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Speaker 1: is Fanatic About the Playoffs from the seventy Sixers podcast
Speaker 1: Network presented by Draft Kings and ninety seven five The Fanatic,
Speaker 1: with new episodes premiering the day after every seventy Sixers
Speaker 1: playoff game. This is the Fanatic About the Playoffs podcast
Speaker 1: with the seventy Sixers podcast Network presented by DraftKings and
Speaker 1: ninety seven five The Fanatic. I'm Brian Selzer and on
Speaker 1: this episode we preview Round one game won the seventy
Speaker 1: Sixers against the Washington Wizards with ninety seventy five the Fanatics,
Speaker 1: Divine Gibbons and the One and Only The Cuz Anthony
Speaker 1: Gargano Fellas. It's here. It's arrived. Playoff Basketball of Consequence.
Speaker 1: I always the word, Yo, Dar, you're ready. We've been
Speaker 1: talking to that still can't wait. So glad it's final
Speaker 1: the year Fanatic about the Playoffs? What is it? Well,
Speaker 1: it's gonna come to you the day after every game
Speaker 1: right here on the seventy Sixers podcast Network, presented by DraftKings.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be one of us here from the Sixers, myself,
Speaker 1: Lauren Rosen, Tom McGuinness, Matt Murphy, and we're paired up
Speaker 1: with at least one person from our flagship radio partner
Speaker 1: ninety seven five, the fanatic breaking down the game that
Speaker 1: just happened and looking ahead to the next game on
Speaker 1: the docket for the Sixers. Devan and I. We do
Speaker 1: this pretty regularly, but it is it is a true
Speaker 1: privilege to have the cause himself on. I don't know
Speaker 1: if we can get this. Uh, we're gonna have to
Speaker 1: queue up the music to bring in the man who
Speaker 1: plays the song, perhaps more than anyone in the entire city,
Speaker 1: because himself well is an admire of you two. I'm
Speaker 1: giving me. I'm honored to be all you guys. You
Speaker 1: guys appreciate the soul, of course, and we can't get
Speaker 1: tired of hearing it. This year we heard it a lot.
Speaker 1: We heard a lot of the song. Yeah, it's it's
Speaker 1: you know, you know what's great about this whole thing
Speaker 1: is that last year, now obviously with COVID and everything
Speaker 1: that hit us, then you start the bubble and then
Speaker 1: the way it just extinguished so quickly, Bank gets hurt
Speaker 1: and then it's the Celtics and it's over, and there
Speaker 1: was a really, I think a sense of loss, as though,
Speaker 1: you know what, we had reached almost a dead end
Speaker 1: in the process, and then all of a sudden, Doc
Speaker 1: and Darrel and then you know, Elton's there still and
Speaker 1: all the guys were able to resuscitate it and actually
Speaker 1: grow it, and you know, we haven't been in this
Speaker 1: close In some ways. It's strange to me because this
Speaker 1: almost feels like it's been a fifteen almost sixteen months season,
Speaker 1: not it started in December. To me, this has felt
Speaker 1: like there's a connection going all the way back to
Speaker 1: when things ramped up again after the shutdown and the bubble,
Speaker 1: and it's been a continuation of that story. And I
Speaker 1: don't know you guys feel about it. To me, sometimes
Speaker 1: you start a season and you feel good about a team,
Speaker 1: but it doesn't always seem like the promises there immediately.
Speaker 1: Then there's other seasons. I think of two thousand four
Speaker 1: with the Eagles when they got too and then boom
Speaker 1: off to the races they're undefeated and start the season.
Speaker 1: I don't know if this year was quite in that
Speaker 1: category for the Sixers, but still right off the bat
Speaker 1: at least to me, there was evidence that you could
Speaker 1: feel good that this team had the potential to do
Speaker 1: something pretty special. Definitely did. I mean, you look at
Speaker 1: the changes that were made, and you talk about equating
Speaker 1: it back to the other seasons. I even take it
Speaker 1: back to eighteen playoffs, the nineteen playoffs, and certainly with
Speaker 1: what happened in the bubble and now sliding into this
Speaker 1: one because of how tough that Boston Love was in
Speaker 1: the first round, even though they were young and they
Speaker 1: weren't necessarily expected to win, but the path it looked
Speaker 1: like they were set up to beat Boston and meet
Speaker 1: Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers at that time. And
Speaker 1: you figure things out after that. Okay, they take this step,
Speaker 1: they lose, but they're ready. And then the next year, okay,
Speaker 1: no problem. Then you get to what happens with Toronto
Speaker 1: in the second round, and it's still stings. I can't
Speaker 1: watch it because of how how much it stings, and
Speaker 1: then everything in the bubble. Ben's injured, and the fact
Speaker 1: that you have to deserve shake Milton in there. Their
Speaker 1: questions are already surrounding the team, and beat is ready.
Speaker 1: Other players not necessarily stepping up, and then the changes
Speaker 1: have made this off season, so it's still like a
Speaker 1: continuation for me, just because you have to, of course
Speaker 1: have that sting that we felt Boston, Toronto and even
Speaker 1: last playoffs after the hiatus and the bubble, just because
Speaker 1: you need to feel those things before you start to
Speaker 1: feel the the you know, the great feeling about winning
Speaker 1: and being a champion, and I know the fifty wins
Speaker 1: it was. It was great when you first hit it.
