Speaker 1: There were moments and some flashes in game one, you're
Speaker 1: the lad of bad Man show Joe with a thrown out.
Speaker 1: You're spending on a drive by one match. Damn jam
Speaker 1: bet Sevens goes right, dobate and slams it, but ultimately
Speaker 1: not enough. As the seventy Sixers bound in defeat, Leonard
Speaker 1: on the drive bumped by Harris puts it up. Remain good.
Speaker 1: Of course it's good. He's got forty five. Did not
Speaker 1: see this one coming here in game one. We talk
Speaker 1: what else adjustments and catch up with James Ennis the
Speaker 1: third on this episode of the broadcast. How are you
Speaker 1: out there in seventy Sixers podcast Land. I'm Brian Seltzer.
Speaker 1: Always great to have you along to listen to the show,
Speaker 1: and hey, here's the good news. After game once in
Speaker 1: the postseason, there are always game twos, a whole lot
Speaker 1: of series left be played. Saturday night obviously did not
Speaker 1: go the seventy Sixers way in there one away ninety
Speaker 1: five loss to the Toronto Raptors. Butts, there were good
Speaker 1: vibes at practice on Sunday afternoon, and the Sixers seem
Speaker 1: to have a pretty sound idea of where they can
Speaker 1: improve tighten things up, and now the question becomes a
Speaker 1: matter of whether or not they can go out and
Speaker 1: do it. We'll talk about what some of those adjustments
Speaker 1: might be put Game one to bed. Here from James,
Speaker 1: and it's the third on this edition of the podcast.
Speaker 1: But first, before we get started, per usual, I want
Speaker 1: to give you a few reminders that to subscribe to
Speaker 1: the podcast, you can do a couple of things. You
Speaker 1: can go to any one of your favorite podcasting platforms
Speaker 1: and type in Sixers Podcast Network and that'll take you
Speaker 1: to our feed Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, tune in, Stitcher, SoundCloud, pocketcasts,
Speaker 1: really just about anywhere spreaker. Again, type in Sixers Podcast Network.
Speaker 1: That will take you to our pages, and please do
Speaker 1: sign up if you have not yet done so already
Speaker 1: to get fresh new podcasts just about every day during
Speaker 1: these seventy six ers postseason run. All right, coming up,
Speaker 1: insights from James Ennis the third. He's got a history
Speaker 1: with two of the top stars on the Raptors, Marcus
Speaker 1: sol and Kawhi Leonard will get into that. I thought
Speaker 1: he had a really nice game on Saturday coming off
Speaker 1: the bench. But first, what to make of Game one
Speaker 1: Saturday at Scotia Bank Arena Kawhi Leonard truly, what can
Speaker 1: you say? The man's stat line was pretty magnificent. Forty
Speaker 1: five points, sixteen to twenty three from the field, three
Speaker 1: three pointers, ten for eleven the free throw line, eleven boards,
Speaker 1: two dimes, two steals, a monstrous block shot, plus twenty
Speaker 1: six in thirty eight minutes of play for the seventy
Speaker 1: six ers. I don't think it was for lack of effort.
Speaker 1: You go back and watch the game, and they contested
Speaker 1: Kawai shots. ESPN said seventeen of Kawhi leonards twenty three
Speaker 1: field goal attempts were contested. NBA dot Com had the
Speaker 1: number at seven. Leonard simply is one bad, bad man, emotionless, expressionless.
Speaker 1: Leonard's origin store you probably know well San Diego State,
Speaker 1: fifteenth overall pick in two eleven. It was originally drafted
Speaker 1: by the Indiana Pacers, who then traded him to the
Speaker 1: Spurs later that night, and in the war room that
Speaker 1: evening for the Spurs as an assistant coach Brett Brown,
Speaker 1: each year Leonard has gotten better. Brett Brown worked with
Speaker 1: him for the first two years of his career in
Speaker 1: the NBA and then came to the seventy six Ers,
Speaker 1: and naturally he's kept close tabs on how Leonard has
Speaker 1: grown and the force that he's now becomes come along
Speaker 1: leaps and bounds, you know, incrementally, just every year gets
Speaker 1: more dominant, you know. And even when I came to
Speaker 1: Philadelphia those years that I was in Philadelphia looking in
Speaker 1: the review mirror of him evolving under Pap and in
Speaker 1: the San Antonio Spurs system, that you could just see like,
Speaker 1: did this things trending in an incredible way? And too
Speaker 1: sort of fast board that can look at his skill
Speaker 1: package tonight in the variety of ways that he's scored
Speaker 1: and could get his shot off on some pretty good
Speaker 1: defensive players of big athletes, was incredibly impressive. I really
Speaker 1: do think that if you haven't gone back and checked
Speaker 1: out either the highlights to watch portions of the game
Speaker 1: a second time around, you'll come away thinking that Leonard
Speaker 1: was even more impressive after just watching how the Sixers
Speaker 1: tried on him and Leonard, whether it was drives to
Speaker 1: the rack, turnaround shots, jumpers, he was just that much
Speaker 1: more impressive, I thought, at least for me watching a
Speaker 1: second time around. JJ Raddick, who led the seventy sixers
Speaker 1: with seventeen points in Saturday's game. It's been pretty consistent
Speaker 1: with his thoughts and stances on Leonard. Here were some
Speaker 1: of his takeaways. He's a spectacular player, and he had
Speaker 1: a spectacular night. And he back to their shots and
Speaker 1: said this morning, he's a superstar. I mean, he's as
Speaker 1: good as there is in the NBA, generating his own
Speaker 1: shot and then making tough shots. Sometimes you just have
Speaker 1: to tip your hat to him. We can execute our
Speaker 1: game playing a little better, but clearly we need to
Speaker 1: figure out, you know, what we're doing with him in
Speaker 1: seat him. Yes, Pascal Siak him twenty five years old,
Speaker 1: twenty seventh pick in two thou sixteen. He was fantastic too.
