Speaker 1: It's time to talk Sixers, baby bet sevens between the
Speaker 1: Lake and that he rocks the room. Here on the
Speaker 1: broadcast the official podcast of Sixers dot Com. Here's the Steel,
Speaker 1: Mike Cummington three bottels of the Year, pet good, Robert
Speaker 1: Cumming getting parts in another three. Now. Here's today's episode.
Speaker 1: Playoff Game Day a number two in the City of
Speaker 1: Brotherly Love and Delaware Valley seventy Sixers and the Miami
Speaker 1: Heat set for Game two of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal
Speaker 1: series down at the Center later on Monday night at
Speaker 1: eight o'clock. Brian Seltzer from Sixers dot Com saying, what's up?
Speaker 1: Thank you once again for checking out a postseason pot
Speaker 1: edition of the podcast. Coming up on this episode, we're
Speaker 1: gonna sit down with my boss and a great guy,
Speaker 1: a man who knows his NBA, basketball and all things
Speaker 1: round ball related. That would be the head of seventy
Speaker 1: Sixers digital media operations, Charlie Widows, and we'll spend a
Speaker 1: few minutes with Robert Covington talking about the Sixers big
Speaker 1: win on Saturday nights, his defense and that of his
Speaker 1: teammates as well. Before we get started, a reminder that
Speaker 1: to subscribe to the podcast. All you got to do
Speaker 1: is head to a couple of different places, among them iTunes,
Speaker 1: Google Play, Stitcher, or a SoundCloud type in Sixers podcast network,
Speaker 1: and that will take you to where you need to go.
Speaker 1: There's no doubt about it that it was a welcome
Speaker 1: to the moment type moment for the seventy Sixers the
Speaker 1: fan base on Saturday night at the Center one thirty
Speaker 1: one oh three a dominant win and ended up being
Speaker 1: for the Sixers against the Miami Heating game that got
Speaker 1: off to a really testy, chippy, physical and whistle filled start,
Speaker 1: but the Sixers defense catalyzed a breakout seventy four points
Speaker 1: showing in the second half and was off to the
Speaker 1: races from there. Eighteen three pointers for the seventy Sixers,
Speaker 1: tying a team record and setting a new playoff record
Speaker 1: for the franchise. It was all good stuff. A man
Speaker 1: who was not only the longest tenured Sixer but someone
Speaker 1: who had a vital role in Saturday's victory, none other
Speaker 1: than Robert Covington, played twenty six minutes, was most tellingly
Speaker 1: a plus twenty nine points two or four from outside
Speaker 1: the arcs, seven rebounds, four assists, three block shots, and
Speaker 1: a menace defensively, doing a little bit of everything to
Speaker 1: disrupt the heat in the second half and get the
Speaker 1: Sixers on the right track. After shoot around on Monday
Speaker 1: at the seventy six or Training Complex, and Camden had
Speaker 1: the chance to spend a few minutes with the Pride
Speaker 1: of Tennessee State cover before we talk about some specifics.
Speaker 1: What was Saturday night like for you in particular? You've
Speaker 1: been waiting for a playoff game with this team for
Speaker 1: such a long time and it ended up being a
Speaker 1: pretty good night. It was a static you know for me,
Speaker 1: you know, my energy was going. I knew from the
Speaker 1: beginning of the game that you know, you can go
Speaker 1: my one up. You know, I had a lot more
Speaker 1: energy than I expected. You know, just an atmosphere of
Speaker 1: being there, being in playoffs, you know, it was an
Speaker 1: extra boost and you know that kind of helped my know,
Speaker 1: my productivity for the night. And it was just overall,
Speaker 1: you know, just being in that moment, just you know,
Speaker 1: playing that well, it was a blessing. You know a
Speaker 1: lot of people get to experienced stuff like that, you know,
Speaker 1: being you know a kid that you know has a
Speaker 1: incredible story, you know, just to be a part of
Speaker 1: that and you know have a major impact. I just
Speaker 1: to test me, just hard work and you know, the
Speaker 1: feeling was it was amazing. You are one of the
Speaker 1: leaders of the defensive unit for the Sixers team. What
Speaker 1: happened in the second half that really helped you, guys
Speaker 1: and turn things around. We've seen what we did. You
Speaker 1: know they the first half at halftime, you know, the
Speaker 1: way they was getting easy shots and easy buggets. You know,
Speaker 1: we just had to be more maniacal and defense, and
Speaker 1: you know we had to face it. You know, I
Speaker 1: think the just the adrenaline from everything. At first, the
Speaker 1: kind of was, you know, up and down a little bit.
Speaker 1: But you know, once we settled down and they got
Speaker 1: you know, INSI our principles and everything. You know, it's
Speaker 1: a lot better than That's what we say be locking anymore.