Speaker 1: The second year, all right, that's expected. Year three, I
Speaker 1: don't count it anymore. Just go out there and win
Speaker 1: those fifty because they're supposed to be in that category
Speaker 1: and now here coming into this one, the changes that
Speaker 1: the reshaping of the roster, adding the shooters around both
Speaker 1: Simmons and Embid, and the elevation that we expected from
Speaker 1: Tobias Harris with Doc Rivers now in the fold and
Speaker 1: Dwight Howard. We're all excited about getting him on a
Speaker 1: one year deal because you're like, oh, you got a
Speaker 1: legitimate guy to back up Joel Embid now and then
Speaker 1: the other little tweaks and everything just started to fall
Speaker 1: into place. So now everything culminating together the forty nine
Speaker 1: win season earning that number one seed and you earned it,
Speaker 1: you know, regardless of what it was, you earned it.
Speaker 1: And now you step into it where this playoffs is
Speaker 1: just going to be, as you said, Selson, just looking
Speaker 1: at it as it's just so exciting to have that
Speaker 1: feeling of these guys can actually do it. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: they can win. And I'm so with you on the
Speaker 1: path to a championship. Especially the league. It's a it's
Speaker 1: a grown grown ups league, right, you know, we always
Speaker 1: talk about it, and even goes back to when Brett
Speaker 1: called Jimmy the adult in the room and I still
Speaker 1: remember that, could hear him saying that. But it's true.
Speaker 1: You gotta bleed to no bliss and the bleeding has
Speaker 1: to come. You don't win tuttles in this league when
Speaker 1: you're that young, when your core is that young, and
Speaker 1: you gotta go through it like you brought it up.
Speaker 1: I mean, that Celtic series was ascruciating because they could
Speaker 1: have won every one of those games. They were in
Speaker 1: every one of those games, and you go down and
Speaker 1: we all know how Toronto ended, like you said, Dick,
Speaker 1: and then you know, it was so weird because the
Speaker 1: first night of last season was against Boston and you
Speaker 1: guys remember that they actually played a semblance of bully ball,
Speaker 1: and I read the whole thing wrong. I thought that
Speaker 1: they would be able to play like that and it
Speaker 1: would get them to where they need to go. And
Speaker 1: it was weird. It just they never were. They never
Speaker 1: were like this, That Coesian never came. And then you
Speaker 1: look back on it, and this is all I think
Speaker 1: where Elton and Darryl come into play. The spacing element
Speaker 1: that Devon talked about. You know, Josh Richardson, you know,
Speaker 1: could never play with Tobia's hatters, right in the sense
Speaker 1: that you got two mid range kind of guys, even
Speaker 1: though they both can go out, but how many. He
Speaker 1: couldn't spread the floor, Josh, like the way Kyrie and
Speaker 1: Green get spread the floor. I forget about having an
Speaker 1: extra four man who got all those looks and I
Speaker 1: love them and he's a good man and he's a pro,
Speaker 1: but he just was no fit. And I read it wrong.
Speaker 1: I thought you could bring him out and he just
Speaker 1: he looked uncomfortable the whole year. To me, where this
Speaker 1: all starts is what you guys just talked about, alluding
Speaker 1: to this notion of a fit. And it's interesting that
Speaker 1: Joel After a game a few weeks ago, someone asked
Speaker 1: him about the way the season's gone, in the way
Speaker 1: that he's played, and he said, I don't think people
Speaker 1: talk about the fit of this team the personnel enough,
Speaker 1: and I agree, And I think this goes back to
Speaker 1: the moves that were made by Daryl Morey right after
Speaker 1: he came on board. You trade for Seth Curry, you'd
Speaker 1: acquired Danny Green. I mean, these are guys that can
Speaker 1: maximize the space, the balance on the floor with the
Speaker 1: main guys that you have on this roster, and I
Speaker 1: think he has so much of the six and success
Speaker 1: this year, of course has to do with Joe Ellenbid
Speaker 1: playing at an otherworldly level and Ben Simmons clamping down
Speaker 1: on defense and Tobias taking his game to a new level.
Speaker 1: But I think so much of that has to go
Speaker 1: back so that the roster makes sense. With your top guys,
Speaker 1: it just makes sense. And there's that fit. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: you even go back to where you added Bell and
Speaker 1: Ellie and Elias Silva to JJ Reddick. So you looked
Speaker 1: at it in everything. Okay, great, that's those are your shooters,
Speaker 1: But then you had the other parts of it that
Speaker 1: defensively where they will explode was a little bit, or
Speaker 1: maybe you just simply weren't deep enough where you can
Speaker 1: kind of play that offensive defensive shuffle that coaches like
Speaker 1: to do in certain situations. And as you said, because
Speaker 1: they pivoted to another way, and I was on board.
Speaker 1: I said, okay, look, we knew that they needed shooters
Speaker 1: and the whole thing with Jimmy Butler and JJ Reddick
Speaker 1: leaving as well, but the fact that they pivoted they
Speaker 1: had another idea, and I liked the idea of what
Speaker 1: it could possibly be why everyone of else is doing this.
Speaker 1: And you know, maybe again it turned out it wasn't
Speaker 1: the right thing to do, but I was fine with
Speaker 1: it because I also felt like that that next step
Speaker 1: will be taken by and beating Simmons, where maybe they
Speaker 1: could offset a little bit of the other stuff that
Speaker 1: they would be missing with the outside shooting not being there.
Speaker 1: But you know, things just didn't work out that way.