Speaker 1: And then there was Marcus Ault. Nothing flashy about the
Speaker 1: veteran big man's game, but he was impactful defensively, as
Speaker 1: we saw Joel Embiid held to an uncharacteristic five to
Speaker 1: eighteen shooting. He only got to the line six times
Speaker 1: and grabbed eight boards. Shot above the simage. So I'm
Speaker 1: better ball, know Joust. And there you have it. We've arrived,
Speaker 1: once again at the operative word of any postseason series
Speaker 1: involving multiple games, adjust adjusting adjustments. What do the seventy
Speaker 1: sixers have in mind? Where do they focus their attention
Speaker 1: in terms of tightening things up Sunday at practice. We'll
Speaker 1: get to that a little bit later on, but first
Speaker 1: I wanted to bring on a guy who I thought
Speaker 1: did as well as he could Saturday in Game one,
Speaker 1: and that's James and as the third the Sixers bench
Speaker 1: was thin, Mike Scott injured and as came in gave
Speaker 1: the six or eleven points on four or five shooting
Speaker 1: and nice and one in the first quarter, three pointer
Speaker 1: in the game as well, got to the line for
Speaker 1: a few free throws, and specifically he gave the Sixers
Speaker 1: what they were missing in terms of their sixth man
Speaker 1: off the bench, Scott, a shooter and a defender as
Speaker 1: the third a spark in Game one, and we discussed
Speaker 1: that more Sunday after practice. James. It was obviously a
Speaker 1: different round, definitely a different opponent. But you guys fell
Speaker 1: behind oh one against Brooklyn. What's the focus that you
Speaker 1: guys come back with the next day after a tough
Speaker 1: Game one loss? After this practice, paying warzons in details
Speaker 1: and I want to get into schemes and just be
Speaker 1: more physical, I think, and have have fun playing together
Speaker 1: like we did in Brooklyn against Brooklyn the games we
Speaker 1: had one. Do you think from that Brooklyn series you
Speaker 1: demonstrate that you guys are a resilient group. Would that
Speaker 1: be a fair trade to say that you guys have Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1: You know, this is an unbelievable team. We got elite
Speaker 1: players on this team, and we have high hope. We
Speaker 1: have high hopes, and um, we just gotta continue to believe.
Speaker 1: That's that's what kind oftan. We just believe that we can,
Speaker 1: you know, achieve something really big. Tough to not have
Speaker 1: Mike Scott out there for game one, it seemed like
Speaker 1: you came out there with a really purposeful mindset. What
Speaker 1: was your approach going into the first game of the
Speaker 1: series against the Raptors. You know, Mike's a big key
Speaker 1: key of this team. You know, it just sucks that
Speaker 1: is injury that happened before the you know this series. Um,
Speaker 1: but my mindset always is be a spark, being energy player. Um,
Speaker 1: just come in with high energy defend and that's that's
Speaker 1: why I sent coming in and then whatever happens after
Speaker 1: that happens. You are familiar with a couple of their
Speaker 1: star players. Tell me about Marca Saul. What were some
Speaker 1: of the interactions you had with him during your time
Speaker 1: in Memphis? Mark, You know, he's a great, great guy. Um,
Speaker 1: I learned a lot from just you know, just being
Speaker 1: more professional, you know, on off the court and taking
Speaker 1: care of my body stuff like that, because I came
Speaker 1: over there like my second my second year, so you know,
Speaker 1: it was good. Good seeing Mark happy in a place.
Speaker 1: You know that that I know he wanted to stay
Speaker 1: in Memphis. You know, everybody doesn't like to get traded.
