to it in crunch time....to bad results), it shows that he is trying to play a different way....just don't think that jives with his game tho. He needs to be okay with not being the whole offense and touching the ball every possesion...that cost us tonight when maxey, oubre and even Tobi had it going. Just focus on defense and actually rebounding and being a release valve in those situations. BUT again Biid is generally bad at the start of seasons so maybe he gets into a groove soon...even got better during this game.

Maxey - If Maxey wasn't on the team, I legit may not watch lol. He's not a lead guard but who cares lol. He needs to get the keys and be more aggressive with Biid on the floor. Didn't notice any bad on defense either. Kid is going to be an all star this year if he keeps this up tho.....and honestly thats my chip for this season lol.... ;_;

Tobi - Had his normal invisible yet apparently good game. Whe he just **** goes instead of thinks, he is good. For all the poor mans Melo comps he gets...his lack of **** it we ball gene is what kills him the most sadly.

Oubre - speaking of....dude is a bucket and a problem. Having a dude who doesn't give a **** as your release valve shooter is needed. Just maybe don't have him on Dame ever again lol.

Melton - Was bad. Too much dribbling. He is a guy who can look amazing but terrible the next game and its all because a few 3s go in or not. Nice player to have but waaaaay to important on our team rn. He's a 6-7th man spot starter type not a full time starter. Thanks James

PJ: He's washed. Played hard. Got a few tough boards. But you don't have to guard him and that sticks out even more in this offense that requires movement.

Danny: Kinda ditto lol. Should play because we lack gunners but shouldn't be damn near the first off the bench.

Bev: Thought he was fine. Probably one of our better passers...by default. Didn't annoy me on the floor....

Springer: Needs to play more. Actually was fine with not so much tonight as Dame would have baptised him and he isn't ready for that yet lol. But the key is to get him more minutes as the season goes on.

BBall: He bballed. That 3 is never going to happen tho.

Nurse: Not Doc Rivers....so thats a win....will see if that continues lol. Actually don't mind the run Biid into shape plan lol. That lineup with Bev,Green,Oubre,PJ, BBall...never again lol.


You could blame the refs. You could blame Biid. You could blame god. BUT its not the end of the world as far as losses go. enough to build off of IMO and considering when we were down 19 I expected to come in here and go "welp how about dem Knicks picks doe". I have no expectations for this season..I expect some uuuuuugly losses this year that makes us question our life choices..team simply lacks in some important areas but having Maxey learn the ropes as the main ball handler is something we need to see. Having Biid figure out new ways to attack is also beneficial for his career. The worries about him asking out don't matter...if he does...who cares, its sadly probably time anyway. The old way of doing things wasn't going to work either and we simply lack assets for any quick response anyway. This season is about seeing what the two guys worth something do in sub optimal circumstances; and ideally either going from there or seeing that they aren't it and moving on. Perhaps they have a flukey hot streak at the right time but I doubt it. I would have stacked more youngish guys instead of all of the corpses we are carrying but this is probably the best course of action

now my tune will change in a few weeks but such is life lol.

[ExplosionsInDaSky]

My only complaint is really PJ Tucker at this point. He simply does not fit. Danny Green is also a dinosaur at this point. Obviously Tucker needs to be showcased for a potential trade, but at what cost? Both Springer and House should be getting minutes over Green and Tucker, but all in due time I guess.

Other than that, I like what I saw. We made a nice adjustment in the second half and had a few Embiid shot fell for us, we would have spoiled Lillards opening act.

Ps...Glad we didn't trade Maxey. Year 4 is going to be a good one for him.

[Kova]

For me, overall we were better than I expected. I credit Nurse for that.
Both teams had disappearing acts throughout the game. First us, which led to Bucks 19pt lead, then they had 2 stretches where we were able to cut it to 4-5. Then again them allowing us to get an 8pt lead. This is where we had them on the ropes. They were gone. And we allowed them back by back-to-back 3s, poorly defended possessions.

In total, I'm happy with our style of play. You can see some good defensive schemes. We're gonna win a lot of games this year.

[M2J]

Joel seemed lost in the offense. Due to the coaching change, not sure if it's him not being comfortable yet... Or poor gameplan. He needs to be in the paint (mid or low). Guys didn't seem to know where to be or where to go off his touches . Some of the turnovers were on others, but even so. You don't just throw the ball solely on anticipation. But there's more that he can do in other areas like rebounding.

Maxey makes me happy. He's ready, he needed to be even more aggressive though. The only ? In this man's game, is if he believes that he should be playing this way every night. He should be


This is Oubres best situation ever. He's going to be big. He's not going to shoot this well nightly, but the shooting wasn't all that excited me. A true wing finally.