Speaker 1: And once we got back to that and knowing that
Speaker 1: you did need that that stretchability out there from the
Speaker 1: other guys, and you see how it has changed and
Speaker 1: helped reshape things the way it needed to be. And
Speaker 1: you see the Monster season and Ebid is now having
Speaker 1: all right, let's talk about this for one second, because
Speaker 1: I don't think we can under underplay this enough. So yeah,
Speaker 1: for whatever reason, they couldn't play with Horford, they couldn't
Speaker 1: play that whole. The two bigs didn't work. I get it.
Speaker 1: But this Joel Embiid is not that Joel Ebid. They're
Speaker 1: the same guy. But this is immature. This is a
Speaker 1: guy that understands it. And we've all been there in
Speaker 1: our own lives, right, like there's a come to point
Speaker 1: in time where you go, you know, why it's time
Speaker 1: to get serious. And he had the epiphany. And I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, we saw it before his before our eyes
Speaker 1: because we always knew that he could dominate and like
Speaker 1: you know, like he would have his mom, but he
Speaker 1: didn't score against Toronto. We don't have come on, But
Speaker 1: this is a different We see him now on a
Speaker 1: like stuff that nobody he's still in that we haven't
Speaker 1: seen ever, right, Like I didn't see Will, but I
Speaker 1: remember saw anything like that where it comes to dominance.
Speaker 1: This is a different be no, it is, it certainly is.
Speaker 1: I mean we talk about it so often, right so
Speaker 1: that he's just a different guy, whether it's the fact
Speaker 1: that he became a father, the losses finally stinging the
Speaker 1: way that you want your star player to feel those losses,
Speaker 1: the way that he has, and he has established himself
Speaker 1: in a place where we already thought he could get to,
Speaker 1: like you said, and he did it consistently, and he
Speaker 1: always talks about I just want to dominate. That the
Speaker 1: one that cut the audio that we always hear about
Speaker 1: him saying he always wants to dominate, and he has
Speaker 1: and sells. We've gone over all those games of our
Speaker 1: favorite m B games this year. There are a number
Speaker 1: of games that we just forget about, right, last game,
Speaker 1: fifty point game, And he's done the forties and all
Speaker 1: these other forties and the thirties and the eighteens, and
Speaker 1: he just dominant and he's just going in a different way.
Speaker 1: And you're right, because he's just a different guy, and
Speaker 1: whatever it is, as long as that different guy now,
Speaker 1: who has been the same dude all year long, takes
Speaker 1: that into this one where they start this playoff series
Speaker 1: on Sunday in round one in the quarters and carry
Speaker 1: through the semis and we'll see where everything goes through
Speaker 1: from there. I mean, is there anybody in the East
Speaker 1: that can guard him? No, No, I don't think so. No,
Speaker 1: He's the most dominant player on the floor. That's the
Speaker 1: big advantage that you have going in that. Look, all
Speaker 1: due respect to the big three in Brooklyn and all
Speaker 1: the stars, nobody is as dominant as in bad and
Speaker 1: you got because nobody can guard him. So even looking
Speaker 1: at what the potential options were for this first round,
Speaker 1: of course Washington they have guys like Beale and Westbrook.
Speaker 1: Do you think Alex Land or Rui Hachimura it's gonna
Speaker 1: stop Joellen bid So when I've been thinking about, well,
Speaker 1: who could the Sixers face? Who might they match up with?
Speaker 1: That's the first question, because who is going to stop
Speaker 1: this guy? And the way he's going right now? I
Speaker 1: give him a lot of credit. I mean, his mindset
Speaker 1: and his demeanor seems like it's been in a great
Speaker 1: place this year. It didn't seem like he was enjoying
Speaker 1: himself much at all last year, especially now that we
Speaker 1: see him kind of back to his hip, thrust in
Speaker 1: and wave into the crowd, whether it's there or not,
Speaker 1: their thing that he's been doing this year. But he
Speaker 1: also seemed in speaking with some people like he really
Speaker 1: took a calculated approach to how he went about preparing
Speaker 1: for this season. He's not the type of guy. And
Speaker 1: I'm not saying this is the right thing or wrong thing.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying it's not a Joe thing. He's not
Speaker 1: going to post the late night workout videos or in
Speaker 1: the gym dripping working up the ladder like, that's not him.
