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Speaker 1: is Fanatic About the Playoffs from the seventy Sixers podcast Network,
Speaker 1: presented by Draft Gags and ninety seven five The Fanatic,
Speaker 1: with new episodes premiering the day after every seventy Sixers
Speaker 1: playoff game. This is the Fanatic About the Playoffs podcast
Speaker 1: and on this episode we recap the finale it ended
Speaker 1: up being of Round one, Game five, and look ahead
Speaker 1: to the seventy Sixers Eastern Conference Semi Finals matchup yes
Speaker 1: with the Atlanta Hawks. The series starting on Sunday at
Speaker 1: one o'clock. What is Fanatic About the Playoffs? It is
Speaker 1: our new postseason podcast series with us here at the
Speaker 1: seventy Sixers and our friends at ninety seventy five to Fanatic,
Speaker 1: the radio home of the Sixers in the Delaware Valley,
Speaker 1: with new episodes dropping the day after every Sixers playoff game.
Speaker 1: My name is Brian Seltzer. We've got Lauren Rosen, team
Speaker 1: Reporter Extraordinary for the seventy Sixers with us and Mike
Speaker 1: misson Nellie Show and select outstanding weekend programming on the
Speaker 1: fanatic also Sixers Outsiders on NBC Sports Philadelphia is everywhere
Speaker 1: this time of year. It is Tyrone Johnson, ty what's
Speaker 1: up man? How are you? How are you guys doing?
Speaker 1: Thanks for having me, of course, of course, can we
Speaker 1: go through the range of emotions and thoughts we had
Speaker 1: on Wednesday from one o'clock Eastern on through the end
Speaker 1: of the night, one o'clock, of course, being the time
Speaker 1: that the big Man news dropped, and then by the
Speaker 1: end of the night the Sixers moving on with a
Speaker 1: very convincing showing without Joel against Washington. Yeah, for me,
Speaker 1: it was tough. Well, first I was hoping that it
Speaker 1: would just be okay, They'd say, hey, it's a day
Speaker 1: to day just because of soreness. I was hoping there
Speaker 1: was no injury at all. That's what I was hoping for,
Speaker 1: and obviously that wasn't the case, so that was tough.
Speaker 1: Then they said day to day. I said, okay, well,
Speaker 1: he's not ruled out yet, so now let's try to
Speaker 1: focus on the game. Once he's not out, let's focus
Speaker 1: on the game. Let's put that to the side temporarily.
Speaker 1: Then before the game he's on the court, and that's
Speaker 1: impossible to ignore, like people are paying attention to it.
Speaker 1: You can't just act like that didn't happen. So now
Speaker 1: it's like, oh, wait that Mightne could play soon. Oh
Speaker 1: maybe he'll pull a Willis Reed and try to play tonight.
Speaker 1: There were people saying that then the game starts, that
Speaker 1: they can't make shots early, and it's like, oh no,
Speaker 1: could this possibly be a game six? And then the
Speaker 1: second half happens. They explode, shots start falling, and then
Speaker 1: they get Washington up out of there. So it was
Speaker 1: definitely a roller coaster for me, for sure. I was
Speaker 1: right alongside you front row of the roller coaster. A
Speaker 1: really interesting day, but honestly not that abnormal when you
Speaker 1: think about the year that people have gone through, the
Speaker 1: years that Sixers fans have gone through. Awesome to see
Speaker 1: it end the way that it did. A lot of
Speaker 1: angst on Wednesday, and really good to see the guys
Speaker 1: Galvanizes come together get the job done. I agree with you.
Speaker 1: I think that second half just like everything started to click.
Speaker 1: I think Danny Green's play at the end of the
Speaker 1: second quarter is something that we are not talking about enough.
Speaker 1: Selton I just did a Twitter space tyrone and it
Speaker 1: was a lot of fun. We did not mention Danny
Speaker 1: Green a single time, and so now I feel like
Speaker 1: I have to that. Well, maybe we did, I don't know. Anyway,
Speaker 1: Danny Green at the end of the second quarter was
Speaker 1: so important, and I just can only imagine what he
Speaker 1: was saying to the guys in the locker room at
Speaker 1: halftime for them to come out the way that they did.
