Speaker 1: This podcast is part of the seventy Sixers podcast network
Speaker 1: search seventy Sixers podcast wherever you get your pods. Coming
Speaker 1: off a solid week cap by a great win against
Speaker 1: the Brooklyn Nets, the seventy Sixers now take their act
Speaker 1: on the road against a couple of quality opponents. We
Speaker 1: cover a lot, from Bentham and Dunk to Danny Greens Threes,
Speaker 1: Toby Yes, coffee and not just any coffee, Salt Lake
Speaker 1: City Coffee. You're called DMS voicemail. We do it every
Speaker 1: week right here on mail bag work. The seventy Sixers
Speaker 1: in the midst of a rare reprieve back to back
Speaker 1: days without playing games as they sojourn west for the
Speaker 1: start of a four game road trip. But knock on wood,
Speaker 1: the mailbag is still busy, which we totally appreciate, and
Speaker 1: we got some noteworthy storylines learn to reflect upon from
Speaker 1: the week that was. The seventy sixers had a two
Speaker 1: and one week, just a little bit of a hiccup
Speaker 1: against Portland without one of their all stars, Ben Simmons.
Speaker 1: We can also look ahead to a four game swing
Speaker 1: through the West which I think you present some good
Speaker 1: tests for the old squad. I know we talk about
Speaker 1: all the time celts that this is a new team,
Speaker 1: but I think every time the team goes on the road,
Speaker 1: I do get just a little bit nervous. But then
Speaker 1: when I consider the way that this team has performed
Speaker 1: on the road thus far this season, I feel a
Speaker 1: little better. I'm looking forward to seeing how they embrace
Speaker 1: this challenge as opposed to being nervous about what could
Speaker 1: go down. They have been a lot better on the
Speaker 1: road this year, and it's a refreshing way to go
Speaker 1: into a four game trip. You know the way I'm
Speaker 1: feeling about this upcoming four game trip, tell me, I'll
Speaker 1: be honest, I'm a little envious. There are a couple
Speaker 1: of cities on this trip that, if you look at
Speaker 1: the schedule, you might not think are the most appealing
Speaker 1: or attractive destinations on the NBA circuit. The Sixers are
Speaker 1: at Sacramento, Portland, Phoenix, and then Salt Lake City, home
Speaker 1: of the Jazz. But there are a couple of those
Speaker 1: cities Sacramento might be surprising to some people. Sacramento and
Speaker 1: salt Lake concluded that are low key favorites of one
Speaker 1: Brian Seltzer. Salt Lake is a favorite of Lauren Rosen
Speaker 1: as well. I'm a big nature, clean air. There are
Speaker 1: some cities where the air just feels fresh. Salt Lake
Speaker 1: City is one of those. A ten minute drive and
Speaker 1: you're in the beautiful mountains. I'm a big Salt Lake
Speaker 1: City gal, and I feel you. I would really be
Speaker 1: happy to go on a trip to anywhere right about now,
Speaker 1: but of course, safety first. Glad that the team has
Speaker 1: been able to be as safe as they have with
Speaker 1: a condensed travel party. And I'll be getting to other
Speaker 1: cities at some point in the next I don't know what,
Speaker 1: three years, four years, five years. Oh yeah, yeah, let's
Speaker 1: go a little bit more optimistic. Maybe within the next season.
Speaker 1: Fingers crossed, let's not jinx it. Yeah. Sacramento, I feel
Speaker 1: gets a bad rapid times. They have a great brewery
Speaker 1: around the corner from the hotel. Hopefully I'm not divulging
Speaker 1: too much. Portland Hetty Crunchy, tremendous donuts, great grub. Phoenix
Speaker 1: is Phoenix in Salt Lake City. Like you said, the
Speaker 1: right time of year, get up in that mountain air,
Speaker 1: maybe have an off day, go to Park City, check
Speaker 1: it out. Those are different times, however, No, this is
Speaker 1: a very Lauren Rosen trip. Actually, I love Portland. Portland
Speaker 1: might be of the NBA cities that I've seen, and
Speaker 1: now I've seen most of them all but a few.
Speaker 1: Portland is right at the very top for me. I
Speaker 1: love Portland, love salt Lake. Whenever there are West Coast trips,
Speaker 1: people get really excited about going to southern California, and
Speaker 1: for me, to be honest, I would take Portland and
Speaker 1: salt Lake ten times out of ten. Wow, I like that.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure if I would go ten times out
Speaker 1: of ten, maybe like eight and a half times out
Speaker 1: of ten. I would mix in a few stops in
Speaker 1: Portland and Salt Lake in addition to Southern California fair
Speaker 1: enough and San Francisco fair enough. I have never been
Speaker 1: to the Staples Center, and I know that that's one
Speaker 1: of the one of the arenas with a lot of
Speaker 1: just sort of general vibes and ethos that you want
Speaker 1: to experience. So yes, maybe once I've done it, I'll
Speaker 1: feel differently. But I do love Portland and Salt Lake.
Speaker 1: And now the people that listen to us know way
Speaker 1: too much about where I care to travel to, so apologies,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna ask one more non seventy six ers question
Speaker 1: before we open up the mailbag, just because I feel
Speaker 1: like everyone has to have a take, whoever you are,
Speaker 1: whatever it is you do, whether you even like sports
Speaker 1: or don't any Super Bowl takes anything at all, Do
Speaker 1: I ask you what was your favorite commercial? I gotta
Speaker 1: be honest, I almost didn't watch it, and I think
Speaker 1: that that's something important for folks to know about my identity.