Speaker 1: He's not going to post that on a social media
Speaker 1: I don't care if you do or you don't. It's
Speaker 1: just that's Joe's way. But he's been like in the
Speaker 1: film room looking at all this tape. Drew Hanlon, who's
Speaker 1: his personal coach and works with on the side, he
Speaker 1: sends him right after every game is over a clip
Speaker 1: a set of clips with voiceover affirmations that Joe listens
Speaker 1: to to get ready for the next game that breaks
Speaker 1: down what happened the previous game, all that stuff. So
Speaker 1: I think it's like the combination of his mind being
Speaker 1: in the right spot, the cerebral part, and then to me,
Speaker 1: his jump SHOT's been incredible this year and how that's
Speaker 1: been able to open things up and just being able
Speaker 1: to attack more off the drill or try and like
Speaker 1: take it to these double and things like that to
Speaker 1: try and break down some of the extra coverage you
Speaker 1: might see. The thing about him it's so fascinating is
Speaker 1: that he's supremely smart, right Like he's like he's got
Speaker 1: that photographic memory. Always talking about I would always call
Speaker 1: he's got the mind of an art forger, right Like
Speaker 1: he can look at a painting and he can replicate
Speaker 1: that plane painting, whether that is you know, a move
Speaker 1: on the floor or whatever it is, because he's got
Speaker 1: the touch that we've never seen a true big had
Speaker 1: that kind of touch before. I mean, like, you know,
Speaker 1: I Marvel, you know, he's he's what I am imagined
Speaker 1: that if Wilt Chamberlain grows with the times, right like
Speaker 1: the legend of who Will was and I didn't say him,
Speaker 1: that he would become and be like that would be
Speaker 1: the evolution of Wilt Chamberlain being this incredible athlete who's
Speaker 1: really really intelligent, who just knows the game inside now
Speaker 1: and could do there's nothing he can't do, which is scary. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's still will unleash a eurostep and I'm just like,
Speaker 1: he's not supposed to be able to do that because
Speaker 1: of his size. But you're right in us. Just seeing
Speaker 1: him grow and turning into this player and right in
Speaker 1: front of our eyes and seeing all these things. It's
Speaker 1: just been a treat because I think we've all had
Speaker 1: some concern with certain things throughout the years and this
Speaker 1: year not so much. And now he's playing more minutes
Speaker 1: where he's able to be able to play the way
Speaker 1: that he needs to and not worry about the ad
Speaker 1: minute restrictions or anything like that. He can just go
Speaker 1: out there and play basketball. And seeing the floor and
Speaker 1: we talk about the double teams all the time, where
Speaker 1: he's now surveying things, catch face up, seeing when the
Speaker 1: double team is coming, see where it's coming from, and
Speaker 1: locate where the ball now needs to go. And that's
Speaker 1: just the natural growth the maturity on the floor, and
Speaker 1: then even the maturity that suck. You just talked about
Speaker 1: with the things that you heard about how he has
Speaker 1: approached this season and it can and the beauty of
Speaker 1: it is he approached the season that way, but he
Speaker 1: kept doing He didn't waiver, he didn't he didn't get
Speaker 1: away from that. Whatever it was working for him, he
Speaker 1: kept that going. And that's that's just the growth of
Speaker 1: that star player. And now now we'll see what it
Speaker 1: does for him and the team once we get things
Speaker 1: started on Sunday. What could we expect to change now
Speaker 1: that it's playoff basketball? You always hear it's a different world.
Speaker 1: Do we expect to see things change for the sixers
Speaker 1: them not be able to get certain looks or shots
Speaker 1: quite as easily. What do you expect to see change
Speaker 1: now that we're talking about starting the playoffs? Well, I
Speaker 1: think part of its matchups, right, Like, it is a
Speaker 1: truism that the game does slow down just naturally, You're
Speaker 1: you're going to defend every possession, right so you're it's
Speaker 1: almost like in baseball where every pitch matters like Gailor's
Speaker 1: bear down. They're now every pitch the same way. Every
Speaker 1: possession now becomes defended. Listen, we all know during a
Speaker 1: normal eighty two game season and you're on back to
Speaker 1: backs or you're on the road five games in eight days,
Speaker 1: nine days, whatever, you're not going to defend every possession.
Speaker 1: That's just not humanly possible. But in the playoffs, that's
Speaker 1: what I think when people talk about the game slowing
Speaker 1: down a little bit, it doesn't actually slow down and
Speaker 1: become a half court game. It's just defended better. It's
Speaker 1: defended more acutely, and I think that's the thing, and
Speaker 1: that's gonna be the biggest challenge with this offense, and
Speaker 1: you know, kind of getting the spacing and the shooters
Speaker 1: have to shoot. I think George Hill's going to help
Speaker 1: a lot. I think you're gonna see him a lot.
Speaker 1: You're gonna see the minutes the starters played prolonged minutes.
Speaker 1: I think that's gonna be a big thing with docs rotation.
Speaker 1: Well naturally, sure not maybe not in the first round
Speaker 1: or even the second round, but certainly in the third
Speaker 1: round and then hopefully in the finals. I guess I'll
Speaker 1: follow up with the attention in detail has to be there.
Speaker 1: They have to be sharper, more precise with how you
Speaker 1: attack certain things, the angles, you have to play those
Speaker 1: angles properly. And the physicality, of course is different in
Speaker 1: the postseason. And the beauty of it is when you
Speaker 1: look at the least the starters that you know that
Speaker 1: they've all been in the playoffs, so they know the
Speaker 1: difference in it to bias. Harris spoke about it earlier
Speaker 1: in the week where he started to break down certain things,
Speaker 1: and one of the things that he talked about was
Speaker 1: the physicality that changes once you get to the postseason.
Speaker 1: So what does that mean even though Shake Milton did
Speaker 1: it last year in the bubble, how is that going
Speaker 1: to be differ for him? The same thing from Atias
Speaker 1: table as well. Maxie gets a few minutes while his
Speaker 1: speed is there, guess what that angle might be cut
Speaker 1: off a little quicker when you because you're now on
Speaker 1: that scouttering report for the playoffs, and they know exactly
Speaker 1: how they want to attack you, especially when you're playing
Speaker 1: them more than one game where they have an opportunity
Speaker 1: to do so. So I think all of those things
Speaker 1: are going to be important to matchups, and that you
Speaker 1: just mentioned certainly important. And then just protecting the basketball
Speaker 1: too when we talk about all that, because possessions matter.