Speaker 1: I think that was a pivot point, and you don't
Speaker 1: often see pivot points right before halftime. But I was
Speaker 1: really pleased to see Danny Green. I mean, the experience
Speaker 1: that he brings on and off the floor I think
Speaker 1: was on full display, whether or not we actually saw
Speaker 1: it last night. Yeah, he's an extremely important player in
Speaker 1: my opinion. I think he's an extremely important player, has
Speaker 1: been all year. Fans were frustrated with them at Tim's
Speaker 1: in the regular season, but you just see having had experience,
Speaker 1: like you said, just makes a huge difference. And there
Speaker 1: might have been guys who are a little bit nervous
Speaker 1: or worried about this close out, Oh what are we
Speaker 1: gonna do? Seem like he wasn't worried about a single thing.
Speaker 1: And that's despite effect in the first half. Wasn't making shots.
Speaker 1: He didn't matter him one bit in a game the
Speaker 1: seventy Sixers were without there MVP candidate who rose to
Speaker 1: the occasion in a closeout spot X factor. It's a
Speaker 1: cliche narrative to say, well, when you lose the best
Speaker 1: player on your roster, one of the best players on
Speaker 1: the planet, an MVP candidate, that everyone's gonna put all
Speaker 1: their hands in. It's all hands on deck and band
Speaker 1: together and give it your best. But that really was
Speaker 1: the case for the Sixers in the win in Game five.
Speaker 1: There were some who shine brighter than others, but really,
Speaker 1: when you dissected the game, and Lauren, I think Danny
Speaker 1: Green is a great case in point. There were various
Speaker 1: juncts to the game where different guys stepped up, left
Speaker 1: their fingerprint on it and helped the seventy Sixers take
Speaker 1: care of business. On Wednesday, Seth Curry. He started the
Speaker 1: season strong. He went through the situation after testing positive
Speaker 1: for COVID. We all know why he was brought in
Speaker 1: and he was fantastic. In Game five. He sought out
Speaker 1: how will Nato exploited that matchup put up a thirty
Speaker 1: spot which was great to see and it was certainly timely.
Speaker 1: That was not a wasted thirty point by Seth Curry, No,
Speaker 1: not at all. It was his best game as a
Speaker 1: sixer at the absolutely best moment. And I think that
Speaker 1: was something about we probably didn't know about him coming
Speaker 1: in because last year, if you paid attention to him
Speaker 1: in Dallas at all, he didn't have the ball a lot.
Speaker 1: So he was pretty much just asked to be a
Speaker 1: stand up shooter and that straight up shooter and that's it.
Speaker 1: He could put it on the floor a lot more
Speaker 1: than we probably realized, and we saw flashes of it
Speaker 1: throughout the season, but between the health and the dribs
Speaker 1: and drabs, with the different lineups and the different responsibilities,
Speaker 1: it never fully came together. I think you saw like
Speaker 1: the fully formed Seth Curry game last night, and now
Speaker 1: I'm actually intrigued about what it could be going forward,
Speaker 1: because now that's one more thing on film that Atlanta
Speaker 1: or any possible future opponent has to pay attention to.
Speaker 1: You know, if we close out on this guy too hard,
Speaker 1: this guy could put it on the floor and make
Speaker 1: us pay, and not just scoring, he also was able
Speaker 1: to distribute. That was a really really good game. Now
Speaker 1: I think That's very encouraging for that are worried about
Speaker 1: Joel Embie to have that anxiety that a player can
Speaker 1: not only just score, which we kind of knew he
Speaker 1: could do that, but can do it in so many
Speaker 1: different ways. That was big. It's a great point he is.
Speaker 1: I think Lauren a well rounded player. I know that.
Speaker 1: At the beginning of the season. I think some of
Speaker 1: the chatter it seemed like from some of the fans
Speaker 1: was like, Okay, we got someone like Seth Curry and
Speaker 1: maybe he can replicate the type of role that JJ
Speaker 1: Reddick had when JJ was here. I'm JJ fantastic, elite
Speaker 1: at what he does, but there's more to Seth. He's
Speaker 1: got a well rounded offensive game that can hurt you
Speaker 1: in a couple different ways for sure, and it's relied
Speaker 1: upon more when he's no longer the fourth or fifth
Speaker 1: option on this team. Seth Curry is statistically speaking, one
Speaker 1: of the greatest shooters to ever play this game, but
Speaker 1: right now he's a fourth option at best. When you
Speaker 1: come into a team with Joel Embi, Tobias Harris, Ben
Speaker 1: Simmons and you're playing alongside them, really really cool to
Speaker 1: see him be able to activate those sort of all
Speaker 1: time good skills that he has that don't get called
Speaker 1: upon that often when everybody's available, and then see him
Speaker 1: rise to the occasion when those skills are needed. It
Speaker 1: was a pleasure to watch him last night. Game four
Speaker 1: was wonky, obviously because the Sixers were dealing with the
Speaker 1: Joel Embiid situation and listen to find a basketball player
Speaker 1: and I see a potential MVP, go down, go back
Speaker 1: in the locker room. There's just human nature things that
Speaker 1: for me speaking only, it would be impossible to avoid,
Speaker 1: so hard to really know what stock to place in
Speaker 1: game four. I thought Tobias Harris, who understandably saw more
Speaker 1: coverage and more tension once Joe went out in Game four.