Speaker 1: I love sports. There's a reason I work in sports.
Speaker 1: But I have just been a little sports out lately
Speaker 1: and I almost didn't watch. I don't have much of
Speaker 1: an affinity for either team that was playing. And then
Speaker 1: I said, look like it's a cultural moment. You got
Speaker 1: to watch the Super Bowl. So I did turn it on.
Speaker 1: I did believe that the outcome was going to be
Speaker 1: the outcome. I had a feeling. I'm one of those
Speaker 1: people you never bet against one of the greatest of
Speaker 1: all time. It's why I never bet against Lebron in
Speaker 1: the finals. It's why I never bet against Tom Brady
Speaker 1: and the Super Bowl. So for someone who almost didn't
Speaker 1: watch the game, I was proud of myself for having
Speaker 1: the right, you know, take, at least to myself. I
Speaker 1: think that's fair. I think that's a reasonable way to
Speaker 1: look at it. I was a fan of the door
Speaker 1: Dash neighborhood ad with Sesame Street, just because that's kind
Speaker 1: of the realm that I'm living in these days. UM.
Speaker 1: Also not too dissimilar along that same theme, the Huggies
Speaker 1: shot from Home mostly diaper's ad a lot of I
Speaker 1: think it looked like it was a mashup of homeshot
Speaker 1: phone videos um mixed in with some professional shots stuff.
Speaker 1: So I like that. Um what else? I feel like
Speaker 1: there was one more, Oh, general motors, Will Farrell. That
Speaker 1: was a good one. I don't know if you caught that.
Speaker 1: Sometimes a little bit play down on Will Farrell and
Speaker 1: I think that he's, uh, it's slightly stale. But I
Speaker 1: thought this was fresh good Will Farrell. I found flat
Speaker 1: Matthew McConaughey amusing. I wasn't like I thought they could
Speaker 1: have done a little more with that, but but I
Speaker 1: was amused. I was intrigued by flat Matthew McConaughey at
Speaker 1: some point in the first quarter. So okay, hopefully there
Speaker 1: aren't too many people. I feel like it might be
Speaker 1: just about everyone who hit the tap ahead by ten
Speaker 1: or fifteen or thirty second, wishing there was even more seconds.
Speaker 1: You could tap ahead with buttons on your pod apps.
Speaker 1: But at long last, it is time to open up
Speaker 1: this week's mailbag. You have one new message. How does
Speaker 1: mailbag Monday work? You have a couple of ways to
Speaker 1: reach us. You can call it. This is the preferred
Speaker 1: way our pod line two on five four zero three
Speaker 1: seven six three seven. That's two on five four zero
Speaker 1: three pods. Leave us a voicemail any time of the week,
Speaker 1: day or night about anything related to the seventy six ers,
Speaker 1: and we'll be more than happy to play. Right now,
Speaker 1: there's just about a one thousand percent ratio that if
Speaker 1: you leave a voicemail, we are going to play it
Speaker 1: on the pod, dating back to as long as we've
Speaker 1: been doing this, and the dms are also open. Look
Speaker 1: for us on Instagram Seltzer six or snaps Lauren m Rosen.
Speaker 1: Lauren's got the same handle on Twitter. I'm at Brian
Speaker 1: Seltzer on Twitter and the sixers main account on IGS
Speaker 1: opens up a weekly sticker for your submission in their
Speaker 1: story on Sundays, and that's how you can reach us
Speaker 1: as well. And if we read your prompt or submission,
Speaker 1: or play it on the show. You are then entered
Speaker 1: into a random name picker for a seventy Sixers swag bag.
Speaker 1: That's it. We'd love to hear from you. Love it
Speaker 1: every time we get questions. You guys are always engaged.
Speaker 1: You guys are always keeping us on our toes. We
Speaker 1: appreciate them, so keep them coming. This past week saw
Speaker 1: wins for the seventy six Ers, wrapping up a three
Speaker 1: game road trip in perfect fashion with a dub at
Speaker 1: Charlotte lost the next night at home against the Portland
Speaker 1: Trailblazers without Ben Simmons, and then a big victory on
Speaker 1: Saturday versus the Brooklyn Nats one twenty four to one await.
Speaker 1: Not surprisingly, a lot of people weighing in on that
Speaker 1: win over the Nats. We will start there do a
Speaker 1: couple quick hitters. First from Alex the King seven nine
Speaker 1: five on Instagram. He said the win was amazing. Big
Speaker 1: Ben is violent in a good way, and I am
Speaker 1: not one to promote violence in any way, shape or form,
Speaker 1: unless it is a Ben Simmons in your face dunk
Speaker 1: on Tyler Johnson. That was awesome. It really really was awesome,
Speaker 1: And I feel that in some cases I'm okay with
Speaker 1: technical fouls. Yeah, Like obviously you don't want too many
Speaker 1: of them. It was a close game, but I was
Speaker 1: cool with it if it means that Ben's feeling himself
Speaker 1: and he's getting demonstrative out there. Ben Simmons is scary
Speaker 1: when he's calm, right, So a riled up Ben Simmons
Speaker 1: is honestly somewhat terrifying, and I was happy to see
Speaker 1: him get into that mode. Some underscore eighty five underscore.
Speaker 1: I am loving floor general Ben Simmons. His mindset is
Speaker 1: full on broad Street Bully when we win, I agree.
