Speaker 1: This podcast is part of the seventy Sixers podcast network
Speaker 1: search seventy Sixers podcast Wherever you get your pods, back
Speaker 1: and forth, back and forth. The seventy Sixers and the
Speaker 1: Boston Celtics duked it out in the opener of the
Speaker 1: Eastern Conference quarterfinals. Morford to Entertainum gets this old vessence
Speaker 1: for as the ball any fellows big out, yeah, let
Speaker 1: me hear you. But in the end the Celtics had
Speaker 1: too much. What Pike Tatum from behind out to the
Speaker 1: left side, Brown open three on a transition. It's good
Speaker 1: a dagger jail and Brown knocks it down. What are
Speaker 1: the keys to game too? We asked to Dennis Scott
Speaker 1: from NBA TV and the NBA on TNT. I thought
Speaker 1: it was a very interesting game because as always, you
Speaker 1: guys know, we all wonder how em Beach going to
Speaker 1: show up, how impactful he will be, how aggressive you
Speaker 1: will be? And I think that question was answered early
Speaker 1: in the ball game. I'm Lauren Rosen and I'm Brian Selzer.
Speaker 1: We look back on Game one and look ahead to
Speaker 1: Game two on this episode of the broadcast from the
Speaker 1: seventy Sixers Podcast Network. Game one is in the books.
Speaker 1: It was a well played, intense, back and forth game
Speaker 1: and did not go to seventy sixers a way. They
Speaker 1: of course lost on Monday Night one oh nine to
Speaker 1: one oh one, setting the stage for Game two. No
Speaker 1: Divon this episode of the Pond, lone and I are
Speaker 1: going to try and hold it down. We got three
Speaker 1: d Dennis Scott from the NBA on T and T
Speaker 1: and NBA TV in just a few moments. But first, Larn,
Speaker 1: what were your impressions of Game one? Well, look, I
Speaker 1: love the way that the game went back and forth.
Speaker 1: It was physical, it was intense. Both teams showed some
Speaker 1: really great stuff and realistically, a lot of the Sixers
Speaker 1: had good performances, especially Dway, Joe well Embiad started with
Speaker 1: that five for five shooting in the first quarter. Josh
Speaker 1: Richardson hit some big shots. Shake Milton did a good job.
Speaker 1: Alec Burks obviously off the bench was good, and we
Speaker 1: know we can get more from those guys and some
Speaker 1: of the other guys who maybe had more of an
Speaker 1: off night. I think that the Sixers are in a
Speaker 1: good place if they can take better care of the
Speaker 1: ball and activate themselves with a little bit more intensity
Speaker 1: on the offensive end to maybe steal Game two on Wednesday,
Speaker 1: I would agree. I tend to view game ones is
Speaker 1: almost like fact finding missions. Certainly, the Sixers and Celtics
Speaker 1: know a ton about each other. They played each other
Speaker 1: four times in the regular season, their division rivals, They're
Speaker 1: intertwined in so many different ways. But I think one
Speaker 1: of the things that you could take away from Game
Speaker 1: one was, like you said, this is going to be
Speaker 1: by all accounts so far, at least the evidence that
Speaker 1: we have a competitive series. It wasn't like Boston or
Speaker 1: the seventy Sixers ever ran away with it. It was
Speaker 1: back and forth. I think we knew from the outset
Speaker 1: based upon how much the Sixers turned the ball over
Speaker 1: in the first quarter, it was going to be an
Speaker 1: uphill battle. I was really impressed with the run they
Speaker 1: went on a fifteen straight to end the third, to
Speaker 1: start the fourth, especially with Joel Embiid on the bench
Speaker 1: for a portion of that time, and then at the end,
Speaker 1: after Jason's Tatum got the Celtics started, it was Jalon
Speaker 1: Brown having a monster fourth quarter, and then to really
Speaker 1: give the Celtics enough breathing room, it was Kemba Walker
Speaker 1: that put the game away. Realistically, a lot of the
Speaker 1: Sixers had good nights. Now what we need is to
Speaker 1: turn that good night into a great night. I think
Speaker 1: we saw a lot of good things from dwell Embiad.