Speaker 1: Tobias came back in Game five really versatile effort. I
Speaker 1: thought that he had a really really strong series from
Speaker 1: the start in game one to how we wrapped things
Speaker 1: up and help the Sixers put a bow on it
Speaker 1: in game five. Interesting that you talk about Tobias having
Speaker 1: a well rounded series, because that's what he's wanted to do.
Speaker 1: And he came to the Sixers just over two years
Speaker 1: ago in twenty nineteen, and he expressed that his goals
Speaker 1: were to become a reliable scorer for this team and
Speaker 1: to become a closer. That became a bigger goal for
Speaker 1: him as time went along, and I asked him about
Speaker 1: that after the game, have you accomplished those goals? And
Speaker 1: in a very Tobias Harris fashion, he said, well, I
Speaker 1: think I'm getting closer. He said, he likes the progress
Speaker 1: he's making towards accomplishing those goals. But if I had
Speaker 1: to assess it, I think he's become both a reliable
Speaker 1: scorer and a closer. And should Joel Ebeat not be
Speaker 1: available for any more games, that's going to be continued
Speaker 1: to be relied upon. But when Joel comes back, it
Speaker 1: will also be relied upon. And Tobias Harris is that
Speaker 1: guy now, even if he's not willing to say it,
Speaker 1: I am he is that guy. And I'm really impressed
Speaker 1: with the way that he came here. He set the goals,
Speaker 1: he signed a new contract, and then he continued to
Speaker 1: get better. You don't always see that, and so I
Speaker 1: really admire the work ethic and the will that he's
Speaker 1: put into his time as a Sixer, for sure. And
Speaker 1: one thing I noticed them when he first arrived, teams
Speaker 1: would hid remember one particular time where they put Kemba
Speaker 1: Walker on him in a playoff series and he wasn't
Speaker 1: able to make Kemball Walker pay. Now, if you put
Speaker 1: a smaller guy on him, he makes them pay consistently.
Speaker 1: He did it throughout this series. Game four, like you said,
Speaker 1: got a little wonky. There was a lot of help defense,
Speaker 1: Gafford and other guys laying back for him, so it
Speaker 1: wasn't really any single coverage once in beat was out
Speaker 1: of the game, but pretty much throughout the whole series
Speaker 1: he was able to exploit whatever matchups came against him,
Speaker 1: and I don't think he was very good at that.
Speaker 1: I may not trying to rip him when he first arrived.
Speaker 1: He's a totally different player in that way now, and
Speaker 1: I think going forward against the Halts, there's no place
Speaker 1: for anybody to hide because they're gonna have to put
Speaker 1: a real defender on him, and if they can, if
Speaker 1: they think they can stick Trey Young on him, or
Speaker 1: he's gonna score fifty, like that's not going to happen anymore.
Speaker 1: While the previous twenty nineteen version, maybe he would have
Speaker 1: settled for shots and allowed the team to get away
Speaker 1: with putting a little guy on him. They're gonna have
Speaker 1: to put Hunter, like a real defender on him or there,
Speaker 1: or he's gonna score forty fifty points. We saw thirty seven.
Speaker 1: I think that thirty seven could have been more, especially
Speaker 1: to Wake games two and three win. He could have
Speaker 1: scored forty fifty in some of those games. I think
Speaker 1: he'll still do that if they don't guard him correctly.
Speaker 1: And that's very different than when he first arrived. You're
Speaker 1: gonna talk around a lot of people. The buzzword with
Speaker 1: Tobias this year has been decisive, more decisive. That's something
Speaker 1: that Doc has talked about one and to be more
Speaker 1: decisive and how that's helped unlock his game. I also
Speaker 1: think he's been more physical. To build on your point,
Speaker 1: like he's not afraid to take the smaller guards down
Speaker 1: to the block and impose his physical will on them
Speaker 1: down there, just as ready as he is to pull
Speaker 1: up for a jumper at the elbow or something like that.