Speaker 1: I thought that Ben came out with purpose. Honestly, in
Speaker 1: looking back a couple days later, I thought his contributions
Speaker 1: were more impactful than perhaps the final line reflected, at
Speaker 1: least on offense with the scoring fish with sixteen points,
Speaker 1: twelve rebounds, eight assists, three steals, helped change the game
Speaker 1: with his defense on James Hard midway through the third quarter.
Speaker 1: All around, great game from Ben, but his demeanor in
Speaker 1: that game was also something that I took away from
Speaker 1: the wind Laarn and I don't know how we can
Speaker 1: do a better job of addressing this, So I'm open
Speaker 1: to thoughts from you or from anyone that submits to
Speaker 1: the Mailbag. But I feel that Ben's stat line almost
Speaker 1: never tells the full story. It always he's more impactful
Speaker 1: than even sixteen twelve and eight, which is an incredibly
Speaker 1: impactful stat line right the way that he impacts the
Speaker 1: game on both ends of the floor. We've heard Doc
Speaker 1: Rivers talk about it all season since even before this
Speaker 1: team actually hit the floor for meaningful minutes. We've heard
Speaker 1: Joel and Bead talk about Joel and Bead talked about
Speaker 1: it on Twitter a couple nights ago to make sure
Speaker 1: people know how impactful Ben is beyond what the stats say.
Speaker 1: So I wish there was a way that we could
Speaker 1: just add like a little Ben bump to every stat
Speaker 1: line that he produces, because he is always making more
Speaker 1: of an impact than that line suggests. And the same
Speaker 1: could go for a few other players on this team
Speaker 1: as well. When there are so many good players, the
Speaker 1: stats don't always tell the full story. Couldn't be in
Speaker 1: more alignment with you on that sentiment, Larne, and just
Speaker 1: very quickly as an aside, because we haven't done enough
Speaker 1: asides already on this edition of mail Bag Monday, you
Speaker 1: mentioned Twitter and some love shown by Joel embiad for
Speaker 1: his fellow players on the Sixers roster. On Twitter, it
Speaker 1: is a fricking get you to the All Star Game
Speaker 1: LoveFest between Joe, Ben and Tobias. It's great, great support
Speaker 1: for each other and tremendous camaraderie on social media between
Speaker 1: three all Star hopefuls for the Sixers. Yeah, you love
Speaker 1: to see it sets. They have varying sizes of followings,
Speaker 1: notably Joel Ben they have millions and millions of followers.
Speaker 1: Tobiases a little bit behind in the follower count, but
Speaker 1: Ben and Joel know that, and they know that they
Speaker 1: can use their audiences to boost the rising tide can
Speaker 1: raise all ships in this social media of Sixers landscape,
Speaker 1: and I've loved watching the way that they've all been
Speaker 1: able to leverage their own voices to help one another.
Speaker 1: Tobias has done a little bit more media recently. He
Speaker 1: did the woj pod and he also has been super
Speaker 1: super complimentary of Ben and Joel. So to just hear
Speaker 1: them all spreading the love towards one another, it's it's
Speaker 1: just been beautiful to see salts. It warms my heart,
Speaker 1: It warms my cold, cold heart. Amen which, Hey, everyone's
Speaker 1: heart has got to be cold these days. Right now
Speaker 1: as we're taping this, it's like twenty five degrees outside. Insanity.
Speaker 1: All right, back into the mail bag we go. You
Speaker 1: have one new message. Yeas me and Morgan on Ig
Speaker 1: said Brooklyn in that game that Simmons and Curry got
Speaker 1: back into a groove. I am hype. I've got one
Speaker 1: of two. Hey, look at you. One two year old
Speaker 1: twins are in the house. My man Asher there he is.
Speaker 1: He's going to come and read one of our submissions.
Speaker 1: He wants to sleep on my side of the bed
Speaker 1: for naps. Should we let him? Before we address he
Speaker 1: has me and Morgan's comment, I think, so are we
Speaker 1: keeping this part in salters? Or is this we're keeping in? Yeah,
Speaker 1: this is still in. I thought this was like a
Speaker 1: US question for the mail bag is no, it is.
Speaker 1: It's from Ashury. He wants to know can you sleep
Speaker 1: on my side of the bed for nap? I think
Speaker 1: we should let him? Should let me sleep on my
Speaker 1: side of the bed? Okay, all right? If he says yes,
Speaker 1: we should, then we shall goodbye, buddy, let's rerack it. Yes,
Speaker 1: me and Morgan on Ig this was a game talking
Speaker 1: about the Brooklyn game that Ben Simmons and Seth Curry
Speaker 1: needed to get back in the groove. I am hype.
Speaker 1: I am as well loved seeing that fade away three
Speaker 1: from the corner go down for Seth Curry at the
Speaker 1: end of the first half that put the Sixers back
Speaker 1: in front by one. He only finished with eleven points,
Speaker 1: but I thought that you saw Seth established that rhythm
Speaker 1: once again, boosted by that late three in the second quarter,
Speaker 1: and then in the third quarter, he was really helpful
Speaker 1: as well, for sure, and that was yet another decisive
Speaker 1: third quarter for this team. So to see Seth get
Speaker 1: some shots going in, like you said right before halftime,
Speaker 1: and then eight points in the second half really big
Speaker 1: for someone that's had a rough go of it the
Speaker 1: last few weeks. We know that he was sidelined due
Speaker 1: to COVID nineteen. Doc Rivers has been very understanding and
Speaker 1: has urged folks to give Seth a little slack because
Speaker 1: he's still coming back from something really difficult. Seth has
Speaker 1: explained that he hasn't been feeling great. We saw him
Speaker 1: sit out the second half of the Portland game because
Speaker 1: he wasn't feeling great. So just from a human perspective,
Speaker 1: really really nice to see Seth succeed against the Brooklyn Nets,
Speaker 1: and hopefully he can put together a good road trip
Speaker 1: for himself. But I would echo what Doc said and
Speaker 1: just make sure you're being patient with this man, because
Speaker 1: this has got to be really difficult for him. He
Speaker 1: obviously holds himself to a very high standard and it
Speaker 1: must be hard to not be able to reach that
Speaker 1: standard because of something that's totally out of your control.