Speaker 1: In particular, even if you look back at the regular season,
Speaker 1: you've had some success on an all start that Miami
Speaker 1: has important dragage. What's been your approach with him? Just
Speaker 1: been watching a lot of film, you know, getting a
Speaker 1: lot of his tendencies down and knowing that you know
Speaker 1: his way, he way he plays within the offense. You know,
Speaker 1: I've been watching a lot of film. I watched the
Speaker 1: game from Saturday three times. Um, just you'll continue to
Speaker 1: see like how my involvement and what I did to
Speaker 1: you know, help our team in so many different ways,
Speaker 1: you know, and watch how other guys you know it's
Speaker 1: playing as well and just seeing their their team scy
Speaker 1: as a unit. You know it. That's that's what you know,
Speaker 1: part of taking the next step is and um I
Speaker 1: think you know the ways that I built with you know,
Speaker 1: coach parers and everything, just you know, taking to another
Speaker 1: knots just this this series. So you know, just have
Speaker 1: to be more locked in because the States game, you know,
Speaker 1: cost you a lot in the playoff. See you like that.
Speaker 1: You know, every every mistake counts, you know, so they
Speaker 1: just got to be, you know, really locked in. And
Speaker 1: that's what I've been doing. Mindset confidence to the group
Speaker 1: going into game at number two. Oh, sky high, sky
Speaker 1: high confidence on the whole nother level, just based off
Speaker 1: of how good we've been playing. And then you know
Speaker 1: we've we've seen the little adjustments that they can potentially make,
Speaker 1: and you know we're prepared for it. So we just
Speaker 1: got continue to go out and play away. Thank you, rap,
Speaker 1: thank you. That was Robert Covington sharing thoughts going into
Speaker 1: game number two of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals. And now
Speaker 1: we shift to a location where I usually gravitate for
Speaker 1: all wisdom on things seventy six ers, NBA basketball, college
Speaker 1: basketball hoops. Otherwise the office of the boss man. Charlie Widows.
Speaker 1: What's up, Boss? What's going on? Excited to be talking
Speaker 1: about game two after game one? I figured by now
Speaker 1: you'd know the lay of the land that once we
Speaker 1: hit the record button on the podcast machine, and I
Speaker 1: know you have a vested interest in the series that
Speaker 1: you're watching game one for on your television. Right now,
Speaker 1: we need to mute the volume or do we leave
Speaker 1: the volume up? Is with your iron Eagle announced a
Speaker 1: Donovan Mitchell jam What a start to that guy. So
Speaker 1: we're talking about Utah, Oklahoma City, which one of my
Speaker 1: favorite Western Conference series. The beginning that after Westbrook opened
Speaker 1: up with a huge dunk, the run that Utah went
Speaker 1: on when Donovan shot four for four was pretty incredible.
Speaker 1: Credit to the Thunder for winning that series or that
Speaker 1: game though. Is he your second favorite series overall? I
Speaker 1: think so yeah. I mean I would have loved a
Speaker 1: full strength San Antonio Golden State series. Like I'm sure
Speaker 1: a lot of people, but yeah, it's just what a
Speaker 1: contrast of styles Utah and Oklahoma City and both teams
Speaker 1: are so close. Yeah, I think this is my second
Speaker 1: favorite one. What about you? Definitely on the intrigue factor.
Speaker 1: But I'm keeping my eyes on some of the teams
Speaker 1: in the Eastern Conference. Yeah, I mean, we just watched here,
Speaker 1: we watched Indiana Cleveland. I think that's a pretty compelling series,
Speaker 1: even for me still this stage, I know, perhaps not
Speaker 1: for others. Toronto, Washington, Yeah, definitely, yeah, Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: I think the East teams a little more up for grabs,
Speaker 1: and granted we have such a we're so close to
Speaker 1: one of the teams that's vying for it when I
Speaker 1: think a lot of people think Houston and Golden State
Speaker 1: are probably the ones fighting for the West. Yeah. Um,
Speaker 1: I just you know, for people who really love the sport,
Speaker 1: this true is the not really going down on them
Speaker 1: by saying this the golden time of the year. Aware
Speaker 1: it's night after night, you get to follow actions, see
Speaker 1: what's involved, and especially if they're not having been postseason
Speaker 1: basketball in Philadelphia for six years, you walk into the
Speaker 1: center Saturday night. You feel it, you see it, you
Speaker 1: hear it. It's just it is what everyone says. It
Speaker 1: is a totally different level. Yeah, and Brett Brown said
Speaker 1: there's only one other arena that he's been to in
Speaker 1: his I don't know how many years he's been in
Speaker 1: the league, fifteen or so that even can compete. That's
Speaker 1: Golden State six or fans brought it on Saturday, and
Speaker 1: I was thinking about it. I really think this is
Speaker 1: maybe the best kind of like symbiotic relationship between fans
Speaker 1: and players players to say, our fans are gonna bring it,
Speaker 1: we know it, and the fans expect, have come to
Speaker 1: expect this level of performance from the players and this
Speaker 1: level of passion from the players, and they deliver it.
