Speaker 1: Marco, thank you for joining us. What an exciting, incredible game.
Speaker 1: You had a tremendous first half and you'll hold off
Speaker 1: to beat Cleveland. Your thoughts in general here, Marco, Uh,
Speaker 1: we won the game, that was important. What I think
Speaker 1: we got something to be better? You know, like, uh
Speaker 1: we got loose like a I don't know, like twenty
Speaker 1: five maybe more point. We need to play better. I
Speaker 1: did sign mistake on the end, like a turnovers or whatever.
Speaker 1: You know so well, but we need this couple game.
Speaker 1: You know, Cleveland is a great team. We want to
Speaker 1: be a great team, you know, so at least we
Speaker 1: won a game and keep going. Absolutely if you could
Speaker 1: just step back though and look at the performances yours,
Speaker 1: JJ Simmons and Lebron, I mean incredible basketball here tonight. True.
Speaker 1: I mean, yes, that was a great game, fun game
Speaker 1: to watch. Um, but I think we can play better. Uh,
Speaker 1: I'm not really happy right now. I mean, like we
Speaker 1: want to game, but especially for the playoff. People want
Speaker 1: to be like a good team and they play y'all,
Speaker 1: we can't play all ideas and we need to play
Speaker 1: badda and we will. Barco. We appreciate you, Thank you
Speaker 1: so much. So much Marco Bell ninety seven five the fanatic,
Speaker 1: Let's join Brett Brandon progress right now Lebron and you know,
Speaker 1: they do what they do. They kind of like surgically,
Speaker 1: you know, draw the pick and roll, and you know,
Speaker 1: sometimes we switched, sometimes we didn't. In the very methodical
Speaker 1: abutter that's what they've done since he's been there. And
Speaker 1: we tried to blitz some. We tried to stay on
Speaker 1: our own with some. When jj Omarco has Lebron, you
Speaker 1: got some problems. And so the long two we're gonna
Speaker 1: live with a little bit. I thought his role offs.
Speaker 1: I thought some of the ways that we showed no
Speaker 1: resistance on him was disappointing. But it's a playoff lesson
Speaker 1: that is a playoff game because you go through the
Speaker 1: multiple things that go through your mind on the bench,
Speaker 1: you know, trying to put our guys in schemes that
Speaker 1: are successful, and we through four of them, and that's
Speaker 1: what he does. That's what goes on in my mind.
Speaker 1: Three game with Ben at all, where you saw that
Speaker 1: he had a look or that he was going to
Speaker 1: come out without aggressiveness and play that way. I think
Speaker 1: he's been playing great basketball. I think our team has
Speaker 1: been playing you know, great basketball lately, and so I
Speaker 1: know Ben really embraces the challenge of playing against Lebron.
Speaker 1: We all were excited to come back here in Philadelphia
Speaker 1: and play in front of an amazing crowd in such
Speaker 1: a big game. And it didn't surprise me that he
Speaker 1: had a big game. When you look at the stat
Speaker 1: line and you see, you know, a triple double, a
Speaker 1: significant triple double. It's not like he eaked in it was.
Speaker 1: It was a very authoritative triple double. Um, it really
Speaker 1: didn't surprise me. He's been doing a lot lately that
Speaker 1: that doesn't catch me as much off guard as it
Speaker 1: used to talking about this game forward in terms of
Speaker 1: you're talking before I get up the potential of this game,
Speaker 1: would it meant turns of the standings and to Pathford
Speaker 1: us sorry, yeah, no, no, you're fine. What what does
Speaker 1: it What does it mean to you to see your
Speaker 1: team kind of grow kind of stage like this when
Speaker 1: it hasn't been here before. It find a way to
Speaker 1: get away in get a spotling. I mean, if you
Speaker 1: went into the locker room and you will, I suppose
Speaker 1: soon you I started immediately after the game. There is
Speaker 1: just a very spirited, genuine group of some old some
Speaker 1: young players that are sharing in each other's success and
Speaker 1: led by Joel Embi. You know, I think Joe looks great,
Speaker 1: Like he's as thin as I've ever seen him. Hears
Speaker 1: me talk about thin as in all the time. His
Speaker 1: body looks exceptional in spirit. Is they to match that?
Speaker 1: And to see Joel like bring the team in and
Speaker 1: you know we got a bell Ringer and Ben Simmons
Speaker 1: and see those two young guys and the veterans. It's
Speaker 1: just a very tight room. You know, it's a very
Speaker 1: tight group. That part of it excites me as much
Speaker 1: as what have we learned about the pick and rolls
Speaker 1: and not to try to you know, have that environment
Speaker 1: as much as we did. Well, how do we deal
Speaker 1: with them them switching? That really hurt our our offense.