Speaker 1: And I like to presume positive intent, Lauren, with everyone,
Speaker 1: but if you do, happen to be one of those
Speaker 1: people who is not being patient with Seth Curry right now,
Speaker 1: he was shooting sixty percent this time last week from three,
Speaker 1: so let's let's give it a rest. And I think
Speaker 1: most people are. I think they realize that, yeah, there's
Speaker 1: ups and downs, especially when it comes with shooting throughout
Speaker 1: a season, and Seth is, in particular trying to navigate
Speaker 1: this just crazy period and trying to get himself right.
Speaker 1: But I was, and I'm glad to see that some
Speaker 1: fans were as well, really happy to see him do
Speaker 1: his thing at various points in that game against the
Speaker 1: Nets on Saturday. I want to take a quick second
Speaker 1: to remind you of our programming slate here on the
Speaker 1: seventy Sixers podcast network main feed. Every Monday it's mail
Speaker 1: Bag Monday with myself and Lauren Rosen. Every other Tuesday
Speaker 1: it's co Check with Matt Murphy, the official podcast of
Speaker 1: the Delaware Bluecoats, the seventy six Ers G League affiliate.
Speaker 1: Every other Thursday it is Tom's Talks with the one
Speaker 1: and only radio voice of the seventy six Ers, the
Speaker 1: incomparable Tom McGuinness. And then on Fridays it's our weekly
Speaker 1: Deep Dive with the Man Devon Givens. We also have
Speaker 1: a brand new show on a brand new feed. It's
Speaker 1: called The Scoop. It's essentially a daily five minute seventy
Speaker 1: Sixers update that comes to you first thing every morning.
Speaker 1: All you gotta do is search seventy six or Scoop
Speaker 1: wherever you get your pods to subscribe or follow along
Speaker 1: more mail Bag. You have one new message, Jay Harrap,
Speaker 1: eighty sixers are playing amazing. It's because we got shooters now,
Speaker 1: and I do not disagree with that. I feel that
Speaker 1: as well. The spacing of this team has looked really good.
Speaker 1: The ball movement of this team has looked good, the
Speaker 1: shooting has looked good, and of course this week we
Speaker 1: saw a couple of cold streaks from the Sixers from
Speaker 1: deep but just knowing, and it's not coming to my
Speaker 1: head right now, but one of our players spoke about it,
Speaker 1: and it'll probably come to me as soon as we
Speaker 1: hang up from this call, Seltz, But about the idea
Speaker 1: that Danny and Seth are always threats, whether or not
Speaker 1: they're scoring high numbers in any given game, Leaving them
Speaker 1: open is always a mistake and that stretches opponent defenses
Speaker 1: in a way that we haven't seen a ton in
Speaker 1: the last couple of years, especially when they're going to
Speaker 1: try to double Joel Embiid with If you double Joel
Speaker 1: embid and you're guarding Danny and you're guarding Seth, who's
Speaker 1: guarding Ben and Tobias, it really is an interesting thing
Speaker 1: to see the way that other defenses have to deal
Speaker 1: with this team and have to give respect to guys
Speaker 1: like Danny and Seth. And that's just in the starting lineup.
Speaker 1: We know we have shooters on the bench as well.
Speaker 1: How awesome was that when Danny Green in the corner
Speaker 1: right in front of the Brooklyn bench got the no call,
Speaker 1: and it was probably a fair no call. But listen,
Speaker 1: if the worst thing that happened from that was that
Speaker 1: he got so fired up, he went on that run
Speaker 1: of scoring eight straight points to essentially put the game
Speaker 1: in the seventy sixers control for good, terrific moment. And
Speaker 1: it speaks to your point, Lauren, that regardless of what
Speaker 1: these guys are shooting. To tie this back into the
Speaker 1: comment that we were talking about with Seth, it's that
Speaker 1: you have to honor these guys, particularly those two, given
Speaker 1: their body of work. And I think last year the
Speaker 1: Sixers had some players on their roster who are solid
Speaker 1: three point shooters who yes, can knock down big shots,
Speaker 1: like a Josh Richardson. And this is no shade or
Speaker 1: any slight, but he's just he's not one of those
Speaker 1: dead eye marksmen like Danny Green and Seth Curry, and
Speaker 1: very few guys are in the NBA for that matter.