Speaker 1: I mean, both are just like totally in sync with
Speaker 1: each other. It's pretty crazy. I remember, so I grew
Speaker 1: up in LA and my dad got Clipper season tickets
Speaker 1: a long time ago, and he was saying he remembers
Speaker 1: their first trip to the playoffs and what that felt
Speaker 1: like with Chris Paul, and he was, you know, there
Speaker 1: was this kind of like new confidence that Clipper fans
Speaker 1: had because they had a team that they really believed in.
Speaker 1: But it wasn't like this. I mean, there were still
Speaker 1: like you'd get to the end of games and I
Speaker 1: remember feeling like very unsure if the Clippers could pull
Speaker 1: it out, even if they were the more talented team.
Speaker 1: Whereas this is there's just such confidence again and the
Speaker 1: fans of the players and players of the fans. We
Speaker 1: heard Covington saying during the interview that the team's confidence
Speaker 1: and you can't blame it right now is sky high.
Speaker 1: That was his quote. And the way that they're going
Speaker 1: about this winning streak, a chance to tie a continuous
Speaker 1: franchise record in Game two against Miami if they get
Speaker 1: an eighteenth straight. They've just been rolling past teams, Steve
Speaker 1: rolling teams, And I know that people want to say, well,
Speaker 1: the schedule was this, and then we've talked about this
Speaker 1: outside of the podcast for him. But A you play
Speaker 1: who's on the schedule. B When you trounce teams on
Speaker 1: the schedule, that's something else. And quite frankly, like it's
Speaker 1: not like it was totally sisters of the Poor on
Speaker 1: the schedule. They had to take on Denver playing for
Speaker 1: something at the time, Minnesota, Cleveland, Milwaukee, and now it's
Speaker 1: a playoff series, right, No, And I've heard I think
Speaker 1: it's it's hard. You can't blame people for from Afar
Speaker 1: looking at the schedule and saying the Sixers had the
Speaker 1: easiest slate at the end of the year, just like
Speaker 1: they had the hardest late at the beginning of the year.
Speaker 1: And I remember talking to people from the Bucks when
Speaker 1: they came in the Calves, a bunch of other teams
Speaker 1: who kind of even the Heat, A couple of friends
Speaker 1: from the Heat who who had these assumptions like, you know,
Speaker 1: the Sixers have have beaten up on bad teams, but
Speaker 1: we think we have something that they is gonna is
Speaker 1: gonna slow them down. And I think it's easy to
Speaker 1: look at the schedule strength of the schedule, and it's
Speaker 1: also easy to look at individuals and break the game
Speaker 1: down to individual matchups or strengths and weaknesses. The thing
Speaker 1: that the Sixers do that people don't even really it's
Speaker 1: like they're not counting on any individual. They're counting on
Speaker 1: a system that is so diversified. And I mean, you
Speaker 1: can't just pick one thing and stop it, you know.
Speaker 1: Like I remember talking to a friend from the Heat
Speaker 1: who was like talking about how how dangerous they've been
Speaker 1: when they go small, and we've talked about this, but
Speaker 1: the sixers go small too. They're just not small like
Speaker 1: they go small in in you know, in terms of
Speaker 1: skill level that way, where they're not throwing out a
Speaker 1: traditional big who can't shoot, but that they're still six
Speaker 1: ten across the board almost. We'll get to the key
Speaker 1: x Ando's takeaway in a moment from Saturday, but just
Speaker 1: whole experience for you. What was the biggest thing that
Speaker 1: that you walked away from the arena with on Saturday night?
Speaker 1: It was rocking, like everyone said. I mean, I think
Speaker 1: there was at the beginning of the year, like it
Speaker 1: took a little while for fans to get settled in
Speaker 1: their seats. It definitely struck me that I think there
Speaker 1: was twelve minutes left on the pregame clock and fans
Speaker 1: will already standing and chanting and full. The arena was full. Um,
Speaker 1: the eight o'clock staring helped. The Saturday helped, but I
Speaker 1: think the people are just so into it. Um any
Speaker 1: who rather probably did rather? Yeah, Um, you know, sometimes
Speaker 1: you have to remind yourself Joel is still not playing
Speaker 1: and the fans are still this excited, And I really
Speaker 1: do have to remind myself it's at a point now
Speaker 1: where that's not even really yeah, and it probably sounds crazy, um,
Speaker 1: and it won't be this way forever, but you just
Speaker 1: you wake up in the morning and you're thinking about
Speaker 1: different things about what could go onto the game, and
Speaker 1: it's like him not being there right now, quite frankly,
Speaker 1: isn't a foremost concern. No, um, And I had to
Speaker 1: remind myself. I think the Cleveland game Dario didn't play either,
Speaker 1: Is that or JJ didn't play. One of them didn't play.