Speaker 1: Obviously his start was phenomenal, going five four or five
Speaker 1: from the field. Josh Richardson had a strong run. Alec
Speaker 1: Burks was good off the bench, and shout out to
Speaker 1: Matisse Bible for the way that he defended Tatum, because
Speaker 1: even though Tatum was having a great night when he
Speaker 1: was guarded by Thible, he actually didn't do that well.
Speaker 1: So if Matisse is going to continue to take that
Speaker 1: matchup on, hopefully they'll start to understand a better way
Speaker 1: to get Jason Tatum's number and turn those good performances
Speaker 1: into great performances that can hopefully yield wins. Yeah, something
Speaker 1: that was interesting that it sounded like coming from both sides.
Speaker 1: Obviously you would hear this from the Sixers because they lost,
Speaker 1: they feel like they can do better. But the Celtics
Speaker 1: too felt like even despite getting some great performances from
Speaker 1: Tatum and Kemba and Jalen Brown, that they have more
Speaker 1: to give as well. So it sounds like there's a
Speaker 1: lot of focus on both side. In terms of injuries.
Speaker 1: We're going to have to find out at some point
Speaker 1: what the situation is with Gordon Hayward. That could be
Speaker 1: a key loss for Boston at least. The initial reports
Speaker 1: after the game on Monday, and I don't want to
Speaker 1: play doctor, but they didn't sound like, at least for
Speaker 1: the short term, they were all that great. If you
Speaker 1: leave an arena and crutches and you need an MRI,
Speaker 1: that could be a little bit of a shaky situation.
Speaker 1: So at the time that we're recording this podcast, that's
Speaker 1: the latest information that we have. But yeah, I feel
Speaker 1: like there were certainly ways you could see the path
Speaker 1: of the seventy sixers winning that game. They just now
Speaker 1: have to iron those areas out and shore them up
Speaker 1: moving forward. And look, it was a close game even
Speaker 1: without the contributions we're used to seeing from some of
Speaker 1: the guys. We know Tobias Harris can do more. We
Speaker 1: know Al Horford can do more. He's done more so
Speaker 1: far inside the bubble for Concorkmas help scoreless. You know
Speaker 1: he can do more. So if those guys can get
Speaker 1: it together, I think obviously you never want to see
Speaker 1: anyone get hurt. That's not how you want to win
Speaker 1: a game. That's certainly not how you want to win
Speaker 1: a series. But if Gordon Hayward is having problems, the
Speaker 1: Celtics team is pretty thin. Maybe it's on me for
Speaker 1: not doing my research well enough, but I didn't realize
Speaker 1: just how then they were. They only had eight points
Speaker 1: off the bench totally yesterday or sorry, rather on Monday night.
Speaker 1: So I think realistically, if they're gonna lose Hayward, or
Speaker 1: even lose part of Hayward, that could be a problem,
Speaker 1: and the Sixers might actually have an edge when it
Speaker 1: comes to depth, even without Ben Simmons. Yes, you know
Speaker 1: we talk here on the broadcast, probably people would say
Speaker 1: enough about the seventy sixers, so we figured why not
Speaker 1: bring on someone who truly knows his stuff. You see
Speaker 1: him on the NBA on TNT on NBA TV. It
Speaker 1: is three D Dennis Scott and TNT is going to
Speaker 1: have over forty NBA Playoff games, the most of any network,
Speaker 1: including your team. You're town. You're seventy six is against
Speaker 1: the Boston Celtics later on tonight at six thirty three D.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for joining us. We're going to
Speaker 1: dive into six or Celtics looking ahead to Game two.
Speaker 1: But first thing we got to ask you is, now,
Speaker 1: this has been going on for a month now inside
Speaker 1: the bubble, what are your impressions of the NBA bubble?
Speaker 1: To be very honest, I'm a little jealous and a
Speaker 1: little envy there. I'm not a part of it, because
Speaker 1: to your point, we all were wondering how would Adam
Speaker 1: Silver and his brain trust pulls it off with the
Speaker 1: players and everyone associated with the players, what they listen
Speaker 1: and follow the protocol. So I think we all would
Speaker 1: agree close to the players obvious, see the coaches, they're
Speaker 1: going to be the leaders and do the right things.