Speaker 1: But you have to honor players like that, and you
Speaker 1: just sort of know that when Danny or Seth is
Speaker 1: left open, they're gonna make you pay. I like what
Speaker 1: you said about Danny. I said that he returned to
Speaker 1: the scene of the crime for back to back threes
Speaker 1: after that egregious no call. There aren't many people in
Speaker 1: the building these days, but when there's a big no
Speaker 1: call in the building, you can kind of hear a
Speaker 1: collective sigh or a collective like if there were fans there,
Speaker 1: they'd be booing and being loud and being crazy. But
Speaker 1: even without fans, when a no call is as bad
Speaker 1: as that one on Danny was, you really hear you
Speaker 1: hear a collective sigh in the building. And then it
Speaker 1: was great to see him return to the scene get
Speaker 1: those back to back threes and really put the game
Speaker 1: away for the Sixers. I thought that was a great,
Speaker 1: great showing from Danny Green in a crucial part of
Speaker 1: the game for the first time. In this week's Mailbag Monday,
Speaker 1: we go to the podline. You have one new message.
Speaker 1: Seventy sixers have had some situations forward to had a
Speaker 1: big lead or going into the reporter or their down
Speaker 1: a little bit. The best fourth quarter team so far
Speaker 1: in the season, do you think this helps them close
Speaker 1: out teams and put them away. They'd come back a
Speaker 1: little bit. We are talking about late game performance consistently
Speaker 1: learn by these seventy sixers. Do we think this helps
Speaker 1: close teams out and put them away because they've been
Speaker 1: so good in the fourth quarter. Absolutely, we've discussed this
Speaker 1: a couple of times. I honestly can't remember at this
Speaker 1: point where it was seven six Live Countdown Friday Deep
Speaker 1: Dive with Divan or here on the mail bag. But
Speaker 1: I really am a big believer that this fourth quarter success,
Speaker 1: closing teams out in the fourth especially for new team
Speaker 1: with a new coach, really conform the foundation for trust
Speaker 1: and buying. No doubt about it, the Sixers continue to
Speaker 1: be the best fourth quarter team in the league. Of course,
Speaker 1: that means that they are finding themselves in a lot
Speaker 1: of close games scenarios in the fourth quarter, which I'm
Speaker 1: sure Doc Rivers would be relieved to not find himself
Speaker 1: in as much as this team is. But there will
Speaker 1: be a lot of close games down the road for
Speaker 1: this team. There will be a lot of close games
Speaker 1: in the playoffs for this team. It is cool to
Speaker 1: see the way that they've figured out a way to
Speaker 1: navigate tough situations this early in their ten year as
Speaker 1: a group, not just early in the season, but early
Speaker 1: as a group, early as a group under a new
Speaker 1: coaching staff. They really have figured out what late in
Speaker 1: games is supposed to look like, and to me, it
Speaker 1: starts on defense. I think this team's fourth quarter defense
Speaker 1: has been just based on the eye test, not even
Speaker 1: using any of the numbers. Pretty outstanding. I think that
Speaker 1: when we talk about stats, you know, there's I think
Speaker 1: more people these days obviously understand why it makes sense
Speaker 1: to look at things on a per one hundred possession
Speaker 1: basis that normalizes things for all thirty teams. But let's
Speaker 1: say if you just took the per game stats traditional
Speaker 1: stats and you narrowed it down to the fourth quarter,
Speaker 1: Sixers outscored the opposition by around three and a half
Speaker 1: points per game in the fourth quarter. But if you
Speaker 1: project that out and normalize it to per one hundre possessions,
Speaker 1: this is how good the Sixers are in the fourth quarter,
Speaker 1: outscoring the opponent by an average of thirteen points that
Speaker 1: would be if they played it that way over the
Speaker 1: course of one hundred possession game. And the next closest
Speaker 1: team is Brook and they're doing quick math roughly five
Speaker 1: points behind the seventy Sixers in their scoring rate in
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter, which, again, if you go back to
Speaker 1: the per game stat analysis, they're just about a point
Speaker 1: and a half pind the Sixers, So that just speaks
Speaker 1: to the differential. Then when you look at it by
Speaker 1: a per one hundred possession basis, shows you how good
Speaker 1: the Sixers have been finding ways to close opponents out.
Speaker 1: Did any of that make sense? I felt myself speaking
Speaker 1: in circles. Okay, it made sense to me, and I
Speaker 1: would just add the last stat I wanted to throw
Speaker 1: out there. The Sixers have found themselves in I believe eleven, yes,
Speaker 1: eleven clutch time situations where the game is within five
Speaker 1: I believe, isn't it within five points in the last
Speaker 1: five minutes of the game. Cells isn't thought how clutch
Speaker 1: time is defined. And they've won ten of those eleven opportunities.
Speaker 1: That's big time. That is a huge stat and if
Speaker 1: they can continue winning close games at this rate, I
Speaker 1: think it'll be absolutely massive for the team going forward.
Speaker 1: Opponents shooting just forty one and a half percent on
Speaker 1: the seventy Sixers in fourth quarter that is just a
Speaker 1: tenth of a percentage point behind Houston for the best
Speaker 1: stat in the league. Opponent shooting just thirty one point
Speaker 1: six percent from three in the fourth quarter. That is
Speaker 1: the lowest in the league seventy Sixers defense getting it
Speaker 1: done when it matters the most. Andy Slichter on IG
Speaker 1: saying the Sixers can finish a game even when the
Speaker 1: game isn't going to plan, learning to finish speaking to
Speaker 1: the point we just discussed, Yes, Andy Well said, you
Speaker 1: have one new message. More on Igs, Jonathan underscore Young
Speaker 1: O three playing Shake Milton more is great for the Sixers,
Speaker 1: with him getting more than twenty minutes per game e
Speaker 1: Z win in Caps. I can't say if it's necessarily
Speaker 1: always going to be easy or simple or direct path,
Speaker 1: but I do agree that the more Shake Milton plays,
Speaker 1: it seems like the more good things happen. Well. Shake
Speaker 1: is just so determined and so confident no matter the scenario.