Speaker 1: Let's go to the tape. I think it was JJ
Speaker 1: didn't play against Milwaukee. I think they were without Dario
Speaker 1: in that game. Yeah, uh, he didn't. No, he came
Speaker 1: back in the Cleveland game, but he was he was,
Speaker 1: but he was kind of out of it. I mean
Speaker 1: he wasn't even himself and I just won for nine game.
Speaker 1: Yeah right. Um. Again, another they're like if you if
Speaker 1: you zoom in on that wind streak. Another thing, you know,
Speaker 1: Joel missed a bunch of games. They weren't put perfectly
Speaker 1: healthy and they still played that well. Um. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean the atmosphere was electric, and you know, I think
Speaker 1: the first half not to get two into the exit
Speaker 1: of the nose yet. But like the first half is
Speaker 1: kind of how you expect, right, you know, Miami can
Speaker 1: muck it up, and they're really tough and they execute
Speaker 1: their game plan, especially defensively, and the first couple of
Speaker 1: possessions were like, oh my god, you know, they picked
Speaker 1: JJ's pocket, they got a little physical, Um, we weren't
Speaker 1: finishing around the rim, and um you know that that
Speaker 1: was kind of like what you feared about this team.
Speaker 1: And then the rookie point guard I think kind of
Speaker 1: like got the Sixers out of it, which just he
Speaker 1: refused to be denied. And then they continue to just
Speaker 1: play their game, which is sharing the ball, and some
Speaker 1: shots start to fall and then boom, it's a I
Speaker 1: could not believe. I looked up and they were up
Speaker 1: by twenty against this team. Another wind streak in which
Speaker 1: the Sixers and a win in the wind streak where
Speaker 1: they just opened things up tremendously. Yeah, you know, it's
Speaker 1: it seems like, yeah, I think with Simmons first three
Speaker 1: shots where Missus kept him a little bit farther out
Speaker 1: than probably he'd liked, but then it was like he
Speaker 1: had that one dunk that set him and everything else
Speaker 1: in motion, And obviously we've been focusing on this and
Speaker 1: just talking about stuff that we've done on the website
Speaker 1: and social and all that. But the real tactical X
Speaker 1: and O decision that was made in that game was
Speaker 1: to start the third quarter with arsni Elusovan. For as
Speaker 1: much attention and curiosity I think there was about well,
Speaker 1: how would Brett Brown do in his first playoff game
Speaker 1: as a head coach, I think Goda spoke to a
Speaker 1: broader theme of the game that for the first timers
Speaker 1: going through a playoff game for the first time, whether
Speaker 1: it was Brett some of his assistants, guys like obviously
Speaker 1: Ben Simmons, Daria Scharch, Robert Covington, Mark hell Foltz, didn't
Speaker 1: seem like the moment was too big. No. Yeah, And
Speaker 1: as much as from a six Ers perspective, you can
Speaker 1: say Miami's a tough matchup, like they may not have
Speaker 1: the most high end talent, but they're so well coached,
Speaker 1: they're so deep, etc. From the other side, the Sixers
Speaker 1: are really tough matchup for them because, as you said,
Speaker 1: as we talked about, we can go small to match them,
Speaker 1: and the small isn't small. Still long, Eric Spoelstra is awesome,
Speaker 1: Like you never want to under underestimate Eric Spoelster. But
Speaker 1: I think if he were honest, he'd probably say Brett
Speaker 1: Brown is pretty good too. I mean, Brett Brown is
Speaker 1: thinking a couple steps ahead just like he is. Not
Speaker 1: to say one's better than the other area, but like
Speaker 1: they're playing the same game, they're both playing chess, and
Speaker 1: so I think that adjustment was pretty easy. And especially
Speaker 1: you know, without Joe playing, you could argue that their
Speaker 1: best lineups are probably Ben and four shooters or Marquel
Speaker 1: and four shooters, and they have that, and those are
Speaker 1: also those also happened to be most of their more
Speaker 1: experienced players when you can get Urson, Marco JJ on
Speaker 1: the floor at the same time. And we talked about
Speaker 1: this earlier today. But Ington, I just I don't think
Speaker 1: his number nearly showed how impactful he was. No, it
Speaker 1: was amazing. I mean, you can go on the statstonem
Speaker 1: dot com and look up deflections in the game, and
Speaker 1: he didn't have it. He wasn't credited for a single deflection,
Speaker 1: which to me was I mean, I kind of feel like,
Speaker 1: in my mind's eye, you can remember various plays where
Speaker 1: he you know, got a hand in there to scrape
Speaker 1: a ball away in one spot or did something disruptive.