Speaker 1: But I'm just really, really, really impressed on how these
Speaker 1: guys are sticking to the script and doing the right
Speaker 1: things in no cases, yeah, no doubt. I almost feel
Speaker 1: like it's super safe there, and it's way safer than
Speaker 1: it is outside of the bubble. So that jealousy that
Speaker 1: you feel about being there, I am with you. I
Speaker 1: gotta ask what did you make of Game one last night?
Speaker 1: I thought it was a very interesting game because as always,
Speaker 1: as you guys know, we all wonder how embeds going
Speaker 1: to show up, how impactful he would be, how aggressive
Speaker 1: he would be? And I think that question was answered
Speaker 1: early in the ballgame. And then the second question is, now,
Speaker 1: with know Ben Simmons, how would the others stepped up?
Speaker 1: So if you're a Sixer fan, you have some encouragement
Speaker 1: that guy has played hard, they played well at times.
Speaker 1: It's just that you know, the Celtics stepped up in
Speaker 1: Brown and Taylor played a hell of a ball game. Listen,
Speaker 1: we know Joel Embiad's not going to go twenty for
Speaker 1: twenty in a basketball game after he started Game one
Speaker 1: five for five from the field. But I think everyone
Speaker 1: saw that start and that energy, the engagement. He was
Speaker 1: really physical and getting to the rim on the offensive end.
Speaker 1: And I think a question that a lot of Sixers
Speaker 1: fans have right now is how can that be harnessed
Speaker 1: for a full forty eight minutes? Not expecting, of course, perfection,
Speaker 1: but just that approach, that mindset, the way he went
Speaker 1: about his business early on. Do you have thoughts on that? Yeah? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think the underlying question and I think you guys
Speaker 1: know this, and Brett Brown talked about it last night
Speaker 1: in the postgame show. You have to feed and be
Speaker 1: more often than you probably want to, And he used
Speaker 1: the analogy of him being with the San Antonio Spurs
Speaker 1: and being around Tim Duncan. But Populich found creative ways
Speaker 1: of getting Tim dunking the ball on different blocks and
Speaker 1: understanding that it gave him different windows so when he
Speaker 1: gets double teams, he can find guys on the other
Speaker 1: end of the floor to knockdown shots. Let's call it
Speaker 1: what it is. JJ Reddick has gone, you don't have
Speaker 1: that knockdown dead our three point shooters, so we can
Speaker 1: stop talking about it. But Josh Richardson, Shake Milton, all
Speaker 1: those other guys, they're quality shooters. You have to instill
Speaker 1: confidence in them and put them in situations so they
Speaker 1: know when the ball swung to them on the week's
Speaker 1: time of the floor, being ready to shoot the ball
Speaker 1: with confidence like they did yesterday. What did you make
Speaker 1: of the way that Alec Burks has sort of stepped
Speaker 1: into a role like that of someone that whether it
Speaker 1: be Joe Well or any of the other guys can
Speaker 1: find and rely on him for an instant impact, even
Speaker 1: though he's still relatively new to the team. Well, I
Speaker 1: think the East Coast is getting the chance to see
Speaker 1: post because people don't realize how good he is. And yes,
Speaker 1: he's been banged up a little bit to like I
Speaker 1: see the last four or five years before he got
Speaker 1: traded from Utah, he's banged So now he's finally healthy
Speaker 1: and now he's reminding the basketball people this young man
Speaker 1: can play. He can score the ball, and it takes
Speaker 1: pressure off that second unit. You know, when he starts,
Speaker 1: some comes off being something to bottom line, when he's
Speaker 1: on the floor, he takes so much pressure off the
Speaker 1: offensive end. He's a bucket get her three D right.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's a guy who in the postseason you
Speaker 1: really value someone like that. There were a handful of
Speaker 1: broken plays in Game one where you're like, well, what's
Speaker 1: going to happen, and there was Burke's making something happen.
Speaker 1: It seems like that type of score is even more
Speaker 1: valuable this time of year. You guys, notice you follow
Speaker 1: the game pretty close too, So whenever you have what
Speaker 1: we call the wild card guy that you're not sure
Speaker 1: what's gonna bring each night, but to your point, you know,
Speaker 1: he can get a bucket and in broken plays everybody
Speaker 1: has a player or two and eighteen where they said,
Speaker 1: you know what shot clock go get us a bucket.