Speaker 1: He's always ready to embrace a challenge. He's never afraid.
Speaker 1: The way that he's able to drive through traffic late
Speaker 1: in games, even if he's not having a great night,
Speaker 1: to just really attack an opponent defense and have no
Speaker 1: fear has really impressed me over and over again from Shake,
Speaker 1: and it's cool to see him continuing to feel out
Speaker 1: his role as really a leader of that second unit,
Speaker 1: even though he's still young in his career, he's sort
Speaker 1: of emerged as a as a calm, cool, collected presence
Speaker 1: for a second unit that is, overall, outside of Dwight Howard,
Speaker 1: pretty young. Shake Milton in the win over the NAT's
Speaker 1: fifteen points off the bench, six of three from the field,
Speaker 1: four rebounds and three assists, got a few opportunities when
Speaker 1: he was matched up on James Harden, and Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think that he is certainly larned taking on a leadership
Speaker 1: role with the bench. He's a great score, still an
Speaker 1: evolving score very much this year from what we've seen
Speaker 1: his ability to finish at the rim, but also his defense.
Speaker 1: I think people should be talking more about that. I
Speaker 1: know that some people on six or Twitter have brought
Speaker 1: that up, but Shake's been able to hold it down
Speaker 1: pretty decently on defense, which can only help his cause
Speaker 1: towards make a complete player. Yeah, and another player that
Speaker 1: comes to mind is Tobias Harris there because both of
Speaker 1: them have shown a ton of improvement this season, but
Speaker 1: they've also both emphasized the fact that they want to
Speaker 1: improve on defense, and they've definitely done it. I don't
Speaker 1: see Shake Milton or Tobias Harris as a defensive liability
Speaker 1: I see them as guys that can stick with their man.
Speaker 1: They can even hang around in a little zone if
Speaker 1: they need to, and it's been cool to see them
Speaker 1: sort of put their money where their mouth is when
Speaker 1: it comes to improving defensively. Because both of them have
Speaker 1: back to the podline, which once again so you can
Speaker 1: enter it in your phone and save it. Two and
Speaker 1: five four zero three seven six three seven. You have
Speaker 1: one new message him a tease. This is Grace from
Speaker 1: Las Vegas. I just wanted to give you a shout
Speaker 1: out on how you stayed so determined in the end
Speaker 1: of the Pacers game. So proud of you. Keep up
Speaker 1: that strong defense and keep making those steals. Thank you
Speaker 1: for making it such an exciting game. Bye. So the
Speaker 1: story behind this voicemail, Lauren is that Gloria actually called
Speaker 1: us right after we were done taping last week's mail
Speaker 1: bag Monday. So her voice mail reference Matisse Thible's defensive
Speaker 1: performance against the Indiana Pacers. But because she sent in
Speaker 1: a great call, one that appreciates Matisse Thible, you have
Speaker 1: to get those calls in and again, I think this
Speaker 1: underscores the point that you were talking about with the
Speaker 1: bench and how we're seeing some depth, And I gotta
Speaker 1: be honest with you, like looking at some of the
Speaker 1: fellow top contenders if we put the Sixers in that
Speaker 1: category in the Eastern Conference, I'm thinking of teams like
Speaker 1: Brooklyn and Boston and Toronto who the Sixers have played
Speaker 1: as well. Miami, I don't think we could get a
Speaker 1: fair gage on because they were so decimated in terms
Speaker 1: of roster availability when the Sixers had that two game series.
Speaker 1: But I like the Sixers depth compared to their fellow
Speaker 1: top of the Eastern Conference brethren. We haven't seen Milwaukee yet,
Speaker 1: but I really like the Sixers depth. And a couple
Speaker 1: of these guys who we've talked about over the last
Speaker 1: few minutes our big reason why the Sixers have shown
Speaker 1: to have good depth. Yeah, I'm with you. It's a
Speaker 1: guy like Matisse Thybill coming off the bench is such
Speaker 1: a luxury to have. He's one of the best defenders
Speaker 1: certainly on this team, if not in the league. And
Speaker 1: to have someone like Shake come off the bench with
Speaker 1: his offense, Matisse come off the bench with his defense.
Speaker 1: Those are weapons that other second units around the league
Speaker 1: are going to have problems responding to. And it's been
Speaker 1: cool to see both of them grow again from sort
Speaker 1: of youngsters on the team into guys that really know
Speaker 1: their role and can step into their role with confidence
Speaker 1: and with conviction. A guy like Matisse, we talk about
Speaker 1: his defense all the time, but I think it's worth
Speaker 1: noting that his stats on defense in steals and particularly
Speaker 1: deflections always among the top guys in the league, but
Speaker 1: his minutes are not among his contemporaries in those situations.