Speaker 1: I love it. Yeah. The one other thing is I
Speaker 1: like that he would been such a willing shooter from
Speaker 1: three At times. I thought there was times where like,
Speaker 1: why aren't you taking that shot? Let it fly? Who
Speaker 1: cares if you miss because now if they come out
Speaker 1: on you, he can just do so many things. He
Speaker 1: can score all three levels. So it's like, don't not
Speaker 1: take those three because you can score from out there,
Speaker 1: you can score from the midras, you can score at
Speaker 1: the basket. I think he's showing all three levels and
Speaker 1: that has to be tough. And that's versus Randall. If
Speaker 1: anybody watched it of that Nick series, he became a
Speaker 1: very one dimensional pound of ball. And I don't know
Speaker 1: what I'm gonna do type score. You mentioned decisive. He's
Speaker 1: been extremely decisive at all three levels. He's a tough
Speaker 1: cover now, decisiveness, aggression, and we haven't even talked about defense.
Speaker 1: That might be the place that he's I don't want
Speaker 1: to say that where he's improved the most because of
Speaker 1: how much he's improved offensively, but it's meaningful improvement on
Speaker 1: the defensive end. Tobias Harris is not a liability on defense.
Speaker 1: He's not someone you have to hide on defense. He's
Speaker 1: someone that takes pride in his matchups and that's something Again,
Speaker 1: he expressed that he wanted to become a better defender,
Speaker 1: that he wanted to be relied upon on the defensive end,
Speaker 1: and now he's doing it game after game after game,
Speaker 1: and adding defense to your game is a difficult thing
Speaker 1: to do. So the fact that he's really put in
Speaker 1: the work his teammates set it back in training camp.
Speaker 1: But Tobias is often out there running with cones making
Speaker 1: sure he can figure out defensive opportunities in the extra time. Right,
Speaker 1: and scorers like to put in work scoring. Tobias Harris
Speaker 1: clearly putting in work scoring, putting in work defending, and
Speaker 1: now we're seeing the rewards of his hard work. I'll
Speaker 1: be honest. For me, there was a lot of the
Speaker 1: I wonder factor about Tobias coming to this year. I
Speaker 1: wonder how he's going to respond to how things went
Speaker 1: in the bubble. He to me for me, took care
Speaker 1: of that within like the first month and half of
Speaker 1: the season. I wonder how much of the regular season
Speaker 1: good we saw would translate into the playoffs. Took care
Speaker 1: that this round. I think that Tobias has earned the
Speaker 1: benefit of the doubt. I think he has proven that
Speaker 1: he can a score and volumes scoring a lot of
Speaker 1: different ways. Like we talked about, better defender, and he
Speaker 1: can be that option in crunch time if the Sixers
Speaker 1: need someone, especially now we don't know how long Joe's
Speaker 1: gonna be out for. There were so many good performances
Speaker 1: in this series, and the Sixers frankly were just better
Speaker 1: than the Wizards and Edition and everything else. But they
Speaker 1: had to go play like they were better and show it,
Speaker 1: and you just saw it, and he just was just
Speaker 1: better than everybody on that team. As great as Bill was,
Speaker 1: he gives you nothing on the defensive end, for example,
Speaker 1: like just absolutely nothing. He gives you something on both things.
Speaker 1: He was fantastic. We are taping this Tyrone before your
Speaker 1: Thursday edition of Mike's Show nineteen ten eleven. Two block
Speaker 1: shots for Benjamin. What type of feedback do you think
Speaker 1: Benjamin will get over the next forty eight seventy two hours.
Speaker 1: It's probably gonna be unfair whatever it is likely. I
Speaker 1: hate to say, it's probably going to be unfair because
Speaker 1: he Oh, the foul shots are a huge thing. The
Speaker 1: hacka been. Oh, he's killing them. Then they tried in
Speaker 1: the first half, which was just cowardly, by the way,
Speaker 1: cowardly effort by Scott Brooks. I would respect what first
Speaker 1: half come on anyway, he makes two ons and then
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, your genius strategy falls apart. But
Speaker 1: the guy, it was fantastic. We know the one thing
Speaker 1: that he doesn't do, and people are always going to
Speaker 1: harp on that. I can't harp on that every single day.