Speaker 1: He has really throughout now the five times that the
Speaker 1: Sixers and the Heat have played each other between the
Speaker 1: regular season the playoffs, put go on drug. It's the
Speaker 1: All Star under wraps taking him away fourteen from the
Speaker 1: field in Saturday's game. But it's it's interesting to hear
Speaker 1: Brett talk about how things have gone stylistically for the
Speaker 1: Sixers since Joel hasn't been available, which amazingly now more
Speaker 1: than half the winds and the windstreak have come without Joel, right,
Speaker 1: And it's philosophically it's a lot of the same stuff
Speaker 1: that you hear him talking about anyway, playing with pace,
Speaker 1: shooting threes, locking in defensively, but it has gone to
Speaker 1: a different type of format. Like you just said, it's
Speaker 1: like Ben, get inside, draw the crowd and then orbit
Speaker 1: four shooters around you. Yeah, and I mean one of
Speaker 1: the odds of you know, all four of those guys
Speaker 1: not being on in a given game, right, as we've seen,
Speaker 1: not real great well. And so they play with pace
Speaker 1: and that they push everything makes missus. They get the
Speaker 1: ball up into the half court but I've also noticed
Speaker 1: just how fast they play in the half court. JJ
Speaker 1: and Marco coming off screens at full speed, and JJ
Speaker 1: gets going to his right, Marco gets going to his left,
Speaker 1: and they're ready to score off of that, and then
Speaker 1: there's other actions. And again, like because the Sixers have
Speaker 1: a good game plan and because they're they're long, Miami
Speaker 1: has to make these choices where they're playing Tyler Johnson
Speaker 1: or Wayne Ellington, who like certainly can shoot. They can
Speaker 1: definitely shoot, but can they chase those guys around screens?
Speaker 1: Can they guard one on one in mismatches? And the
Speaker 1: answer is no, So they really have to and then
Speaker 1: they can't really get there other than Ellington and I
Speaker 1: guess Olenik, who's a different, different kind of thing, but
Speaker 1: they can't get these shots off against the Sixers length.
Speaker 1: That's where Covington comes in. I don't know what his
Speaker 1: on off numbers were. I mean I assumed they were great.
Speaker 1: He was plus twenty. That's where you go, right, you
Speaker 1: know that old saying like what he does doesn't show
Speaker 1: up in the in the stack on but it does.
Speaker 1: He was plus twenty. It's also interesting when you've looked
Speaker 1: at what's been happening with the Sixers, not just in
Speaker 1: the playoff game last Saturday, but during this winning streak.
Speaker 1: Is how when you want to have a conversation about
Speaker 1: a player in an isolated, individual vacuum. You know, that's understandable, valid,
Speaker 1: everyone does it, But then you also have to account
Speaker 1: for how a fit could come together. And with guys
Speaker 1: like Marco Belinelli and Orson Eliosova, they were on a
Speaker 1: team that was going into the final week of the
Speaker 1: season on track to finish the poorest record in the
Speaker 1: Eastern Conference, the Atlanta Hawks, and now here they are,
Speaker 1: and they are two vital contributors to a team that
Speaker 1: people are saying could make a run as far as
Speaker 1: who knows, not just the Eastern Conference finals, the finals, Yeah, David, huge.
Speaker 1: And it's another reason why I think a lot of
Speaker 1: the Eastern Conference teams that the Sixers have played, you know,
Speaker 1: they have kind of underestimated the team that they're seeing now,
Speaker 1: whether it was in Milwaukee in the last day of
Speaker 1: the season, Miami, who played the Sixers at in Miami.
Speaker 1: The two losses were just at the beginning when those
Speaker 1: guys came and they weren't quite the focal points of
Speaker 1: what they are now they make a huge difference, huge difference.
Speaker 1: And now, like, like, don't get me Justin Anderson played
Speaker 1: some pretty good basketball at points this year before he
Speaker 1: got hurt both times. Now he's like the fifth wing
Speaker 1: off the bench. I mean, they're just so much deeper
Speaker 1: and they can mix and match with matchups. Now, you know,
Speaker 1: maybe Anderson, I don't know, maybe he doesn't get too
Speaker 1: many minutes in this series, but who knows, if they
Speaker 1: win this year, maybe he comes in play next series
Speaker 1: with a certain matchup. So not only are Arson and
Speaker 1: Marcos so valuable just for obviously the shooting and spacing,
Speaker 1: but they also just make the depth so much better.