Speaker 1: You cannot you cannot turn it over at a higher
Speaker 1: rate and expect you to win, especially if you're turning
Speaker 1: it over at a higher rate. And then at the
Speaker 1: end of the night we look at the box score
Speaker 1: and the field goal attempts are eighty six to ninety nine.
Speaker 1: You just gave up thirteen more shot attempts and possibly
Speaker 1: because you turn the ball over. So those things are
Speaker 1: key and crucial in the playoffs, and that physicality ramps
Speaker 1: up the whistle maybe swallowed, so you're gonna have to
Speaker 1: take advantage and be able to absorb that as well.
Speaker 1: Real quick, because I want to follow up d You
Speaker 1: brought up Tobias, and I love his story in so
Speaker 1: manyfferent words. First of all, he's one of those guys
Speaker 1: and you and i've Devine have talked about him before,
Speaker 1: and that he's just he's almost lovable. I mean, I
Speaker 1: mean the way I describe him. I root for him
Speaker 1: so much because I think he's a real He's a
Speaker 1: beautiful guy. Man. He is heartfelt and he's real, and
Speaker 1: I think he's caring and I just I love him.
Speaker 1: And I think the spacing and Doc just gave him
Speaker 1: a new lease. I think he came to understanding with
Speaker 1: the weight of that contract. You know that you just
Speaker 1: can't slough off. That's a big deal. And I think
Speaker 1: the spacing helped him, and I think Doc helped him
Speaker 1: playing him the plane of four where he naturally belongs.
Speaker 1: And I have no qualms like I don't know about you, guys,
Speaker 1: but I know that he that role on the floor
Speaker 1: for him, that he's going to get you twenty three,
Speaker 1: twenty five, twenty six. He'll do that every game. I
Speaker 1: have no doubt about that. He to me was one
Speaker 1: of the most fun and enjoyable stories. I think revelation
Speaker 1: might be that was my word that he was a
Speaker 1: little bit disrespectful to what his body of work was
Speaker 1: before this season, But there's no doubt he stepped it
Speaker 1: up a notch. I think obviously everyone will point to
Speaker 1: the Lakers home game when he knocked down the shot
Speaker 1: final seconds to win it. But then going back to
Speaker 1: what you guys said, do I think it was you
Speaker 1: about how Joel didn't just show it for the first
Speaker 1: couple of weeks, make a statement and then go away.
Speaker 1: He kept doing it. Tobias was to me a legit
Speaker 1: option in fourth quarters throughout the season. He won him
Speaker 1: a handful of games, played great in fourth quarters all
Speaker 1: season long, and he just I'm thinking back to that
Speaker 1: Knicks game at home when he trotted down the floor
Speaker 1: and he barked the I'm an all star thing. Old
Speaker 1: worldly Tobias, gentle Tobias, but a little more too Tobias,
Speaker 1: like I'm gonna show you and here it is. Yeah,
Speaker 1: like it and for me with him and I don't
Speaker 1: think I'm unfair and saying this because I know how
Speaker 1: he felt about it, where he was disappointed in himself
Speaker 1: in the bubble, how he performed against the Boston Celtics.
Speaker 1: So and I was too because I expected so much,
Speaker 1: and definitely with Simmons being out of the out of
Speaker 1: the entire playoffs after the surgery, that you wanted to
Speaker 1: buyas Harris to step up, he did not. Then he
Speaker 1: had to concussion and that and ya, he earned some
Speaker 1: points for me when he felt the way that he
Speaker 1: did and still came back and wanted to finish that
Speaker 1: game and showed me something. But you're right, he came
Speaker 1: back and he had something about him that just seemed
Speaker 1: a little different. I think one thing that you mentioned
Speaker 1: Doc celt and Doc telling him to stop thinking, just
Speaker 1: go playing. Why are you thinking? Catch the ball? Go?
Speaker 1: And that's what you do. You have a very good
Speaker 1: first step. So when you take that long first stride
Speaker 1: with your six nine frame and you have that ability
Speaker 1: to shoot over top of your defender and even shoot
Speaker 1: the way that he does on the move off the
Speaker 1: glass and get a very good look at a layup,
Speaker 1: it's something that's to his advantage. And he did it,
Speaker 1: and he confidently kept doing it and it didn't stop.
Speaker 1: And I feel like he wants to redeem himself from
Speaker 1: last season. The fact that again, so it's the All
Speaker 1: Star snub and he's an All Star, carry all of
Speaker 1: that into the playoffs and beat if you don't win
Speaker 1: the MVP. Carry that into the playoffs because while it
Speaker 1: may not be awarded until after the season, we all
Speaker 1: know the buzz will be out there, right the all
Speaker 1: NBA teams, the buzz will be out there. Use all
Speaker 1: of that, and Tobias Harris has to continue to use
Speaker 1: those things. Then use those things, okay, because that's going
Speaker 1: to ultimately help the team overall. And he has been
Speaker 1: really good. He has been really really good the season.
Speaker 1: I hope his knee is good and he's able to
Speaker 1: hold up. And I'm sure he's frustrated how things were
Speaker 1: last year. But yeah, just go out there, catch and
Speaker 1: go think, just go go left. They can't stop. Just
Speaker 1: do it. What about the other gentleman who might be
Speaker 1: in the running for an end of season award, whether
Speaker 1: he gets it or doesn't. The OFT discussed Benjamin More
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Speaker 1: problem called one eight hundred gambler Ben Simmons. Fellas can't
Speaker 1: have a conversation about the postseason obviously without talking about
Speaker 1: Ben two five. It's amazing it you just mentioned his name,
Speaker 1: Ben and doing what Devon and I do for living.