Speaker 1: I'll go crazy thinking about one particular thing every single
Speaker 1: day year round. But if you could just get past
Speaker 1: that plea, he was incredible. He was incredible lest Furst
Speaker 1: of all one of the biggest to quote. The only
Speaker 1: flaw in his game defensively, people to say at times
Speaker 1: was rim protection. He was excellent at the rim from
Speaker 1: the second half of the third quarter through the end
Speaker 1: of the game. I think he just had to get
Speaker 1: comfortable because he hasn't had to do it that much
Speaker 1: because usually it's the big man and Dwhite Howard back there.
Speaker 1: He was excellent at the rim. He's excellent roaming, he
Speaker 1: was excellent doing he was aggressive. Was Another big moment
Speaker 1: was that he recognized as a smaller guy. And there's
Speaker 1: been at times where he would give the ball up,
Speaker 1: not last night, puts his shoulder into his chest, goes
Speaker 1: right to the basket. It's a smaller guy. He sees
Speaker 1: a bigger guy. He's quicker. He goes right around him.
Speaker 1: He was doing everything that we've been asking, so we
Speaker 1: should at least have a twenty four to four, eight
Speaker 1: to seventy two hours more. Tore him on ripping the guy.
Speaker 1: I mean, wait until he plays another basketball game, because
Speaker 1: he was fantastic into one last night, and I'm not
Speaker 1: going to be worried about what happened before. He was
Speaker 1: great last night. Give the guy a little bit of credit.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying forever if he has a bad game
Speaker 1: any no one's above scrutiny, But goodness gracious, he was
Speaker 1: great last night on both ends. Let's just give the
Speaker 1: guy a clap, and let's wait for Atlanta and then
Speaker 1: decide if we're gonna be mad again. I don't have
Speaker 1: a lot to add Tyrone. I think though, that Sixers fans,
Speaker 1: Philadelphia fans are very very passionate, and if you're gonna
Speaker 1: pick him apart for what he did in game four,
Speaker 1: what I'm asking is you bring that same energy to
Speaker 1: celebrate him in game five. Just match your energy. If
Speaker 1: you're gonna be mad, please now celebrate him. Five for
Speaker 1: eight from the line. Dwight Howard also eight for ten
Speaker 1: from the line, talk about sort of fixing what people
Speaker 1: are talking about. But Ben is also paying attention. And
Speaker 1: Ben posted on Instagram last night and his quote was,
Speaker 1: they love me, they love me, they love me, they
Speaker 1: let me not. And I loved that from Ben because
Speaker 1: he's listening, he hears you, and he's proving you wrong,
Speaker 1: and he's not afraid to gloat afterwards. And that's exactly
Speaker 1: the type of energy you want from your athletes. He's
Speaker 1: engaged with this community. He wants to do right by
Speaker 1: this community, and now it's time for the community to
Speaker 1: do right by him. And I don't know what's going
Speaker 1: to happen in game one of Round two, but I
Speaker 1: think it would be really nice if everybody could just
Speaker 1: celebrate Ben for what he was able to do last night.
Speaker 1: He was wonderful. He's been great all series, great all playoffs.
Speaker 1: And another thing that post does is there are fans
Speaker 1: sometimes to feel like they can't wrap their arms around
Speaker 1: him because his personality is just playing different than Joel
Speaker 1: Eb's personality. He was just born different. Every all three
Speaker 1: personalities are all different too. It's not necessarily a bad thing,
Speaker 1: but sometimes fans feel like they can't get to know him. Well,
Speaker 1: that's showing some personality right there. Now, Hey, hey you
Speaker 1: gotta if you gotta take those lumps you've got. People
Speaker 1: were trick to kill a guy because he missed a
Speaker 1: couple of foul shots in a game they barely lost.
Speaker 1: So yeah, somebody that same manage you should have to
Speaker 1: accept somebody say managey. But I'd like the human fact
Speaker 1: whenever a player shows who they are. I think that's
Speaker 1: a good thing. And it's just I think that there
Speaker 1: are just times where we might go too far. Yes
Speaker 1: we're passionate, but let's not partenend like the guys not
Speaker 1: excellent at basketball. We know what he does and doesn't do,
Speaker 1: but no, no, we know what he doesn't do, but
Speaker 1: we don't ever spend enough time talking about what he
Speaker 1: does do. I should say there are a couple instances
Speaker 1: that stand out to me the most about when this
Speaker 1: happened that Ben was able to tune out noise and respond.