Melton and PJ were fine... They'll play better and they'll play worse.

[phillynative]

We needed Tucker on defense. He played well on defense against Giannis. If you replace Tucker with Oubre, Giannis would not be scoring just 23pts on 22 shots.

But Tucker’s poor spacing makes it so we can’t play Springer & get cooked by Dame instead. Probably a good example of how this Giannis/Dame duo is difficult to form a lineup against. There aren’t many lineups that can withstand Giannis’s physicality & has elite perimeter defense to guard Dame.

I didnt see Tucker hurting our spacing this game. But I saw his defense limiting Giannis around 7 points below his average.

You also dont have much option. Melton was not making his shots. Oubre had two costly TOs and was burned by those drives by Dame.

We still have Reed and Embiid to guard Giannis if needed. Tucker did defend Giannis to the best of his ability but he had alot of help defensively from Embiid who contested alot of Giannis drives in the paint. It's the fact that the sixers are starting a 6'5 40 y.o pf , that cannot score, jump or get up and down the floor whatsoever.

There is no other reasonable option at starting PF which is . Reed is not good enough to start and Bamba is useless so hes penciled in before him as the backup 5. If you insert Oubre , you now have your best bench scorer starting. Any other player inserted would be too small of a lineup.

Melton and Tucker are bench guys that realistically if Morey is worth a damn should be replaced by starters from the Harden traded. Green and Pat who seem to be the first guys off the bench are end of the the bench locker guys.

This team was resilient but I can't take this roster seriously with PJ starting yet again and relying on Green and Pat for meaningful mins.

[ProcessDoctor]

Maxey had 8 assists, 10 FTA, and 2 steals. Keep it up young fella.

This team would greatly benefit from a Siakam/George/Ingram type wing that we can run the offense through in spurts.

[Bum Adebayo]

Embiid cost us again, he doesn't fit this offense either, I don't understand what are we waiting for, it's evident this is not going to work, trade him before the deadline and end this please.

[76ciology]

Can Maxey take the place of 2022-2023 Harden?
Then Oubre take the place of 2022-2023 Maxey?

Just think about it..

[Last pick]

The only good referee is a dead referee.

[mjkvol]

Tobias with his normal "how the **** did he score 20" game lol.

Jo and him have good statlines but the actual game feels different

It's truly baffling he had 20 points, 7 boards, and 3 threes on 8/9 shooting and it's why so many people who read box scores think he's a good player.

What has always gotten me is the insistence by national broadcasters, and Alaa as well, that he needs to have the ball in his hands more and take more shots. Van Gundy said it 3-4 times last night. The media is convinced he's an impact player, but the GM's and personnel people around the league know the reality since he's been an albatross that is impossible to move since he signed that contract.

[mjkvol]

The Sixers win if the NBA didn't conspire against them in this game like they always do. Hopefully fans can put to bed the "Whoa is me, the Sixers are so far behind the Bucks!" narrative after tonight. No one's running away with this conference and the Sixers will be right in the mix for the #1 seed all season.

That's my thinking. We're right there with Milwaukee and Boston.

I find Boston to be on another level over Bucks and Sixers. Specially in the playoffs.

Bos is more versatile, deeper and doesnt run vanilla schemes like the Bucks

Let's get into the season a bit before crowning Boston. We've seen this movie with Porzingas too many times to believe he's all of a sudden going to become a happy, healthy, productive player for a full season, much less in the playoffs.

[mjkvol]

The officiating was dreadful (again) last night - the ridiculous ruling on Giannis' catch of his own shot and the no-call on his offensive foul on Nurse's challenge were huge calls and laughable.

The one that stood out for me was that the Sixers were most effective when playing fast when Embiid wasn't really involved or off the floor. He almost single-handedly killed the momentum down the stretch and missed a couple of open elbow looks that would have been daggers, then went into turnover mode. He doesn't operate well in a fast moving offense, and Nurse is going to have a big problem potentially with that.

One other thing. Springer must be part of the rotation and see the floor more as the season develops. The kid is a nuisance on defense and makes things happen, and will get more comfortable offensively as he plays more. Sounds like Reed a couple of years ago, except we now have a coach who has to see that and address it.

[eyeatoma]

Embiid cost us again, he doesn't fit this offense either, I don't understand what are we waiting for, it's evident this is not going to work, trade him before the deadline and end this please.

Can't you just leave already.

[Stanford]

How did Springer only play 5 minutes?