Speaker 1: But he's doing he's doing well here and he's helping
Speaker 1: helping Toronto. Then with Kawhi, I mean, he made some
Speaker 1: tough shots. You guys can tested him a lot. What's
Speaker 1: the next step and do you look to adjust on
Speaker 1: that front? Just you know, like he said, Kauhire is
Speaker 1: an elite scorer five player in NBA. UM plays both ends.
Speaker 1: He made some tough shots, you know. Um, we watched
Speaker 1: the film. A lot of contested contested shots he had made,
Speaker 1: hand in his face still made you know, we just
Speaker 1: gotta be more physical, and you know because once he
Speaker 1: gets to a spot, you know, that's what he works
Speaker 1: on every day getting to a spot and raising. So
Speaker 1: we just gotta be more physical at him, and UM,
Speaker 1: just show him, show them more crowds. I feel like, um,
Speaker 1: there's not a lot of crowds. He didn't see a
Speaker 1: lot of crowds. He's seeing a lot of gaps and
Speaker 1: so UM, moving forward, we just gotta show him, show more,
Speaker 1: show more bodies. Last thing you're on a ride like
Speaker 1: this came to this team at the trade deadline. How
Speaker 1: much fun are you having? How much do you enjoy
Speaker 1: this time of year? You know, UM, are having a
Speaker 1: lot of fun. Before I kind of struggle, you know,
Speaker 1: just just adapting to the to the situation. But over time,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm happy I'm here. You know, great group
Speaker 1: of guys, coaching style, training staff. Um, you know this
Speaker 1: is the best team I played on, I've been on,
Speaker 1: and you know we have we could do big things
Speaker 1: and I truly believe that, and and I want to
Speaker 1: do that with this team. You know, you don't get
Speaker 1: you don't get a team like this all the time,
Speaker 1: so I might always take advantage of it. Amen. Thanks James.
Speaker 1: Good stuff from James. And it's the third A guy
Speaker 1: who's traveled a long long ways and worked so hard
Speaker 1: to get to where he is today. If you're not
Speaker 1: familiar with his story when he had to sixs dot com,
Speaker 1: or do a Google search for Lauren Rosen's great article
Speaker 1: called Hustle, Hurdles and the Roadless Traveled. Lauren's been a
Speaker 1: great part of our department this season and did a
Speaker 1: terrific profile in James and it's the third all the
Speaker 1: different places he's been, how he's gotten to the NBA,
Speaker 1: and who he's doing it for and his motivations. Good stuff.
Speaker 1: Again the title the articles Hustle, Hurdles and the Roadless
Speaker 1: travel Look it up and give it a read. Look
Speaker 1: at the team to adjustments in a moment. But first
Speaker 1: I want to talk to you about how, and this
Speaker 1: hopefully will benefit you because we try to get back
Speaker 1: here on the old podcast. How you can get in
Speaker 1: to one of these upcoming second round home games at
Speaker 1: the Center. One of the best ways to do it
Speaker 1: a playoff sweet rental. It's the perfect way to entertain
Speaker 1: client's family and friends, and Sweet rentals are now available
Speaker 1: for all seventy sixers round to playoff home games. Here's
Speaker 1: what Sweet rentals come with tickets, naturally parking and a
Speaker 1: gourmet catering package. Not sure if you've ever had a
Speaker 1: sweet experience at the Center before, but they are terrific.
Speaker 1: Called two and five, three, three nine seven to six
Speaker 1: seven six or email tickets at seventy six ers dot
Speaker 1: com for more information. And of course, these seventy sixers
Speaker 1: would love to head back to Philadelphia on Monday night
Speaker 1: with a split of the first two games in Toronto
Speaker 1: in hand, heading into home games on Thursday night and
Speaker 1: then Sunday afternoon for that to happen. What's got to happen.
Speaker 1: After a tough way to start the series with Saturday's
Speaker 1: game when lost, the seventy six ers they got right
Speaker 1: back to work on Sunday afternoon practicing at Scotia Bank Arena,
Speaker 1: and when the gym opened up you could feel it.
Speaker 1: They were good, upbeat, positive vibes, and Tobias Harris spoke
Speaker 1: about a couple of ingredients that were needed going into
Speaker 1: Monday's game too. My said, you know, first office to
Speaker 1: stay positive, make an adjustment, go back to the drawing board,
Speaker 1: and get ready for game two. I mean it's a
Speaker 1: quick turnover and we got to be able to have
Speaker 1: short term memory by at the same time, see a
Speaker 1: couple of things that we can if we can enhance
Speaker 1: so we can get better at on the floor offensively
Speaker 1: and defensively end. Just get ready and focus for the
Speaker 1: next game. Harris picked up his third career postseason double
Speaker 1: double in Saturday's loss with fourteen points fifteen rebounds. Also
Speaker 1: had six assists. Thought his rebounding, particularly in the first
Speaker 1: half of Saturday's game, was key to helping the Sixers
Speaker 1: stay within striking distance of the Raptors. Sixers. They are
Speaker 1: unquestionably going up against a different caliber of opponent right
Speaker 1: now than what was the case in the first round.