Speaker 1: Evolution to the bench. Big storyline six is being a
Speaker 1: third quarter team, huge storyline down the stretch of the season,
Speaker 1: and JJ Reddick playing some of the best, most productive
Speaker 1: offensive basketball of his twelve year career. I mean, it
Speaker 1: seems like he's totally flicked the switch. And I feel like,
Speaker 1: at least for me, it's very easy too at times
Speaker 1: set the bar very high for Reddick and not be
Speaker 1: always impressed by the numbers that he puts up. But
Speaker 1: you know, because you're, like, he's the veteran you gave
Speaker 1: him the deal, you gave him. He's been around before,
Speaker 1: but he really has been fantastic. And second half twenty
Speaker 1: three points another example of him stepping up rise in
Speaker 1: the occasion. Yeah, I mean, you tell me. The number
Speaker 1: one question was like, if Miami punches you in the mouth,
Speaker 1: how do you respond? Right? And that's what happened. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the first half was definitely a punch. That was a
Speaker 1: punch um physically literally At some points, you know, there
Speaker 1: were physical you know again, JJ got ripped on like
Speaker 1: the second possession of the game, and then I think
Speaker 1: that was the play that Covington got back and had
Speaker 1: those two blocks right around it, right around okay um. Yeah,
Speaker 1: But like there were times when it looked like are
Speaker 1: the Sixers offense wasn't going to be able to get
Speaker 1: into its stuff because Miami was just gonna be physical
Speaker 1: and they responded. You know. So, I don't know if
Speaker 1: I'm if I'm Marek's pulsure, I don't, I don't. I
Speaker 1: really don't know what to do next. There's only so
Speaker 1: much and this is one of those games where I
Speaker 1: feel like it could reveal that there might only be
Speaker 1: so much that Miami could do. I mean, if the
Speaker 1: seventy sixers come out and have another pretty convincing performance,
Speaker 1: then you're going back down to Miami, and yeah, that
Speaker 1: that'll change the dynamics a little bit. But you would
Speaker 1: think that two one sided performances in succession could reveal
Speaker 1: perhaps where one team is and one is right. Not quite, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm I think in the second half there were some
Speaker 1: sets that they ran where they would kind of have
Speaker 1: like a double screen and then like three guys would
Speaker 1: flare in different directions and it would generate some open
Speaker 1: looks and Miami hit some shots. Um Olnik is tough
Speaker 1: to guard, for sure, but the problem with that is
Speaker 1: a mere Johnson can guard Kelly Olynik. He's it's one
Speaker 1: of the guys that is not pretty well. Spent the
Speaker 1: last couple of years with him right right, and and
Speaker 1: a mere strengths are positioning, you know, um being sturdy
Speaker 1: in the post, and so that's not even a great
Speaker 1: match even though Olnik is a pretty dangerous score like,
Speaker 1: it's just not a great matchup for them. I also
Speaker 1: think it's important we've been talking this long and we're
Speaker 1: not mentioning just like the change of pace that fault
Speaker 1: springs it was the next thing. I was gonna tin tea. Yeah,
Speaker 1: what a blessing to have that as a backup point guard. Um. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's run the team well too. That's the other thing.
Speaker 1: He played four games before he missed sixty eight, and
Speaker 1: he came back and I was talking to one of
Speaker 1: the coaches on the team and he was like, you know,
Speaker 1: just look at the way that Mark Hell is directing
Speaker 1: traffic and pointing things out and getting guys into things.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's not the simplest thing to do if
Speaker 1: you'd only played four NBA games before you come back
Speaker 1: and oh, by the way, there's this spotlight and amount
Speaker 1: of attention on you. And I think defensively, he's he's
Speaker 1: done okay. Two, he's had his moments where um gotten
Speaker 1: his length in there and used that to help the sixers.
Speaker 1: Did you happen to notice the play? I think it
Speaker 1: was in the third quarter where Wade had the ball
Speaker 1: like in the corner, near the corner, and he spun
Speaker 1: one way and really shook Mark Hell and created a
Speaker 1: lot of space. But then by the time that Wade
Speaker 1: lifted elevated to shoot, Mark Helle's hand was right there
Speaker 1: and he had recovered which I think, you know, talking
Speaker 1: to the guys in the basketball side, like his recovery
Speaker 1: ability at at his age with his explosiveness allows him
Speaker 1: to make the mistakes that you know rookies are going
Speaker 1: to make, and he's just able to close that gap.