Speaker 1: That side of it interests me the most. It's run
Speaker 1: and you haven't had a lot of opportunities to play
Speaker 1: a game like this. I imagine a week before the
Speaker 1: playoffs are going to start. It's a pretty nice time
Speaker 1: that happens. It's extremely timely because it's real, it's a
Speaker 1: real feeling. It's it's defensive adjustments. Now, what what do
Speaker 1: you do, it's offensive adjustments. Now what what do you do?
Speaker 1: And you know, like you're going through sort of highs
Speaker 1: and lows and trying to figure it out and try
Speaker 1: to stay sane, and you know, situationally, we had great
Speaker 1: situations where we try to foul them twice, one successfully,
Speaker 1: one unsuccessfully, you know, getting the ball in bounds, recognizing
Speaker 1: they had no timeouts. Those types of things, along with
Speaker 1: just the flow of the game, made this game of
Speaker 1: very much a a tremendous learning experience. It's always feels
Speaker 1: more positive when you win, but in general, I hoped
Speaker 1: I would have said that regardless. Can you talk about
Speaker 1: the Empire parbabella Elli meate tonight and twenty three off
Speaker 1: of I mean, there was a stage that he came
Speaker 1: in and just was lethal. We were sputtering and he
Speaker 1: came in and just gave us an injection of offense.
Speaker 1: And uh, you know, we all talk about those players,
Speaker 1: those lightning in a bottle type players that can come
Speaker 1: off a bench and do something like that. Most good
Speaker 1: teams have somebody like that, and he is certainly always
Speaker 1: big hight build up surrounding tonight's match between the seventy
Speaker 1: sixers and a three time Eastern Conference Lebron James led
Speaker 1: Cleveland Cavaliers. This one did not disappoint, not in the least.
Speaker 1: Bryant Seltzer with you from Sixers dot Com. Seventy six
Speaker 1: Ers prevailed past the Cavaliers one thirty two to one thirty.
Speaker 1: They now have control of third place in the Eastern
Speaker 1: Conference standings. The Cavaliers have one less game to play
Speaker 1: in the Sixers Sixers with three more games to go
Speaker 1: before everything wraps up. On Wednesday against the Milwaukee Bucks.
Speaker 1: Tom mc ginnis had the call of tonight's game. It
Speaker 1: saw a pair of triple doubles against two stars, one established,
Speaker 1: one certainly on the rise. Just a great, great night
Speaker 1: with so many dramatic twists and turns. Top I mean
Speaker 1: to think that Lebron James is at the line with
Speaker 1: one point nine to go, a chance to tie the game.
Speaker 1: The Sixers layed by as many is thirty What dichotomy
Speaker 1: between the halfs right as you say, layers and layers.
Speaker 1: But let's go to the fouleshooting. He's a seventy four
Speaker 1: seventy five percent fouleshooter for his career, you know. And
Speaker 1: I'll tell a quick story because he was amazing. I
Speaker 1: mean at nine points at halftime. Now he had a
Speaker 1: high turnover game. But I just remember, and actually was
Speaker 1: sharing this with Brett Brown earlier tonight because Coach Brown
Speaker 1: called him the greatest player ever, and I was just saying,
Speaker 1: he's been susceptible at the line. I remember about this time,
Speaker 1: like late March many years ago, when the Sixers ended
Speaker 1: up playing clear or Miami in the playoffs. Lebron would
Speaker 1: be done with his warm up, like when we got
Speaker 1: to the arena, and he would finish his warm up
Speaker 1: with half court jumpers. You've seen our guys like have
Speaker 1: a half court shooting contests, and guys have different approaches.
Speaker 1: Some guys do this that Lebron shoots jumpers with ease,
Speaker 1: and he'd make like seven out of ten and then
Speaker 1: you know, a little competitive in my mind, I'm like, yeah,
Speaker 1: make a couple of free throws out the game on
Speaker 1: my mind, you know, And here tonight he miss. How
Speaker 1: about he ran to the three point line and shot
Speaker 1: at three with an open runway where I think he
Speaker 1: could have dunked it and conceivably could have been fouled.