Speaker 1: The phone lines just light up like one It's amazing,
Speaker 1: like you could see them as soon as you say Ben,
Speaker 1: you don't even get the Simmons, and all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: boom boom, boom boom and they light up. And he
Speaker 1: is such perhaps the most polarizing athlete that's been here
Speaker 1: in a long time. Man, You know, you gotta go
Speaker 1: back a ways. And it's odd because it goes back
Speaker 1: to the same conversation anytime we talk about Ben, and
Speaker 1: I do think that people are awakening to his incredible
Speaker 1: skills and his gifted nature. That he is such an
Speaker 1: amazing defender. He'll never cheat you on the defensive, especially
Speaker 1: on the playoffs, bab He's gonna give you everything he's got.
Speaker 1: He's your regal and he's a beautiful player to watch
Speaker 1: and can can facilitate like no other and rebound the
Speaker 1: whole thing. And you know, because it's gonna come back
Speaker 1: to as long as he's not the reason the offense stalls.
Speaker 1: You know, let's face it, this is a huge playoffs
Speaker 1: for Ben. When it comes to the families, right or wrong,
Speaker 1: it is it is and we always bring up the
Speaker 1: success that he's had it in first round against Brooklyn
Speaker 1: in eighteen how part part of the Miami and eighteen
Speaker 1: Brooklyn and Night team where he was tremendous on the
Speaker 1: floor and then you know some of the questions we
Speaker 1: may have of his performance in the second round. This
Speaker 1: is huge for he for e beat. There are the
Speaker 1: cornerstones of this, this whole thing, and um as we
Speaker 1: talk about being angry of how things played out last
Speaker 1: year and the the the domino effect from eighteen to
Speaker 1: nineteen to twenty and now where we are right now,
Speaker 1: the number one seed, all eyes are going to be
Speaker 1: on him and he can impact the game in a
Speaker 1: lot of different ways. And as long as he goes
Speaker 1: out there and and you mentioned it, never cheats the game,
Speaker 1: and he doesn't plays the minutes hard and takes the
Speaker 1: assignment that's that's given to him, there there are gonna
Speaker 1: be a lot of a lot of good conversations I'm
Speaker 1: sure throughout this postseasons, as long as this run goes
Speaker 1: about what twenty five does. He's a tremendous player. I
Speaker 1: love the guy. He frustrates me. He's a polarizing guy.
Speaker 1: I mean, but but but he frustrates me because I know,
Speaker 1: I believe, I know what he can do. I've seen
Speaker 1: it before and I want more. I'm greedy. Yes, I
Speaker 1: think you're right on Divan. I think it's it's not
Speaker 1: out of dislike or anything else. I think the criticism
Speaker 1: you hear it's more frustration. And I think it's more
Speaker 1: because I think everybody believes in the ability that he has.
Speaker 1: Like you know, I watch him attack the rim, and man,
Speaker 1: he can look so good like it just does. Think
Speaker 1: that's seven feet so fluid. He's a beautiful player, right
Speaker 1: like he about you know, an art form. I mean
Speaker 1: that's the movement. The art of movement is watching Ben Simmons,
Speaker 1: and you know, greedy's a great word. Man. I just
Speaker 1: think everybody's you know, maybe a little impatient, But I
Speaker 1: do think it all clips clicks for him. I don't
Speaker 1: know what's gonna happen this this summer, but I think
Speaker 1: it all clicks for him. I think he's too good
Speaker 1: to child. Just him mints missing last playoff right, so
Speaker 1: just him missing last playoffs appearance and how much that
Speaker 1: might weigh on him as well, where he couldn't help
Speaker 1: the team and he wants to be there for them
Speaker 1: this season force, force, force, force, just let me see
Speaker 1: the force. Bend with the force early. I feel like
Speaker 1: that was something where after he came back off that
Speaker 1: little bit of the injury absence down the stretch of
Speaker 1: the season, first quarters, bend time force, right off the bat,
Speaker 1: blitz him, get that battering ram going do your thing
Speaker 1: on defense. I think that's what everyone comes back to
Speaker 1: that when he is in his get downhill, you know,
Speaker 1: push the pace if you can do it. Obviously, playoffs
Speaker 1: is gonna be a little bit different. I think that'll help.
Speaker 1: I think Doc's helped him. I do. I think that
Speaker 1: Doc is with all these guys, goes back what we
Speaker 1: were talking about Tobias. Just be the best version of
Speaker 1: yourself right now, we're gonna ask you do anything too crazy.
Speaker 1: Just try and maximize what you've got and you can
Speaker 1: bring to the table. It was Brett and Ben. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, the tides go back so long, right, They're
Speaker 1: so deep, they're so intertwined. And Ben comes at it
Speaker 1: and he's so young when Brett has him, I mean
Speaker 1: that that alone's a tough dynamic, no doubt. Absolutely, Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think it goes back to what we were talking
Speaker 1: about at the beginning, and some of the guys have
Speaker 1: actually spoken about this week talking about Doc. It's freshness,
Speaker 1: something different, new set of eyes, different tone, and Doc's
Speaker 1: got a pedigree, you know, he's been there. I think
Speaker 1: that in particular, Ben and Joe are on the right
Speaker 1: place in their respective timelines, different from the guys that
Speaker 1: Doc had in LA last year because they're still younger,
Speaker 1: haven't tasted what some of those guys in LA tasted,
Speaker 1: where Doc's voice carries that much more. I just think
Speaker 1: it's been great. I think it's a great fit all around.