Speaker 1: One was in the middle of March or earlier, when
Speaker 1: there was a lot of talk swirling, tune that out,
Speaker 1: went about his business and it came back after game
Speaker 1: four he said, I'll be all right, came out and
Speaker 1: did his thing. So so I agree, I think that
Speaker 1: fair treatment criticism praise is certainly a valid thing. I
Speaker 1: want to discuss another big takeaway from this series that
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Speaker 1: get back to it. As far as big takeaways from
Speaker 1: this series for me, I thought to Bias his general
Speaker 1: steadiness was one the other. And I'm gonna go inside
Speaker 1: my psyche. I know no one really cares, but I
Speaker 1: know Joel and Bie got hurt in Game four. I
Speaker 1: know the Sixers lost Game four in the series came back,
Speaker 1: but I was okay going to bed that night because
Speaker 1: I saw number zero nearly helped the seventy Sixers steal
Speaker 1: the game and end the series. And four and then
Speaker 1: Tyrese Maxie comes back in game five and electrifies the crowd.
Speaker 1: They said it it was amazing. The intensity was great,
Speaker 1: The fans were amazing. You know, it was cool to
Speaker 1: see the chess mask, like I talked about the other
Speaker 1: day of you know the coaches, different coaches pass and
Speaker 1: it's very fun. You gotta stay locked in at all times,
Speaker 1: and you gotta stay focused in. You know, we can't
Speaker 1: wait from a round two great offensively love it. His
Speaker 1: tenacity on the defensive end and willingness to get after it,
Speaker 1: I love just as much. I think for me, guys,
Speaker 1: hopefully we see more of Tyrese Maxie hopefully continues to
Speaker 1: earn his minutes but if the best we see was
Speaker 1: what he did in these last two games in the
Speaker 1: first round, for me, that fills me with a lot
Speaker 1: of hope of what's to come. Oh oh absolutely. And
Speaker 1: you know, I remember, I remember during draft night as
Speaker 1: the as it comes down, because he was not supposed
Speaker 1: to be there at twenty one. I remember the Miami
Speaker 1: Heat had the twentieth overall pick, and I have to
Speaker 1: be honest, I was one hundred percent sure they were
Speaker 1: gonna take him, and I was gonna be upset, and
Speaker 1: I was like, he's gonna help them, and now what's
Speaker 1: gonna happen, and blah blah blah. And then instead day
Speaker 1: don't take him, and then the Sixers get him, and
Speaker 1: he starts off the regular season really well. Then he
Speaker 1: goes into a rookie low. I think playing so many
Speaker 1: games with such a short amount of time was probably
Speaker 1: tough on him physically in addition to mentally. He's so positive,
Speaker 1: but he had to get tired along the way. Now
Speaker 1: it seems like he's got that second wind. It looks
Speaker 1: like he's not a rookie anymore. Westbrook had absolutely no
Speaker 1: hope of staying in front of him, So then they
Speaker 1: switched to it's Smith and if Smith had no hope
Speaker 1: of stayed in from him, and then they switched to
Speaker 1: Nettle and Netto had no hope of stayed in front
Speaker 1: of him. I think they're gonna see him more in
Speaker 1: the second round, and I honestly don't think the Hawks
Speaker 1: have anybody who can stay in front of him either. Now.
Speaker 1: Is he gonna be the single hand reason why they
Speaker 1: win a series? Probably not yet, But I really feel
Speaker 1: I think that his time actually is now. I think
Speaker 1: you are going to see more from him. But it
Speaker 1: was so good, and there was a stretch there where
Speaker 1: him taking it to the basket and contributed. He had
Speaker 1: like nine shots up in nine minutes. He needed to
Speaker 1: go get his off the bitch at one point, and
Speaker 1: I love to see it because he wasn't afraid at
Speaker 1: the moment. Those are the things you were about with
Speaker 1: a rookie. He wasn't afraid at the moment. He was aggressive,
Speaker 1: he was effective, and he didn't try to do too much,
Speaker 1: no crazy turnovers. Like I have nothing nuggets him to
Speaker 1: say about the kid, and I honestly think he's going
Speaker 1: to help him more this season. I think that speaks
Speaker 1: to the environment also that he's in right now too.