Speaker 1: That was you could question that right there. But like
Speaker 1: we visited with Marco Belinelli and he was ticked that
Speaker 1: they gave up that lead. And it started at the
Speaker 1: end of the first half when it was thirty and
Speaker 1: they cut it to twenty three. Doesn't sound like much,
Speaker 1: but when you couple that with like nine in a
Speaker 1: row to begin the third quarter, then they were back
Speaker 1: in the game. And again they had just done this
Speaker 1: the night before. And yet the Sixers during this streak
Speaker 1: and over the last two three months, they're showing the maturity,
Speaker 1: the development, the ability to arrest a situation corrected and
Speaker 1: go on and win the game. And that is as
Speaker 1: good as anything. But Simmons and Lebron put on a
Speaker 1: battle for the ages seventy sixers over the calves one
Speaker 1: thirty two to one thirty. If you need an update
Speaker 1: on the stats, Simmons final line twenty seven points, twelve
Speaker 1: of seventeen from the field, fifteen rebounds, thirteen assists for steals,
Speaker 1: Lebron James forty four points thirty five and the second
Speaker 1: half eleven boards and eleven dimes. The two of them
Speaker 1: were fantastic. They didn't disappoint one bit. But really I
Speaker 1: almost thought that and certainly the game was at a
Speaker 1: different point, because the Sixers were up seventy eight fifty
Speaker 1: five at the break. That if the only thing you
Speaker 1: were to take away from this game is that the
Speaker 1: Sixers young stud and the rest of this unproven team
Speaker 1: came out primed and ready to play against a proven,
Speaker 1: accomplished team like the Cavaliers. In the big picture, if
Speaker 1: you step back, that would have said something, of course
Speaker 1: you want to see them winning, get into third place,
Speaker 1: but they were able to hold on. I mean that
Speaker 1: still kind of brings us back to that subplot that
Speaker 1: we saw in the earliest stages of this season when
Speaker 1: the Sixers were learning how to close out games and
Speaker 1: they had enough. Absolutely no. And then you'd take Brett
Speaker 1: Brown for his word after the game, where it was
Speaker 1: a learning experience because like I said, there's so many
Speaker 1: scenarios that come up, like he said, trying to foul,
Speaker 1: in bounding the ball, playing with lout of time out
Speaker 1: and the six You've seen it, Brian, you watched it
Speaker 1: over at the practice facility. They've gone over these situations
Speaker 1: from mid October earlier than that, where they were going
Speaker 1: over late game situations, all for games like this, all
Speaker 1: for games in the next week and two weeks and
Speaker 1: hopefully beyond. So it was like I said, this was
Speaker 1: one of those games coming in you didn't have to
Speaker 1: look what Cleveland's record is. You knew it because we've
Speaker 1: been watching their record over the last three weeks. And
Speaker 1: then an indendum to that, he's like, well, who cares
Speaker 1: what the other scores were? Well, wait a minute, now,
Speaker 1: Indiana loss. So the Sixers no matter, you know, obviously
Speaker 1: I think they still have to win out in order
Speaker 1: to secure this third place. But because they tie the
Speaker 1: season series, but I think Cleveland, and I don't know
Speaker 1: this off the top of my head, but they have
Speaker 1: probably a better conference record than the Sixers, which, if
Speaker 1: I'm not mistaken, as the first tiebreaker among teams that
Speaker 1: tie in the season series. But Indiana loss. Indiana had
Speaker 1: seventy three points in a twenty one make that a
Speaker 1: nineteen point defeat at Toronto. The Sixers had seventy four
Speaker 1: points in the first half, and they had that here's
Speaker 1: one they had that seventy three the Sixers against the
Speaker 1: Warriors in a game here that they lost in the
Speaker 1: first half. So the numbers are amazing. But I don't
Speaker 1: don't think we can continue without talking about Reddick and Bellonelli.
Speaker 1: I mean, how about that from the two guard spot,
Speaker 1: you got two guys lightning in a bottle microwave type quickness.
Speaker 1: I mean terms of heating up and Bellonelli was just
Speaker 1: incredible in the first half, to Brett Brown mentioning where
Speaker 1: he just got on fire when they needed it the most.
Speaker 1: Dariel struggle tonight and to me, they won the game
Speaker 1: and he's back now, he'll be better. In terms of Sunday,
Speaker 1: he was out of sink, being out of action for
Speaker 1: a week. It's not just the elbow that's on the men,
Speaker 1: it's his lead. He didn't have his legs underneath them.