Speaker 1: And the other thing is just on offense, even as
Speaker 1: he regains the confidence in his outside shot, he teams
Speaker 1: don't win by laying off of him because as soon
Speaker 1: as he puts the ball on the floor, he closes
Speaker 1: the space so much that they that the defender almost
Speaker 1: always has to put hands on him and he can
Speaker 1: draw fouls that way. There was a couple of plays
Speaker 1: where he was at the three point line and had
Speaker 1: a little bit of space and then he went to
Speaker 1: drive and just he's too quick. You can't stay in
Speaker 1: front of him. And I just think forty eight minutes
Speaker 1: of rookie point guard with nineteen assists and one turnover
Speaker 1: in the second half is really something. It's incredible. And
Speaker 1: the one basket Folts made highlight worthy out of the
Speaker 1: four shots, it was wow. Yeah, But how about Folts
Speaker 1: three or four from the free throw line. How about
Speaker 1: Ben Simmons out of ten from the stripe? That's something
Speaker 1: where I thought that was encouraging too that early on,
Speaker 1: when it seemed like Miami was really trying to pack
Speaker 1: it in in the first quarter, Ben seemed too, perhaps
Speaker 1: even more so than he was in the regular season,
Speaker 1: more aggressive, kept forcing the issue, trying to get to
Speaker 1: the bag, ask it if you got fouled, Okay, I'll
Speaker 1: go to the line and try and do what I can, right.
Speaker 1: I mean, it reminds you a little bit of the
Speaker 1: way that Cleveland came back against the Sixers in the
Speaker 1: second half in the game here a couple of weeks ago.
Speaker 1: Is if you have and you know, with Ben being
Speaker 1: a Lebron role, if you space four shooters around the court,
Speaker 1: with Ben or Lebron going down the lane, you can't
Speaker 1: guard either than one on one. You're gonna have to
Speaker 1: bring help. And they're both so good at finding shooters.
Speaker 1: So to me, you know, if you're playing the Sixers,
Speaker 1: you just hope, you know, the Sixers shoot seven for
Speaker 1: thirty five from three or whatever, you know what they
Speaker 1: have to go. It almost feels like that's what it
Speaker 1: might take the Sixers, more of the Sixers being off
Speaker 1: their game than some other team being able to impose
Speaker 1: its will on the Sixers right now. Right that being said,
Speaker 1: for the Miami Heat going in a game too, you'd
Speaker 1: have to think that a starting point for them in
Speaker 1: terms of trying to turn the things around would have
Speaker 1: to be the two of their more productive counted upon
Speaker 1: players are going to have to deliver what they're expected deliver.
Speaker 1: Talking about Draggits and Hassan Whiteside, Yeah, and you know
Speaker 1: Richardson shot out for four from three and I and
Speaker 1: he's probably a better shooter than that. He went he
Speaker 1: was a minus thirty in twenty seven minutes. Um yeah.
Speaker 1: I think the problem with Whiteside and is that he
Speaker 1: he changes the way you play, and their strength is
Speaker 1: a space game and playing probably James Johnson or even
Speaker 1: Justice Winzo at five. Um So, I think until Joel
Speaker 1: comes back and there's more of a post emphasis to
Speaker 1: the Sixers offense, I don't see how Whiteside fits in there.
Speaker 1: I really don't. Um So, I don't know. He played
Speaker 1: twelve of just over twelve minutes in Game one four
Speaker 1: in the second half, right, they shut him down after
Speaker 1: that start to the third and Olenic finished with twenty
Speaker 1: twenty six and he played thirty thirty almost thirty one minutes. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know what and Bam. You know, even Bam is
Speaker 1: able to play at the pace that they're looking to
Speaker 1: play more than than Whiteside. It is pretty uh, pretty
Speaker 1: outstanding for the Sixers. And really, you just, um, you know,
Speaker 1: maybe as we begin to put a bone, and this
Speaker 1: is just as corny and cliche as it probably is
Speaker 1: to say, you feel good for the fan base that's
Speaker 1: been hanging around. You know, early minutes of that game
Speaker 1: Saturday seemed like, you know, maybe some uneasiness when Miami
Speaker 1: made its move, but then in the end things opened up,
Speaker 1: and you know, it's just what we've seen more and
Speaker 1: more of over the last month and a half. Is
Speaker 1: that give the seventy six or forty eight minutes and
Speaker 1: they'll figure out a way to get it done. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And I think that uneasiness, which even I felt, I mean,
Speaker 1: there was such a buzz in the building and you
Speaker 1: just didn't know what to expect. And I don't mean
Speaker 1: that in the Sixers could go down by a lot.