[eyeatoma]

Got a bunch of thoughts on the game, the team and life in general.

sorry but maybe its time to go back to the old me

its recapz time

Biid - As expected he was pretty bad...mid at best tonight. Luckily his regular season bad is most players good but the playoff failure still weighs heavy and its hard to ignore the similarities. He just aint that guy sadly. Now this doesn't mean he's a loser or we should trade him or that hes not good because thats not the case either. His defense on Giannis was also a big reason we got back in this game. I also like that he is at least trying to take more shots at the rim or take the open 3 instead of the slow jabs into contested jumpers (although he went back to it in crunch time....to bad results), it shows that he is trying to play a different way....just don't think that jives with his game tho. He needs to be okay with not being the whole offense and touching the ball every possesion...that cost us tonight when maxey, oubre and even Tobi had it going. Just focus on defense and actually rebounding and being a release valve in those situations. BUT again Biid is generally bad at the start of seasons so maybe he gets into a groove soon...even got better during this game.

Maxey - If Maxey wasn't on the team, I legit may not watch lol. He's not a lead guard but who cares lol. He needs to get the keys and be more aggressive with Biid on the floor. Didn't notice any bad on defense either. Kid is going to be an all star this year if he keeps this up tho.....and honestly thats my chip for this season lol.... ;_;

Tobi - Had his normal invisible yet apparently good game. Whe he just **** goes instead of thinks, he is good. For all the poor mans Melo comps he gets...his lack of **** it we ball gene is what kills him the most sadly.

Oubre - speaking of....dude is a bucket and a problem. Having a dude who doesn't give a **** as your release valve shooter is needed. Just maybe don't have him on Dame ever again lol.

Melton - Was bad. Too much dribbling. He is a guy who can look amazing but terrible the next game and its all because a few 3s go in or not. Nice player to have but waaaaay to important on our team rn. He's a 6-7th man spot starter type not a full time starter. Thanks James

PJ: He's washed. Played hard. Got a few tough boards. But you don't have to guard him and that sticks out even more in this offense that requires movement.

Danny: Kinda ditto lol. Should play because we lack gunners but shouldn't be damn near the first off the bench.

Bev: Thought he was fine. Probably one of our better passers...by default. Didn't annoy me on the floor....

Springer: Needs to play more. Actually was fine with not so much tonight as Dame would have baptised him and he isn't ready for that yet lol. But the key is to get him more minutes as the season goes on.

BBall: He bballed. That 3 is never going to happen tho.

Nurse: Not Doc Rivers....so thats a win....will see if that continues lol. Actually don't mind the run Biid into shape plan lol. That lineup with Bev,Green,Oubre,PJ, BBall...never again lol.


You could blame the refs. You could blame Biid. You could blame god. BUT its not the end of the world as far as losses go. enough to build off of IMO and considering when we were down 19 I expected to come in here and go "welp how about dem Knicks picks doe". I have no expectations for this season..I expect some uuuuuugly losses this year that makes us question our life choices..team simply lacks in some important areas but having Maxey learn the ropes as the main ball handler is something we need to see. Having Biid figure out new ways to attack is also beneficial for his career. The worries about him asking out don't matter...if he does...who cares, its sadly probably time anyway. The old way of doing things wasn't going to work either and we simply lack assets for any quick response anyway. This season is about seeing what the two guys worth something do in sub optimal circumstances; and ideally either going from there or seeing that they aren't it and moving on. Perhaps they have a flukey hot streak at the right time but I doubt it. I would have stacked more youngish guys instead of all of the corpses we are carrying but this is probably the best course of action

now my tune will change in a few weeks but such is life lol.

Top notch, this better be a daily thing. You did it for game 1, so now you're committed for 82 plus the playoffs. Your remuneration? You get to see us choke another 2nd round.

[Jailblazers7]

Embiid’s lack of conditioning is going to a real hinderance for this team. Part of the reason he’s such a ball stopper is he holds the ball when he’s tired to rest & catch his breath.

We’re better of benching him quicker to avoid the fatigue driven meltdowns. The Bucks are a team where we can’t really go Embiid-less for more than a few minutes tho. Any time he was off the court we looked way too small against their front line.

[Stanford]

Embiid’s lack of conditioning is going to a real hinderance for this team.

Nurse seems determined to correct that.

[Negrodamus]

How did Springer only play 5 minutes?

Heavy hitters like Beverley, Green, Tucker need their minutes. I’d honestly play Springer at the three over anyone other than Oubre as he doesn’t get pushed around and actually puts in effort despite being undersized.