Speaker 1: And the biggest and most dramatic improvement in his game
Speaker 1: has been his three point shooting, which wasn't there tonight
Speaker 1: for him. I believe he was one of six, but
Speaker 1: Rashawn came in and got those two dunks in the
Speaker 1: first half. I think the six Years will learn from
Speaker 1: these defensive scenarios where they ended up with Marco and
Speaker 1: Reddick mostly Marco Bellonelli single coverage against Lebron James and
Speaker 1: as Brett Brown said, you know they tried it four
Speaker 1: different ways. Even when Brett Brown when he first got
Speaker 1: he remember he was in what hundreds and hundreds of
Speaker 1: timeouts in the playoffs with the Spurs where they're they
Speaker 1: had a veteran team. They're switching their coverages out of
Speaker 1: a time out, and the Sixers have kept things vanilla
Speaker 1: defensively for years and he's, like he said, perfect vanilla
Speaker 1: over the last few weeks without and beat over the
Speaker 1: last ten days or so. Well, now you can't. You
Speaker 1: can't play that way. And they altered some things in
Speaker 1: terms of towards the end. They doubled Lebron and I
Speaker 1: know they'll grow from that. But just all in all,
Speaker 1: a scintillating game, totally lived up to the billing, and
Speaker 1: just an exciting, gratifying end for the Sixers. One thirty two,
Speaker 1: one thirty seventy Sixers over the Cavaliers. So we could
Speaker 1: talk about this for the rest of the night. Then
Speaker 1: Devon Gibbons might be angry with us, who would not
Speaker 1: want that, But just again, maybe more along the lines
Speaker 1: of big picture themes. I mean this is the Sixers
Speaker 1: provided plenty of evidence over the course in the last
Speaker 1: five months that they were a team that had arrived
Speaker 1: at a different state, at different stage than what we'd
Speaker 1: seen the last four years. But this is like, you know,
Speaker 1: I go back to that bell and Ellie three point
Speaker 1: of that made it sixty five thirty seven. Midway through
Speaker 1: the second quarter of the building was going crazy. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's a moment where you just kind of stopped looking
Speaker 1: around soak it all and you're like, all right, this
Speaker 1: is maybe one that if you write the book and
Speaker 1: this all goes well about this team and the journey
Speaker 1: it's been on. Like, that's a moment that you remember
Speaker 1: when the building's going crazy and your squad is taken
Speaker 1: it to the three to conference chap. Now you're you're right,
Speaker 1: and again you know the mantra, the marketing slogan is
Speaker 1: this is the moment and this is it and it
Speaker 1: lasts longer than a moment. It's going to go on.
Speaker 1: The NBA's marketing thing is this is why we play,
Speaker 1: and that has you know, many multiple manifestations. You can
Speaker 1: take that along, but this is tonight. This is why
Speaker 1: we come out. This is the excitement, this is what
Speaker 1: the Sixers have been waiting for. And then I add
Speaker 1: Ben Simmons. I mean, this guy waited a whole year
Speaker 1: to play. He's been waiting to star in the NBA
Speaker 1: for probably the last decade, and tonight and one of
Speaker 1: the questions was did you see something in Ben's eyes? Like, yeah,
Speaker 1: the jump ball and he is raring to go. He
Speaker 1: was incredible tonight. And you talk about the Marco play,
Speaker 1: how about Ben Simmons in the first half going right
Speaker 1: to left, throwing the ball between his legs and then
Speaker 1: kicking it out to an uncharging Reddick for another Monster
Speaker 1: three early in the game. That got the crowd going
Speaker 1: and Tyrone you know, look, he took all those timeouts
Speaker 1: where they were they exhausted their allotment. He was burnard
Speaker 1: timehouse left and right, just to stay in the game.
Speaker 1: And one would have to think that has you know,
Speaker 1: part of the ultimate outcome is due in some small
Speaker 1: part because of that. He's probably thinking, man, I need
Speaker 1: to go on another hiatus. Sixers team's driving me nuts.
Speaker 1: So now a tremendous matchup and hopefully many more of
Speaker 1: these games to come in the in the playoffs, and
Speaker 1: one would expect so well put by Tom McGuinness. Next
Speaker 1: game as matinee Sunday one o'clock against the Dallas Mavericks
Speaker 1: beat Detroit tonight that's right account, Thank you, Brian. At
Speaker 1: the start of the first quarter, pretty evenly played, the
Speaker 1: game was tied at eleven, and the Sixers snapped off
Speaker 1: eight straight points. Rashaun Holmes, as we've known him to do,
Speaker 1: with a big spark plug off the bench. Simmons next
Speaker 1: away from Love bets Simmons. It's a TJ TJ into
Speaker 1: a cutting homes. Oh yeah, right down Broad Street, Roshawn
Speaker 1: Homes jams at heart. You could tell the Sixers had
Speaker 1: something brewing at that point in time. Twenty nine to seventeen.