Speaker 1: I didn't think that was likely, but like we're we
Speaker 1: going to see another blowout of a good team like
Speaker 1: we've been seeing a lot recently. I just I think
Speaker 1: that uneasiness was channeled in you know, Covington making some
Speaker 1: really great plays defensively to start the game. Uh, and
Speaker 1: guys just hustling. So even though you know, the offense
Speaker 1: looked a little disjointed or the shots weren't falling right away,
Speaker 1: there was just that intensity. And then I thought, what
Speaker 1: Foltz's first stint off the bench was a real momentum changer.
Speaker 1: I think he was. I think they went on a
Speaker 1: twelve nothing right, I don't know, he was a he
Speaker 1: was a plus twelve in his first four minutes in
Speaker 1: the game. He was. Yeah, that's that's really been a
Speaker 1: theme that we've seen recurrent lately, that he comes off
Speaker 1: the bench late in the first quarter and good things
Speaker 1: happened in the game against the Bucks. I think it
Speaker 1: was he had to say in twenty straight points after
Speaker 1: he checked in for Simmons, who got into foul trouble early. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, and there was great, He's been great, And
Speaker 1: there was no you know, with the initial struggles, there
Speaker 1: was no like finger pointing or anything like if anything.
Speaker 1: They just stayed connected and um and just blitzed, you know,
Speaker 1: blissed Miami. It is no doubt group together. So in
Speaker 1: closing from one seventy Sixers employee to another. What do
Speaker 1: you think we're gonna see in game two? Uh, it's
Speaker 1: I don't know what tactical adjustment there is to be made.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think you pretty it's pretty clear what
Speaker 1: Miami's lineup decision is going to be. Um in terms
Speaker 1: of five going small essentially, yeah, you know, and maybe
Speaker 1: there's something else for Ben maybe you know, but again,
Speaker 1: he shot seven for ten from the free throw line.
Speaker 1: What are you gonna donna finish five for ten? You
Speaker 1: know after that over three starts? Yeah, I'm like he
Speaker 1: found his way, no doubt about it, right, Like did
Speaker 1: Marco make a circus shot or two? Sure? And maybe
Speaker 1: you hope those don't go in? And um, you see
Speaker 1: Josh Richardson hit a couple more. Um, I think Dragee
Speaker 1: really struggles with his length, with with the Sixers length. Um,
Speaker 1: So I don't know. Maybe it's it's James Johnson bringing
Speaker 1: the ball up like we've seen before. I'm more justice
Speaker 1: winslow playmaking. But it's it's gonna be fun to see
Speaker 1: Game two again, another one without Joe who's out. So
Speaker 1: you know, the series doesn't start until the oa, the
Speaker 1: home team loses the game. So I think that's still
Speaker 1: on the Sixers to kind of take care of business. Now.
Speaker 1: Do you know who JJ read it quoted when he
Speaker 1: mentioned that after practice on Sunday, Who was it, Yes,
Speaker 1: Glenn Rivers. He said Glenn would always say pearls of
Speaker 1: wisdom being expensed. Yeah, a champion Glenn indeed. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: It's just the Sixers have so many different weapons to
Speaker 1: go to that you just can't take. It's almost like
Speaker 1: taking one away opens up another one totally. You know.
Speaker 1: So it's just remarkable how there's a clear, defined core
Speaker 1: nucleus for this team that everyone can see, but the
Speaker 1: compliments that have been sprinkled around, it's just h Yeah,
Speaker 1: I made a really great fit. Yeah, there was, um,
Speaker 1: there was that play coming out of a time out
Speaker 1: I believe where Ben. I mean he was going into
Speaker 1: time out. Ben got the ball in the post and
Speaker 1: whipped across court pass to the wing for Dario and
Speaker 1: he was kind of like falling. Awa hit a pretty
Speaker 1: contested three and he wasn't he hadn't really been in
Speaker 1: the flow until that point. So I was like, wow,
Speaker 1: he's making that Like good luck. I mean, there's No,
Speaker 1: it was a perfect pass from Ben And you know, again,
Speaker 1: maybe those don't all go in, but I just don't.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure if that breaks them. As we know,
Speaker 1: seventy six ers have been just about flawless on their
Speaker 1: home courts since the holiday and start of the new year,
Speaker 1: and they look to continue that trend and get more
Speaker 1: the same out of what has been the hottest team
Speaker 1: in basketball over the last now month plus a day
Speaker 1: to the date, Chuck, thank you as always, thanks looking
Speaker 1: forward to Game two. Indeed, watch the game on NBC
Speaker 1: Sports Philadelphia. Tonight's also on TNT if you're outside the
Speaker 1: area and a clock start time, will have a rewind
Speaker 1: edition of the podcast for you tomorrow. Enjoy the game.