Game 60: Heat vs 76ers.

[phillynative]

I don’t know why this team draws up late-game plays for Embiid instead of Harden. Embiid wastes almost all of the remaining clock and forces Harden to do nothing but shoot a three instead of penetrating and creating.

He got doubled and got Harden an open 3 pt shot at the top of the key and he missed. Harden would of took just as much time pounding the air out the ball .

[76ciology]

I don’t know why this team draws up late-game plays for Embiid instead of Harden. Embiid wastes almost all of the remaining clock and forces Harden to do nothing but shoot a three instead of penetrating and creating.

He got doubled and got Harden an open 3 pt shot at the top of the key and he missed. Harden would of took just as much time pounding the air out the ball .

Agree.

Heat’s shot to win it was Jimmy’s highly contested acrobatic lay-up.

Sixers’ shot to win it was Harden’s open to very slightly contested shot on top of the key.

The other day, Celts’ shot to win it was a highly contested shot by Tatum who only makes 41% of his clutch baskets.

Our shot probably was that highly contested turnaround shot by Embiid who makes 49 % of his clutch shots than Tatum.

It is what it is. Even if you dont want the game to be close, the refs will make it a way to be close in 50-80% of these games in the playoffs. And all you have are these type of shots to win it.

We were just on the bad side of variance in the last two games.

[phillynative]

2 pts for soft book boy Tobias and the bench still a**. Team is going to get exposed second half of the season and I'm all for it.

[mjkvol]

What a disgrace of a game from Tobias. Really cannot accept such performances. I can live with a 2-18 performance, but not a game where he takes 4 shots.

I keep counting down the number of regular season games when he and his albatross are hopefully "OUTTA HERE" (to quote the late great Harry Kalas). 21 RS games to go until he is officially traded.

Agree, and extra points for a Kalas reference.

[Embiid-MVP]

2 pts for soft book boy Tobias and the bench still a**. Team is going to get exposed second half of the season and I'm all for it.

Why would you be all for it. Harden walks, embiid possibly asks out, we got no money to replace harden. Terrible fan dude

No reason to want our own team to suffer. Terrible terrible terrible with some shame

[76ciology]

Yeah. I think Tobi deserve a lot of blame for this game.

But can’t we afford to have an off game from Tobias against the Heat?

I dont like how we played out of composure this game like its 2018.

[youngcrev]

I was hoping we were going to get a really focused team post all star break so that they have a well greased machine come playoff time... But nah, back to same inconsistent effort after a whole 2 games of trying.

Hopefully this gets Maxey going at least.

I assume they come out with more effort next game and reverse split the home and home, since that seems to be the M.O.

I love Joel, but teams frequently take on the personality of their top player, and consistent effort is not one of his strengths. I'm not saying it's not understandable given the amount of injuries he's sustained and how much responsibility he has on both ends... But my god is it frustrating to watch a team just not give a **** for an entire half of basketball, and it happens all the damn time.

[Jailblazers7]

Sometimes it just feels simple. We’re a franchise that finds a way to lose. Heat/Celtics are franchises that find a way to win. The cast of characters gets shuffled a bit but that core truth remains.

[Ferry Avenue]

The two posts above this one explain this team's inability to get over the hump season after season -- its nucleus of top players doesn't consist of the mentality necessary to distinguish it from other teams with similarly good physical talent.

When you're dealing with the top teams in the league in terms of physical talent, it's the mental/emotional variables that distinguish them from each other. We're seeing with this team once again that it doesn't possess them to a sufficient degree. These later-season statement games are simply previews of how the team will function in the playoffs.

[Ferry Avenue]

I don’t know why this team draws up late-game plays for Embiid instead of Harden. Embiid wastes almost all of the remaining clock and forces Harden to do nothing but shoot a three instead of penetrating and creating.

He got doubled and got Harden an open 3 pt shot at the top of the key and he missed. Harden would of took just as much time pounding the air out the ball .

Right, but part of the value in Harden's pounding air out of the ball is that he can survey the entire court while doing it, while being guarded by only one player. That allows him to make a decision as a function of what he's seeing elsewhere on the court, and that may involve him and/or other players. When Embiid has the ball like he did at the end of last night's game, he's in no such position to "create" in that way, and the inevitable double-team allows the other team to dictate what happens.

It's essentially the equivalent of having a single play remaining on the opponents' 5 yard line in a football game and handing the ball to a running back instead of having the QB survey the field for the open receiver, with the ability to run it into the end zone himself as well.

[HardenGoat]

One thing I realize is Mcdaniels is not the offensive scorer I hope he would be. He doesn't have a scoring mindset at all. This team desperately needs Will Barton or even a Carmelo Anthony scorer off the bench in a major way. That 2nd quarter and beginning of the 4th qt lineup is terrible ad Doc keeps going to it.

That’s where Tobias contract along with a sweetener or two can land a playoff caliber floor spacer that can create their own shot. Embiid would draw the defense into the paint. He would have two legit dump out options. Harden would too, teams are doubling him as well. It would be impossible to cover that. Right now our best option is having Harden being more aggressive earlier in the clock. We are still stuck feeding Embiid the ball at to top of the key and working from there.

[elchengue20]

It was the moment to make a statement and win these game at home.

Finding a way to get a L in both its a terrible sign that we havent grown as a team.

Maybe they figure it out come Playoff time but its wishful thinking at this point, they havent shown no signs of improvement, we still have the same issues to win these types of games.

[Eyeamok]

Bet the farm on Miami in this one. The Sixers are coming off of two high-adrenaline games in a row, the second of which was demoralizing.

Nope the 76ers are going to come out on a mission. If you bet your farm you will be farmless.

It's quite obvious I know nothing about the 76ers or farms. Good day good sir !

[ProcessDoctor]

I think we could have prime MJ and still be 2nd round fodder.

I don’t know what’s wrong with this team anymore.

[mksp]

6 TOs for Joel seems bad.

[Bum Adebayo]

I think we could have prime MJ and still be 2nd round fodder.

I don’t know what’s wrong with this team anymore.

Hey man, I'll help you out.
Basketball is a team sport.
Fit is really important, and the fit is not good enough. Tucker is washed and useless 99% of the time, Harris is not good enough fit with Embiid and Harden, Melton's level has dropped considerably, Maxey is also not good enough, bench overall sucks.

[Zumramania]

The best nickname for Tobias I've heard is "The Contract" .

[the_process]

The personality of this team is all wrong. But Jo is not going anywhere, and they are almost certainly going to give Harden a 4 year max deal, so it's not changing.

Hopefully Glenn gets fired after the 2nd round beat down and a new coach gets them to care more often?

[Bum Adebayo]

I'm ok with giving Harden the 4 year max if that's what he wants, I guarantee it won't be much of a mistake compared to giving max to Bum Simmons, Tobias Sorrys, huge money to Al Horford in this team, signing PJ SUCKer, Danuel WHOuse, Montrezl Sorrell...

[Bum Adebayo]

Much better to give 4 year max to Harden than give huge money to Maxey, I'm already scared thinking about how much money this extremely mediocre player is going to get.