Speaker 1: Who do you think we might be talking about as
Speaker 1: we get farther along. I'm gonna keep my fingers crossed
Speaker 1: and hopefully not jump of the gun that we are
Speaker 1: not perhaps thinking of quite enough yet. Who could be
Speaker 1: someone who emerges for the sixers that maybe we haven't
Speaker 1: quite talked about as much as we obviously would the
Speaker 1: top three guys. If if we talk about defense wins championships,
Speaker 1: then I'm gonna go back to the bench and with
Speaker 1: your rotation, if you feel like part of that first eight,
Speaker 1: And I know Rivers came on you know the station
Speaker 1: yesterday with Mike ms Nelian said that he's not really
Speaker 1: worried about that, And I'd love to hear that because
Speaker 1: so many guys have played so well they might have
Speaker 1: earned some minutes. We're going with defense, and I'm gonna
Speaker 1: go to the tease tyble and how important he might
Speaker 1: be with his perimeter defense. If Doc feels like, hey,
Speaker 1: he's so disruptive out there that I can extend his
Speaker 1: minutes from fifteen to twenty and his defense is turning
Speaker 1: into offense. He's getting some fast break bad get some
Speaker 1: baskets and transition. You reward them with the you know,
Speaker 1: an outlet pass, or even with him just getting a
Speaker 1: steel and going the other way and just taking it
Speaker 1: in for a dunk. But I just think with him
Speaker 1: combined with Embiid Simmons and Green out there on the
Speaker 1: perimeter and sometimes Hill as well. And not to say
Speaker 1: that no one's talking about it, but just to answer
Speaker 1: your question selves, I think Batista I will when we
Speaker 1: talk about all eyes on people, I think so many
Speaker 1: people are gonna see, all right, what does this guy
Speaker 1: you know have for us as far as the playoffs go.
Speaker 1: Now that this is his second year, he already kind
Speaker 1: of knows how these guys play. The scattering port He
Speaker 1: and Dan Burke going over things, and Burt hey Man,
Speaker 1: you know first, Dave Yagers my guy defense he and
Speaker 1: David you know. So look, I think Matista, that's that's
Speaker 1: what I'm going And you you were appointing, you know
Speaker 1: you agree. I agree with you. I do, especially if
Speaker 1: the matchup is Brooklyn, because will need him against Brooklyn.
Speaker 1: You'll need him to defend, to help defend those big three.
Speaker 1: I'm with you. I love the kid. I think the
Speaker 1: kid is such a great defender, willing player, you know,
Speaker 1: so I'm with you. I also think George Hill and
Speaker 1: Danny Green. I think Danny Green we don't talk enough
Speaker 1: about because he's a guy that's been through playoff wars.
Speaker 1: He's gonna get his fair share of looks, and there's
Speaker 1: gonna be days and we've seen them. I mean, divine,
Speaker 1: you've talked about it. When when Danny goes off and
Speaker 1: he's feeling it like that, he'll win you a game.
Speaker 1: And I think he's gonna win them a big game.
Speaker 1: I could see him going, you know, seven for nine
Speaker 1: from three in one of these pivotal games and winning
Speaker 1: it for him. I thought he had an awesome season.
Speaker 1: He'll make the play for you. Defensively, he can be
Speaker 1: there and counter pond and I just thought super efficient.
Speaker 1: After the All Star Break, he just went up another notch.
Speaker 1: I think it was perfect, perfect edition for this team.
Speaker 1: You're gonna need You're gonna need those guys. This is
Speaker 1: a team thing. They always preach team. As much as
Speaker 1: we talk about an individual award for a most Valuable
Speaker 1: player four and B, they always talk about team and
Speaker 1: that's what they're gonna need in order to win. So
Speaker 1: if in B can win you two games, stars do
Speaker 1: that in the playoffs, superstars do that, they'll win you
Speaker 1: games in series. We've seen it so many times. If
Speaker 1: he's gonna do that, there's gonna be that Danny Green
Speaker 1: that goes seven for nine from d and self that
Speaker 1: they're going there's gonna be Shake Milton where he goes
Speaker 1: for six or twelve one day and all of a
Speaker 1: sudden you look up and you're like, wait a minute,
Speaker 1: Shake has seventeen just like that in fifteen minutes. Whoever
Speaker 1: it might be, it is going to have to be
Speaker 1: a team thing. And I think that they are set
Speaker 1: up perfectly. It kind of just circles all the way
Speaker 1: back to what we talked about, well, how this team
Speaker 1: was built, how this woman was put together, and they
Speaker 1: all lean on one another, they trust each other. It
Speaker 1: looks like now after seeing him for seventy two, it
Speaker 1: looks like they trust one another and they have the
Speaker 1: right coach in there right now to lead the way
Speaker 1: to get them finally where we want to see them
Speaker 1: get two. I feel comfortable that I've seen enough from
Speaker 1: some of these bench guys who might be called upon
Speaker 1: to know that if they needed to do something in
Speaker 1: the postseason, there might be an opportunity for them to
Speaker 1: win the sixes a game or get them back into
Speaker 1: a game. I mean, I'm a byproduct of my environment.