Speaker 1: Time out called by Ty Lou and the Cavs. Ben
Speaker 1: Simmons put the front of the gas coming back after
Speaker 1: the break. Here's Ben double a baby, Ben Simmons between
Speaker 1: the legs and then he rocks the room. Simmons with
Speaker 1: a ferocious Jamty twenty eight all Sixers after one quarter
Speaker 1: of play. The bench squad came in after that, Mark
Speaker 1: el Folds playing some great ball to help build the
Speaker 1: lead to eighteen early on in the second quarter, and
Speaker 1: Robert Covington doing some work from outside the arc to
Speaker 1: widen the gap into the twenties. Markuel gets away from
Speaker 1: Smith now drives into the lane kickout corner. It's Covington
Speaker 1: for three good Marquel folks. It's wheeling and dealing, and
Speaker 1: Cleveland cannot use too many timeouts. They're calling them left
Speaker 1: and right. Fifty five to thirty two, seventy sixers in
Speaker 1: total control. Things called for a moment. Then Marco Bellonelli
Speaker 1: and JJ Reddick started feeling it. Hella's steal by Ben
Speaker 1: Simmons to JJ Reddick in traffic, Reddick with the lamp,
Speaker 1: it's up it and got it, got it. After that,
Speaker 1: Marco Bellonelli with a three pointer making its sixty five
Speaker 1: thirty seven calves called another time out, and that was
Speaker 1: the reference point that Tom and I were talking about.
Speaker 1: You just kind of sat back, soaked in the scene.
Speaker 1: Here twenty thousand, seven hundred and sixty nine, at full
Speaker 1: throat cheering on the sixers gone up against Lebron, James
Speaker 1: and Cleveland. You're like, all right, this feels like it's
Speaker 1: it still a lot to be written, but definitely a
Speaker 1: moment that you earmark Sixers all over the Cavaliers at
Speaker 1: the half, seventy eight to fifty five to seventy eight points,
Speaker 1: the highest first half scoring total for the seventy Sixers
Speaker 1: since nineteen ninety two and a floor record down here
Speaker 1: at the center. Onto the third quarter the Sixers and
Speaker 1: the Cavaliers. A trend that we saw towards the end
Speaker 1: of quarter number two was that Cleveland was starting to
Speaker 1: make a run and that would continue with Lebron James
Speaker 1: doing his thing. Marco Bellonelli came up in big moments.
Speaker 1: Do we have the highlights mark with the corner, quick
Speaker 1: catch shot, three ball cut again, Billonelli delivers quick release,
Speaker 1: another trifecta. Bell and Elli made it one o two
Speaker 1: to ninety when the Sixers needed big baskets. Marco Bellonelli
Speaker 1: was there throughout the night. Sixers led one oh five
Speaker 1: to ninety eight after three quarters of play. On to
Speaker 1: the fourth more from Lebron James. He scored eight straight
Speaker 1: points at one juncture and the Sixers were looking for
Speaker 1: something to stem the tide. Simmons play. He's into Iliasilva again,
Speaker 1: a new clock ear sid backing in on Austin left
Speaker 1: hand shot, rimming around again. He put it up with
Speaker 1: the left hand a little off balance, didn't look pretty,
Speaker 1: but it's in. Got the margin back to eight points
Speaker 1: and the Sixers were looking for every bit of insurance
Speaker 1: that they could get Reddick in the corner for three.
Speaker 1: That's good day. J Reddick puts it in. The Sexers
Speaker 1: laid by eight earside, got the ball back sevens with
Speaker 1: a kick out and Reddick with a three. Sixers coming
Speaker 1: up big and they would go up one twenty eight
Speaker 1: to one twenty with about one and a half minutes
Speaker 1: to go. The Cavaliers answered with seven straight points to
Speaker 1: make it one twenty eight to one twenty seven. The
Speaker 1: Sixers hit some free throws courtesy of JJ Reddick and
Speaker 1: Earthson Iliasova. They led it one thirty two to one
Speaker 1: twenty nine with one point nine seconds left. That's when
Speaker 1: Robert Covington was called for a foul on Lebron James
Speaker 1: from outside the arc. James hit his first, missed his second,
Speaker 1: was forced to missus third. Sixers got the rebound ballgame
Speaker 1: and the Sixers hang on to win it one thirty
Speaker 1: two to one thirties