Speaker 1: We talk about Ali Burk's coming off the bench. Another
Speaker 1: guy who came off the bench last night, Matisse Thyble,
Speaker 1: What did you make out of the way that the
Speaker 1: rookie was able to do a pretty good job on
Speaker 1: Jason Tatum, who was obviously having an excellent night. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's a great point you bring up, and I was
Speaker 1: happy to see Utiques not lose his confidence understanding that.
Speaker 1: You know Tatum and Brown, they are bona fide young
Speaker 1: superstars are gonna get better and better each year. It's
Speaker 1: all about making them work for what they get, which
Speaker 1: I thought they did. He's just they had good nights. Now. Offensively,
Speaker 1: I think Thibon needs to look for the rim a
Speaker 1: little bit more. Look for his shot, be more aggressive.
Speaker 1: You have a decent little shot. Your three point percentages
Speaker 1: decent throughout the year. You made some big shots. Look
Speaker 1: at the rim. There's no Ben Simmons. I don't think
Speaker 1: Brett Brown's gonna get mad at him. Shoot the damn ballhole.
Speaker 1: It's such a fascinating situation three D that he's in
Speaker 1: because he's a rookie, and not only is he getting
Speaker 1: playing time, he played over thirty two minutes in Game one,
Speaker 1: his first playoff game, but he's being asked to cover
Speaker 1: the elite of the elite scores. I don't know if
Speaker 1: you can think back to this long marathon season where
Speaker 1: there was a game, because I know that you were
Speaker 1: at the center a lot in South Philadelphia this season,
Speaker 1: if there was a game or a moment you remember
Speaker 1: seeing Thible when you were like huh. And maybe he
Speaker 1: was even going back to his college career because I
Speaker 1: know you foiled that closely too. We're like, this guy
Speaker 1: really has the opportunity to be something legit on the
Speaker 1: defensive end of the floor in college. You saw the
Speaker 1: athletic ability, but you said, I don't know if I
Speaker 1: see enough. And that's the difference between us as analysts
Speaker 1: who your NBA, TV or any other network, versus those
Speaker 1: college scouts who see twenty twenty five, thirty sixty seeing
Speaker 1: the kid playing his sophomore years freshman year, where a
Speaker 1: lot of times we don't get that opportunity until the
Speaker 1: tournament comes along and he said, oh my goodness, look
Speaker 1: at his wing Spain, Look how he runs the floor,
Speaker 1: Look how casaon lanes. That's going to translate to the
Speaker 1: NBA and then he gets there. I think it was
Speaker 1: a game we had until your point. I think we
Speaker 1: early November for Center Court or NBA TV, and I
Speaker 1: saw him up close. That's not I said, Oh my goodness,
Speaker 1: a right big he was, and how tall and long.
Speaker 1: I said, he's gonna have a long NBA career. It's
Speaker 1: all about the confidence on the offensive end of the
Speaker 1: floor that his career will flourish. One more question for
Speaker 1: me for you about him, Just I've been asking people
Speaker 1: way smarter than me about basketball about this. Is there
Speaker 1: a comp that you have for him at this stage
Speaker 1: of his career. I know it's still early, but when
Speaker 1: you see him, is there anyone else that you think
Speaker 1: of when they were at that stage in their career?
Speaker 1: Not right now? At the top of my head, what
Speaker 1: I've learned about this just generation what guys did in college,
Speaker 1: maybe a small taste of who they really are, and
Speaker 1: then they get into college, they don't have that college
Speaker 1: coach holding him back, and other you know abilities come out.
Speaker 1: You're like, Wow, I didn't know he could do that
Speaker 1: because he didn't show us that in college. I think
Speaker 1: we're going to have that and thought, well, that you're
Speaker 1: gonna see things each week, each month, each year come
Speaker 1: out of him because that pigeonhole is not holding him back.
Speaker 1: I feel that for sure, he's been really interesting to watch,
Speaker 1: and I think a lot of people share that vibe
Speaker 1: with you, that we're still learning about him, and that's
Speaker 1: really exciting obviously for a first year player. Someone else
Speaker 1: we'd love to talk about who's also having his first
Speaker 1: experience in the playoffs is Shake, Milton, What have you
Speaker 1: made of his rise? And almost like if you, I
Speaker 1: don't know if you have any advice for a dialect
Speaker 1: Shake or giving your experience and everything that you've seen,
Speaker 1: how can a guy like that who doesn't have the
Speaker 1: most big game experience flourish in a playoff situation. I
Speaker 1: think the biggest thing for Shake right now on days off,
Speaker 1: just live in the gym and just put up jump shots.