Speaker 1: There might be some rookies to come in who had
Speaker 1: high hopes of going in the lottery, and if they don't,
Speaker 1: they get disappointed and they're like, I'm on a playoff
Speaker 1: team or contending team and I might not get my minutes. Well,
Speaker 1: he took that situation and he was ready for the
Speaker 1: final couple of weeks of the regular season. Scott the
Speaker 1: gears turning of Doc and the coaching staff clearly, and
Speaker 1: he made the most of it when the minute presented themselves.
Speaker 1: And here he is in a key spot. It seems
Speaker 1: like the veterans, I know, line that you're in those
Speaker 1: zooms and you're talking to everyone in the team. The veterans,
Speaker 1: I feel like they surrounded him in a good place
Speaker 1: to just focus on the task at hand, talked him
Speaker 1: up throughout the year, and kept him perhaps mentally ready
Speaker 1: as much as anything else. Yeah. Earlier in the series,
Speaker 1: Tyree said that when he was little, his dad told
Speaker 1: him that proper performance prevents wait, proper preparation prevents poor performance.
Speaker 1: I knew I was going to get it wrong at
Speaker 1: some point. I got that tongue twister right too many times.
Speaker 1: And now I'm paying for it. Tyrese has been preparing
Speaker 1: behind the scenes all season long, and he didn't even
Speaker 1: get the regular preparation that a rookie would get, especially
Speaker 1: coming into a really good team. He didn't get Summer League,
Speaker 1: he didn't get a traditional training camp. He didn't get
Speaker 1: to come to Philadelphia and work with a player development
Speaker 1: coach and acclimate to the city and then meet his
Speaker 1: teammates one by one as rookies usually do. We talked
Speaker 1: about it with Seth Curry. It's tough to be on
Speaker 1: a team with Joel Embid, Ben Simmins, Tobias Harris playing
Speaker 1: ahead abuse. Tyrese is someone that's way farther down on
Speaker 1: the depth chart than Seth Korea is and has been
Speaker 1: all season long, and even so he's found a way
Speaker 1: to make an impact over and over again. He's come
Speaker 1: into the rotation, out of the rotation, back into the
Speaker 1: rotation better than he was before he fell out of it.
Speaker 1: And that's also worth celebrating, because it's really hard to
Speaker 1: improve when you're not getting those minutes. Selton I talk
Speaker 1: about this a lot tyrone, but when you're a rookie
Speaker 1: and you come into a really good team, it's difficult
Speaker 1: to get minutes. You don't get to take risks. We
Speaker 1: saw it with Matisse Thyble last year. We've seen it
Speaker 1: with Tyrese this year. Mistakes you have to pay for
Speaker 1: them if you're a rookie on a bad team. Trey
Speaker 1: Young benefited from this early in his career. You get
Speaker 1: to go out there and make mistakes and figure it out.
Speaker 1: Tyrese was not given that privilege, and he's still figured
Speaker 1: it out. And I think that's really worth celebrating. And
Speaker 1: now we're getting to do it, and the city is
Speaker 1: rallying behind him. I'm not surprised after watching him all
Speaker 1: season to see how well he's performing in this playoffs,
Speaker 1: but I think it's really exciting, and again we're celebrating.
Speaker 1: You mentioned, Lauren, the Atlanta Hawks, the adjustment. You see
Speaker 1: they come one o'clock Sunday afternoon. We know that at
Speaker 1: the center round two Underway. I gotta be honest, I was.
Speaker 1: I felt for the great Lloyd Pierce. I thought he
Speaker 1: was a good hire at that point in time for
Speaker 1: Atlanta didn't work out. And today McMillan's credit man the Hawks.
Speaker 1: They were the third best team in the NBA since
Speaker 1: his hiring Tyrone. What do you think are well, we
Speaker 1: certainly know one of them. But as you take the
Speaker 1: holistic look at the Atlanta Hawks, what are some of
Speaker 1: the big challenges they present in your mind? The number
Speaker 1: one thing for me that comes right to mind is
Speaker 1: running guys off that three point line. I understand that
Speaker 1: you may or may not have Joellambat. I don't want
Speaker 1: to speculate on what his status might be, but one
Speaker 1: thing we do know is those guys want to fire threes,
Speaker 1: and they're much more effective out there than Washington is overall.