Speaker 1: But it's not like the Sixers have not faced an
Speaker 1: O one deficit to start a series before, and of
Speaker 1: course happened just last round two weeks ago against Brooklyn. Obviously,
Speaker 1: you want to win, but it's only one. You go
Speaker 1: back to the draw. Warys figure it out, you know,
Speaker 1: come practice, Markom in conversasion, we'll talk about what we're
Speaker 1: going to do. But the series is over. That was
Speaker 1: Jimmy Butler Game one. He started off defending Kawhi Leonard.
Speaker 1: Ben Simmons finished the game as the primary defender on
Speaker 1: the three time All Star. How the Sixers guard Leonard
Speaker 1: and also Pascal Siakam very obvious but imperative adjustment from
Speaker 1: game number one going into at game number two, Harris
Speaker 1: will likely continue to be a part of the group
Speaker 1: that defends both fus off. Just improving our physicality and
Speaker 1: versed them and then sean more of a crowd. I
Speaker 1: thought last night we just kind of let them get
Speaker 1: to their spots on of course, give them credit to
Speaker 1: they hit tough shots, even say in the film were
Speaker 1: all contested and whatnot, but getting more up in their
Speaker 1: space and show them more of a krowd presented, more
Speaker 1: of a krowd, making other guys make plays, don't be
Speaker 1: a big things. We got the Leonard Siakan thing as
Speaker 1: key adjustment number one. As for what's number two on
Speaker 1: the list, A couple of the guys on the Sixers
Speaker 1: spoke about this a practice on Sunday, the need for
Speaker 1: more effective ball moving. If you look at some of
Speaker 1: the numbers, the Sixers weren't passing any less than they
Speaker 1: typically do on a per game basis on Saturday, and
Speaker 1: their assist percentage numbers were relatively similar compared to what
Speaker 1: they put up in the regular season. But the ball
Speaker 1: just didn't go ultimately where it needed to. So the
Speaker 1: effectiveness of the seventy Sixers passing was on the seventy
Speaker 1: Sixers mind and obviously something that Ben Simmons is thinking about. Defensively,
Speaker 1: they're great team guarding at first two ball moving players
Speaker 1: and then after that it's a lot tough. So for us,
Speaker 1: we've got to move the ball, and we just played
Speaker 1: the way we played. Um there we so glimpses that,
Speaker 1: but we didn't do it at all. I think the Sixers,
Speaker 1: even their talent, the way they responded and adjusted and
Speaker 1: more than anything else, were resilient in the opening round
Speaker 1: against Brooklyn. You've got to think that they will come
Speaker 1: out with a stronger performance in game two Monday night.
Speaker 1: Joel Embiid, Of course, he's right up there in terms
Speaker 1: of areas where the Sixers are looking to change things
Speaker 1: from the first game to the second. Can they get
Speaker 1: him going in more space, Can they plant him more
Speaker 1: firmly on the block, get him in closer to the basket.
Speaker 1: These are all big things the Sixers are going to
Speaker 1: have on their minds and try to put together to
Speaker 1: knock off Toronto and game two on Monday night. You know,
Speaker 1: also I think we know the way this works, right,
Speaker 1: We've seen it before Game ones. It's tough not to
Speaker 1: have an immediate reaction and also tough not to overreact.
Speaker 1: It's the first indicator of a series of the next
Speaker 1: round against the new opponents. But it really comes down
Speaker 1: to the time right now. Who can adjust, who can adapt,
Speaker 1: who can make the correct tweaks to things around and
Speaker 1: get on track. Really, I feel that game twos are
Speaker 1: where series begin seventy six Ers and the Raptors. You
Speaker 1: can find the game on television on TNT eight o'clock
Speaker 1: Monday nights. You can, of course, hear the game on
Speaker 1: radio with Tom McGinnis on ninety seven five to the
Speaker 1: Fanatic in Philadelphia and all the other affiliates on the
Speaker 1: Sixers Radio network. We're gonna have a rewind podcast after
Speaker 1: Game one that should be in your feed by the
Speaker 1: very latest on Tuesday morning. You might even be able
Speaker 1: to get it later on Monday night, and then we'll
Speaker 1: have some more coverage on the pod between games two
Speaker 1: and Games three as the series shifts to South Philadelphia
Speaker 1: and picks back up again on Thursday. Enjoy the game
Speaker 1: later on Monday night. Talked to you next time here
Speaker 1: on the broadcast t