Speaker 1: Put up jump shots, because what he doesn't understand yet
Speaker 1: that the game should be easy to him. Because everybody's
Speaker 1: worried about and be everybody's worried about Al Horford, and
Speaker 1: now that Ben's gone, everyone's worried about Tobias Harris. So
Speaker 1: when those guys are getting double team, find that sweet
Speaker 1: spot on the floor, you know, those guys are unselfish
Speaker 1: that we're on the share, that we're on the swing it.
Speaker 1: Catch it and shoot, catch it and shoot. It's a
Speaker 1: simple game. Look around in the NBA. Look around how
Speaker 1: role players feed off their superstars. They catch and shoot,
Speaker 1: they get to a sweet spot. You saw with Luca
Speaker 1: last night to the Clippers right right, he had Phoenie,
Speaker 1: you know, Phoene Smith, He had Tim Hardaway Junior, he
Speaker 1: had MKG. And I'm not I'm not trying to mess
Speaker 1: with him. We know his jump shot is a working project.
Speaker 1: It's a science project. He went two of three from
Speaker 1: three point land last night. Why because he was wide
Speaker 1: open in the corner. Luca drives, Kicksie knocks it down.
Speaker 1: That's the same thing we're talking about with Joel and
Speaker 1: be attack, be aggressive. Once you go five or five,
Speaker 1: once you get a couple of players in foul trouble,
Speaker 1: they have no choice but to double team. You now
Speaker 1: shake Burke all the rest of you guys, catch and
Speaker 1: shoot and shoot the ball with confidence. That's gonna take
Speaker 1: so much pressure off of Harris Corford MB Dennis. I
Speaker 1: know you know Tobias Harris and his family really well,
Speaker 1: we all know what Tobias can do on the court.
Speaker 1: I'd love to ask you for your impressions of what
Speaker 1: he's done off the court, especially these last couple months,
Speaker 1: in light of everything that he's been doing to try
Speaker 1: and drive change in respect to racial inequality in the
Speaker 1: United States, that he has educated himself very well and
Speaker 1: he has made sure that he's gotten all the information
Speaker 1: that's that hit that hit home to him. Because each guy,
Speaker 1: thought has done a really in this whole social movement
Speaker 1: and being able to you know, express and articulate how
Speaker 1: they feel, why they feel, and what they think the
Speaker 1: change can really be made, why they're where they are
Speaker 1: on their platform, where they are in their career, and
Speaker 1: so forth. So to Bias on an excellent job. So
Speaker 1: the sixer fan they should be, you know, applauded and
Speaker 1: appreciate what he's done because he's done his homework and
Speaker 1: now he's he's expressed himself the right way. I do
Speaker 1: you think it's great the way that he's sort of
Speaker 1: been recognized for that leadership that we've seen him put
Speaker 1: in sort of behind closed doors or on the road
Speaker 1: or whatever whatever it may be. Now he's sort of
Speaker 1: getting that recognition as such a vocal leader on and
Speaker 1: off the floor. So that's been gratifying and obviously if
Speaker 1: he can match that effort on the court, he's going
Speaker 1: to be doing great things for a while for the Sixers.
Speaker 1: And last question for you, I've got to ask when
Speaker 1: you look ahead to Game two, what are your keys
Speaker 1: to the game the things that the Sixers can fix
Speaker 1: or adjust in order to steal one from the Celtics
Speaker 1: on Wednesday night. Number One, you have to take care
Speaker 1: of the basketball because you know the Celtics are scrappy,
Speaker 1: Marcus Smart, you know their wing players are really really scrappy,
Speaker 1: and get in the past line and get steals. And
Speaker 1: Daniel Tyson it's not a bad big guy. He makes
Speaker 1: him be worked out there. So Number one, take better
Speaker 1: care of the basketball. Number two, transition defense when you
Speaker 1: do turn the ball, or you gotta get back on
Speaker 1: defense because I thought a future I think the third
Speaker 1: quarter when Jaylen Brown knocked down those three or four
Speaker 1: threes that really broke the Sixers back and they were
Speaker 1: trying to make that run. And last but not least,
Speaker 1: you gotta feed the big fella. You gotta get creative
Speaker 1: on how you get him the ball. Knowing that he's
Speaker 1: a willing passer when the team start double teaming him.