Speaker 1: I listened to probably just about every word that Brett
Speaker 1: Brown said for the last seven years, but he would
Speaker 1: always talk about that game Spurs Dallas. I believe it
Speaker 1: was Steve Kerr. When was it West Finals? Steve Kerk
Speaker 1: comes off the bench. I don't think he played a
Speaker 1: minute in the series. That was the stories goes out,
Speaker 1: bang bang bang, just knocks down a bunch of threes
Speaker 1: and Spurs end up winning the game, winning the series.
Speaker 1: Who knows could be a Firk. Maybe Firk bring him
Speaker 1: in in the right listening in the right again. Match right,
Speaker 1: you look at a team like Brooklyn, you're gonna the
Speaker 1: fir game. You're gonna need You're gonna need your three
Speaker 1: point shooters, right, so you're gonna need him to come
Speaker 1: out and ye, and I gets the team like Brooklyn
Speaker 1: doesn't play great perimeter defense. He'll get good lucks and
Speaker 1: if you get them on the right night, he'll mock
Speaker 1: those looks down. So you know, now, I guess if
Speaker 1: it's a Milwaukee you're playing in the conference finals. They're
Speaker 1: not a great defensive team, but they're a little bit better.
Speaker 1: I think they're getting on matchups. It is, but I
Speaker 1: could see fur Can against one team, I could see
Speaker 1: Shake again and said, now they're like that sort of thing.
Speaker 1: That's why. And you know what if I talk that earlier, man,
Speaker 1: that's what makes the playoffs so much fun because styles
Speaker 1: make fights. Man, I'll tell you what. Though, I'll tell
Speaker 1: you what. I don't know why, and he but he
Speaker 1: put it in my head somehow. Someway we're gonna see
Speaker 1: Tyrese Maxie, at least in the first two I don't
Speaker 1: know about the confidence finals, but those first two rounds,
Speaker 1: he just continues to do stuff, and he does stuff
Speaker 1: that when you look at the team, you say, nobody,
Speaker 1: no one else can really do what he just did
Speaker 1: right there. And it could be two minutes, three minutes,
Speaker 1: five minutes, he's gonna do something. And I think that
Speaker 1: that's where the depth of this team goes. Where you
Speaker 1: can't play him ten, you can't play him fifteen. But
Speaker 1: if Doc Rivers sees a moment and he says, Tarisco,
Speaker 1: I just need you to run, attack the basket, get
Speaker 1: these guys in foul trouble, get the ball on the rim,
Speaker 1: the white howard, you clean it up if it comes off.
Speaker 1: He's going to do something. I see it. You know,
Speaker 1: it's a great point that you bring up because he's
Speaker 1: so fast, so fast, he could just change momentum, like
Speaker 1: he can give you a spark. Well, you put him
Speaker 1: in the game, and you know a third quarter and like,
Speaker 1: like to me, the perfect time for him beginning of
Speaker 1: the second quarter, end of the third quarter where you
Speaker 1: need that one little lift to get me to the
Speaker 1: end of the quarter, and he'll give it to you.
Speaker 1: He might score five points in three minutes and dish
Speaker 1: out and assist and get his steel. He's been great.
Speaker 1: I agree. I agree with all of it. He's been great.
Speaker 1: I agree with all of it. Different presents, bouncy, flashy,
Speaker 1: change it up. He's gonna be a hell of a player. Man. Yes,
Speaker 1: I think I agree with that. Uh, we'll do it again.
Speaker 1: This is the first time, hopefully of a long series
Speaker 1: of gatherings via microphone and zoom to talk about seventy
Speaker 1: six ers playoff action. I love it. July. We're talking
Speaker 1: to July. I know. We'll do it on the beach.
Speaker 1: We'll go to the boardwalk. No question about it, man,
Speaker 1: no question. All right. You of course can hear the
Speaker 1: cause every weekday ten until two and then devon weeknights
Speaker 1: at six on the Home of the Sixers in the
Speaker 1: Delaware Valley ninety seven five the Fanatic fellas. Thank you
Speaker 1: so much, Thank you guys, thank you. Look for the
Speaker 1: next edition of Fanatic about the Playoffs to drop on Monday,
Speaker 1: May twenty fourth. That will be the day after Game one,
Speaker 1: which is on Sunday at one o'clock. We will recap
Speaker 1: Game one and look ahead to Game number two, which
Speaker 1: is going to be played on Wednesday night. And if
Speaker 1: you're looking for the scoop, our daily five minute podcast
Speaker 1: from the seventy Sixers Podcast Network. We talked about this
Speaker 1: throughout the season, but right now it's the postseason, it's
Speaker 1: the playoffs, So the scoop is only available on its
Speaker 1: own feed. Search seventy Sixers Scoop wherever you get your pods,
Speaker 1: follow that feed, and you're set because we've new episodes
Speaker 1: coming out as well. For the cause for Devon, I'm
Speaker 1: Brian Seltzer. So long, We'll talk to you after game one.
Speaker 1: See it. You've been listening to Fanatic about the Playoffs
Speaker 1: from the seventy Sixers podcast Network presented by DraftKings and
Speaker 1: ninety seven five to Fanatic, look for new episodes the
Speaker 1: day after every seventy Sixers playoff game, and follow the
Speaker 1: seventy Sixers podcast Network by searching seventy Sixers podcasts wherever
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