Speaker 1: And I liked dear tweets ELTs the other day when
Speaker 1: you talked about Matisse leading the league in deflections per
Speaker 1: thirty six, because Matise this season is averaging, I believe,
Speaker 1: just over seventeen minutes a game and still hanging with
Speaker 1: other defenders stats wise per game. But when you narrow
Speaker 1: it down per thirty six, Matis is far in a
Speaker 1: way being more productive defensive end when it comes to
Speaker 1: deflections and steals and loose balls. And I think that's
Speaker 1: just a phenomenal thing to keep an eye on to
Speaker 1: that point, and we must be particularly in sync. On
Speaker 1: this edition of Mailbag Monday, Matise played twenty two minutes
Speaker 1: against the Nets on Saturday. He had a team high
Speaker 1: twelve contested shots. According to NBA dot Com. And now
Speaker 1: it's also important to note that the way that individual
Speaker 1: teams measure these stats differ from the league website. So
Speaker 1: it kind of to me, I kind of take with
Speaker 1: a grain of salt and numbers like that serve to
Speaker 1: better inform what you're seeing. But yeah, in twenty two
Speaker 1: minutes twelve contested shots, that's tremendous five deflections, second on
Speaker 1: the team to Ben Simmons, who at eight deflections, and
Speaker 1: Simmons played thirty four minutes. So whether it's stagnated where
Speaker 1: you might have Ben Simmons on the court at one time,
Speaker 1: then bring on Matisse to take on the opposing team's
Speaker 1: top perimeter score, or you put them in a lineup
Speaker 1: together like what we saw at times with Ben Mati
Speaker 1: plus another All League defender in Danny Green, seventy sixers
Speaker 1: showing some really great options defensively that they can use
Speaker 1: scattered throughout a game. Yeah, no doubt about it. We
Speaker 1: talked about it obviously with last week's mailbag, and I
Speaker 1: assume that this voicemail is addressing the zone that the
Speaker 1: two of them, Ben and Matisse that is put up
Speaker 1: at the top of that two three zone. They were
Speaker 1: just incredible, really cool thing to maybe look out for
Speaker 1: on a future I don't know, Australian national team, but
Speaker 1: also on sixers lineups to come as well. Really cool
Speaker 1: to see the two of them developing a chemistry on
Speaker 1: the defensive end, trusting one another and leading the rest
Speaker 1: of the group on defense. And I would also add
Speaker 1: there was a play that I wanted to reference when
Speaker 1: you said we were going to talk about Matisse from
Speaker 1: the Brooklyn Nets game. He blocked Landry Shammitt from behind.
Speaker 1: His sort of come from behind block has become one
Speaker 1: of his i'd say, signature defensive plays, grabbed the block himself,
Speaker 1: took it back down to the other end for Shake
Speaker 1: Milton to hit an immediate three. In the way that
Speaker 1: Landry Shammont, who's another calm, cool and collected great guy
Speaker 1: former sixer. We love Landry Shammitt. You could see in
Speaker 1: his body language that he was just deflated by what
Speaker 1: Matisse did to him in that one play and it
Speaker 1: took him a minute to get back into the game.
Speaker 1: So the mental side of the defense that some of
Speaker 1: these guys can play, I think down the stretch is
Speaker 1: going to be really huge for this team. Amen to that,
Speaker 1: Vic volcom on igs saying depth is more important than
Speaker 1: a couple of superstars, perhaps in reference to the fact
Speaker 1: that Brooklyn has it's three stars and its lineup with Durant,
Speaker 1: Irving and harden Listen. Well, I would I agree with
Speaker 1: that sentiment. I would also say that it's great to
Speaker 1: have superstars and depth, which the seventy sixers, by the way,
Speaker 1: have as well, because they've got their own core of superstars.
Speaker 1: And then you've thrown this depth and I think, like
Speaker 1: we've all seen, it's a reason why the team is
Speaker 1: at the top of the East and some house ELTs.
Speaker 1: I think we've gotten through whatever it's been thirty minutes
Speaker 1: of the mail bag before even mentioning for Concork Moss,
Speaker 1: who has also looked really good lately thirteen points against
Speaker 1: Brooklyn with a couple other strong performances after a little
Speaker 1: bit of a lull there for Furkon, but another guy
Speaker 1: to have on your bench that can come off with
Speaker 1: the offensive production that he can give you, especially shooting,
Speaker 1: is just phenomenal. In the fact that we've talked about
Speaker 1: depth now for twenty minutes and haven't mentioned Furcon yet
Speaker 1: speaks to just how deep this team is. Yep, Dwight,
Speaker 1: Howard Tyres, Maxie throw them in the mix. Too good
Speaker 1: looking bench for Doc Rivers and the seventy sixers. You
Speaker 1: have one new message, shifting our focus to what lies
Speaker 1: ahead for the Sixers. Lauren and I gave you the
Speaker 1: itinerary Sacramento, Portland, Phoenix, Utah over the next eight days
Speaker 1: for the Sixers. Talicia Martineau on IG, saying, proud of us.
Speaker 1: I can see the progress. Great win over Brooklyn. We
Speaker 1: should be fine this week on the road trip. Blue
Speaker 1: Hearts emoji. I think there's gonna be some challenging games.
Speaker 1: I do. I think Sacramento is going to be really interesting.
Speaker 1: The Kings have been playing well and solidly as of late.
Speaker 1: Phoenix made a huge offseason edition headlined by Chris Paul,
Speaker 1: and then Utah has lost I think just once in
Speaker 1: its last sixteen games, if I have that number up
Speaker 1: to date. And then there's Portland, which knocked off the
Speaker 1: Sixers without its dynamic backcourt duo. So I think there's
Speaker 1: going to be challenges. Yeah. I mean it's four tough games,
Speaker 1: it's four winnable games, but it's also four losable games,
Speaker 1: and it's going to be cool to see the way
Speaker 1: that the Sixers are able to cope with being on
Speaker 1: the road as a group for so long. Luckily, the
Speaker 1: chemistry is really good on this team, and I think
Speaker 1: they'll be able to at least enjoy some time together.