Speaker 1: Three D. Dennis Scott, thank you so much, man, and
Speaker 1: enjoy the rest of the playoffs anytime. Guy who's the pleasure.
Speaker 1: Really appreciate three D Dennis Scott taking the time to
Speaker 1: join us here on the broadcast. You can see him
Speaker 1: on the NBA on TNT NBA TV. Follow him on
Speaker 1: Twitter at Dennis three D Scott. T NTS got over
Speaker 1: forty NBA playoff games. That is more than anyone out there,
Speaker 1: and they have the seventy Sixers and the Celtics later
Speaker 1: on tonight at six thirty. Love Lauren. Hearing from three D.
Speaker 1: I especially like some of the stuff that he was
Speaker 1: talking about in respect to Shake Milton. I thought Shake
Speaker 1: played well enough for sure for the Sixers in that
Speaker 1: game on Monday, based upon what your expectations might have been.
Speaker 1: Young kid, first playoff game, and he did a lot
Speaker 1: of what three D was talking about. Get the ball,
Speaker 1: swing it to him and hit the open shot, and
Speaker 1: he did that. I thought he played pretty well. I
Speaker 1: agree Celts props to Shake just we talked about his
Speaker 1: journey all the time, but it really is a tremendous story.
Speaker 1: The fact that he was out of the rotation at
Speaker 1: the All Star break and now he's putting in significant
Speaker 1: minutes in this series and will continue to do so.
Speaker 1: I loved what Dennis said about confidence in the way
Speaker 1: that Shake needs to. Obviously he's a confident dude. He
Speaker 1: wouldn't have gotten as far as he has, especially this
Speaker 1: season without that confidence, but to take it to that
Speaker 1: next level and really own his space. He said the
Speaker 1: same thing about Matisse's bible. There was a play early
Speaker 1: where they left Matisse wide wide open beyond the arc
Speaker 1: for a couple possessions in a row, and eventually I
Speaker 1: don't remember who it was, but someone found him from
Speaker 1: the post and Matisse knocked down the shot. And I
Speaker 1: think realistically, those young guys, if they feel empowered to
Speaker 1: take shots like that and just go for it and
Speaker 1: own their space and own this moment, they could be
Speaker 1: really good. And we'll forget pretty quickly that it's their
Speaker 1: first playoff series. Like we said, Game one between the
Speaker 1: seventy Sixers and the Celtics, very spirited, very intense. Can't
Speaker 1: wait to see what a little bit more desperation, perhaps
Speaker 1: from the seventy Sixers and maybe even the Celtics a
Speaker 1: higher sense of urgency in game two. Now that both
Speaker 1: teams have Game one under their belts in a brand
Speaker 1: new setting an atmosphere, what that could lead to for
Speaker 1: game two? Yep, Celts. Honestly, if Game one is any
Speaker 1: indication of what's to come, it's going to be a
Speaker 1: heck of a series. And hopefully the Sixers can find
Speaker 1: a way to take particularly those turnovers. We almost haven't
Speaker 1: talked about it enough. If they can limit those the
Speaker 1: way that they did in the second half, that's the
Speaker 1: difference maker in game one. You win Game one if
Speaker 1: you take better care at the ball, and all the
Speaker 1: guys mentioned that in postgame, so hopefully that's something that's
Speaker 1: top of mind and an adjustment that they can make
Speaker 1: for game too. We missed having devon. He will be
Speaker 1: back on sooner rather than later. Lauren and I will
Speaker 1: next talk to you on seven to six Live Countdown
Speaker 1: presented by DraftKings, our live pregame streaming show, which you
Speaker 1: can watch on Twitter, Facebook, the Sixers app, or Sixers
Speaker 1: dot com, and we'll start at about an hour and
Speaker 1: a half before tip off on Wednesday night. Thanks to
Speaker 1: three D Dennis Scott Laaren, thank you, and thanks to
Speaker 1: everyone out there listening enjoy game two. West