Speaker 1: Of course distanced and with a little bit less freedom
Speaker 1: than they're used to, but it'll be interesting to see
Speaker 1: if this could be a nice bonding experience for the team.
Speaker 1: Hopefully fight through and get some gritty wins knocked out
Speaker 1: against some quality teams. They could come back to Philadelphia
Speaker 1: in whatever it is ten days a much stronger unit
Speaker 1: together if they if they spend the next ten days
Speaker 1: strategically where the larn's between postgame work after Sixers games,
Speaker 1: or just being tired. As an aging person in my
Speaker 1: mid thirties, I definitely at this stage of the year
Speaker 1: don't stay up to watch all the West Coast games
Speaker 1: when they're on national TV. So personally, there's the flip side,
Speaker 1: which is that back on the East Coast you have
Speaker 1: to stay out for these later start times. But I
Speaker 1: also really look forward to seeing some of these teams,
Speaker 1: especially Phoenix, and how they were looking to build on
Speaker 1: the success they had in the bubble when they went
Speaker 1: on that undefeated run, didn't make it to the postseason.
Speaker 1: Now they add Chris Paul, what do they look like?
Speaker 1: The Utah Jazz Mike Connolly might be banged up, but
Speaker 1: what's triggered their recent success to shoot up to the
Speaker 1: top of a really good Western conference. So while my
Speaker 1: body and mind might be somewhat terrified of the demands
Speaker 1: of the schedule being three time zones away in the
Speaker 1: days ahead, the basketball fan in me is really looking
Speaker 1: forward to seeing some of these teams. Well, you know,
Speaker 1: we love a day game here on the broadcast itself,
Speaker 1: and at least we are going to get one of
Speaker 1: those on Saturday in Phoenix. It could be worse. We
Speaker 1: could get more than two ten am starts with this group.
Speaker 1: And luckily, in this group of games, the first two
Speaker 1: are going to be the latest, So six Ers fans,
Speaker 1: drink your coffee, and the second two more manageable. Especially,
Speaker 1: we love a Saturday day game, indeed, indeed, and I
Speaker 1: ironically ended up taking that day off my first game
Speaker 1: off this season. But everyone else back East, no, I'm
Speaker 1: happy for the three pm Eastern start. All right. That's
Speaker 1: our male bag covering Sixers, Super Bowl, and underrated road
Speaker 1: trip destinations everything in between. That road trip conversation at
Speaker 1: the beginning Salts has me very nostalgic. The Salt Lake
Speaker 1: Salt Lake City in Portland, I think two of the
Speaker 1: most well Portland maybe not underrated, but Salt Lake City underrated.
Speaker 1: For the coffee game, I'm a big coffee gal, especially
Speaker 1: on the road. I like to try different highly rated
Speaker 1: coffee places. Maybe that makes me a coffee snob. It
Speaker 1: is what it is. But Blue Copper Coffee in Salt
Speaker 1: Lake City and Barista in Poor two of the best
Speaker 1: cups of coffee you can get in the country. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: the Sixers travel party not allowed to venture out to
Speaker 1: either establishment. But hopefully next time, when we're all there together,
Speaker 1: we could maybe do a broadcast from a good coffee
Speaker 1: shop or at least with a good cup of coffee.
Speaker 1: A yes, B. I mean my one dream back in
Speaker 1: the day was right if we go on the road,
Speaker 1: take or act on the road and have a gathering
Speaker 1: of displaced out of market Sixers fans. I'm just disappointed
Speaker 1: that you did not cite Milk Creek as your coffee
Speaker 1: spot in Salt Lake. And I'm not a coffee drinker.
Speaker 1: But I love Milk Creek coffee roasters. I don't know
Speaker 1: Milk Creek. I might have to try that next time
Speaker 1: I'm in Salt Lake. My best friend happens one of
Speaker 1: my best friends, if not my best friend, happens to
Speaker 1: live in Salt Lake City. But she's not a coffee drinker.
Speaker 1: So when I'm out there visiting, I have to go
Speaker 1: find stuff myself. And mill Creek I'll have to do
Speaker 1: that next time. These street blocks in Salt Lake City
Speaker 1: are outrageously long, but that being said, it's only two
Speaker 1: blocks down the street from the hotel. So the next time, yeah, noted,
Speaker 1: I will have to try it. Okay, so we Yeah,
Speaker 1: clearly a lot of ground covered on the mailbag. Hopefully
Speaker 1: none of you taft ahead, and our retention percentage on
Speaker 1: this episode is very high. All in compassing content here
Speaker 1: on the mailbag. You never know. Hey, We're just happy
Speaker 1: to be able to talk to one another. I hope
Speaker 1: some of you are as bored as I am these
Speaker 1: days and managed to listen to that whole thing. If
Speaker 1: you have any coffee takes, then you want to submit
Speaker 1: those to next week's mailbag. I am all ears, and
Speaker 1: as always, thank you everybody who's still listening, for continuing
Speaker 1: to listen, and for submitting all your questions. This has
Speaker 1: been really fun for us. Be on the lookout this
Speaker 1: week for more installments in our Black History Month Inspirations miniseries. Also,
Speaker 1: Tom's Talks will drop on Thursday, a new episode with
Speaker 1: t Mac and We're back with Divine Givensar and I
Speaker 1: will on Friday for the latest edition of the Friday
Speaker 1: Deep Dive. Talk to you then,