Speaker 1: I think you have to go into the steers with
Speaker 1: the approach if we'll have to accept guys making some twos,
Speaker 1: some tough twos at times, some scrambles, but run guys
Speaker 1: off the three point line. And I think if you
Speaker 1: do that now you can create problems for them on
Speaker 1: the other end, because while their defensive profile has improved
Speaker 1: great under McMillan, I don't see personnel that's built to
Speaker 1: slow this team down. They'll have a good scheme, a
Speaker 1: better scheme, much better scheme than Washington had, and better
Speaker 1: personnel overall than Washington has. But I think that if
Speaker 1: you can run them off the three point line and
Speaker 1: make them uncomfortable. You then can then score on them
Speaker 1: and get more easy baskets. On the other end, if
Speaker 1: they're comfortable and they're able to take easy three pointers,
Speaker 1: now it becomes a more uphill battle. Then Nicks ran
Speaker 1: into that a couple of times in that series, where
Speaker 1: they might they're playing tough defense, they're playing scrapping. Those
Speaker 1: guys make shots and then oh no, they have no
Speaker 1: way of coming back. Obviously the Sixers are better equipped
Speaker 1: to do that. But running those guys and not letting
Speaker 1: any of them, including the one who takes the fifty footers,
Speaker 1: keep those guys from being comfortable at the three point line,
Speaker 1: to me, is the first thing that comes to mind
Speaker 1: in that series. If they do that, it's much easier
Speaker 1: than if they can't do that. Looking at their personnel, right,
Speaker 1: they have a handful of three point shooters that are
Speaker 1: above thirty seven and a half percent. Bogdanovitch obviously jumps out.
Speaker 1: Lewis shot the ball great since he's gotten there. Tony Snell,
Speaker 1: we saw a couple of times when he played the
Speaker 1: Sixers this year go off. But the thing about Trey
Speaker 1: is he's not afraid to launch from anywhere, So I
Speaker 1: don't really care what his percentages. You know, he can
Speaker 1: change the game if he gets hot, and you just
Speaker 1: you can't let him get hot. And the other thing
Speaker 1: the one thing, and I'm with you, Tyrone. I take,
Speaker 1: especially at this stage, a very zen approach when it
Speaker 1: comes to guys who are in or out, like it's
Speaker 1: either gonna happen or it's not. It's outside of my control.
Speaker 1: I can't get my energy wrapped up in it. I
Speaker 1: think the presence of Capella obviously changes whether or not
Speaker 1: Joe is in there or not. If Joe's in there,
Speaker 1: Cappella not particularly concerned. I think that Joe's certainly acquitted
Speaker 1: himself pretty well against him in the past. But if
Speaker 1: Joe's not there, then I think that's that presents a
Speaker 1: decision for Doc to make as far as how he's
Speaker 1: gonna work that five spot and that sort of thing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because then it changes to a dribble penetration situation where
Speaker 1: a lot of Capella's points they don't throw to him
Speaker 1: into post and he goes to work. That's not what
Speaker 1: he does guards penetrate. It is a skill to find
Speaker 1: the right spot and play with energy and all those
Speaker 1: kind of things would indeed there, and b could really
Speaker 1: shut a lot of that down if he doesn't, if
Speaker 1: indeed is not there, then it is tougher than to
Speaker 1: stop some of that stuff that they do if they
Speaker 1: are able to run guys off the three point line.
Speaker 1: That druple penetration leads to a lot of his baskets,
Speaker 1: and he's very effective there. He's a guy that can
Speaker 1: literally shoot ten for ten in the game because all
Speaker 1: the shots are within two feet, none of them are difficult,
Speaker 1: and then he'll grab ten fifteen rebounds to go with
Speaker 1: it without calling a single play for him. So yeah,
Speaker 1: in that way, you're absolutely right, Lauren. Anyone who you
Speaker 1: have your eye on sixer side that you felt we
Speaker 1: saw some flashes of things in the first round that
Speaker 1: you could see building on that in the second round, Yes,
Speaker 1: you'll be unsurprised to hear that. My answer is yes.
Speaker 1: I want to talk about fir Con Korkmas for a second.
Speaker 1: He didn't figure super heavily into the first couple of games.
Speaker 1: And this is a guy who went hot so dangerous
Speaker 1: you can always have to account for him on the
Speaker 1: floor or a defense to see him come into Game
Speaker 1: four and along with Tyrese Maxie keep the team in
Speaker 1: a very difficult situation. The two of them or what
Speaker 1: was really driving that fourth quarter. Furkon had all seven
Speaker 1: of his points in the fourth quarter in Game four
Speaker 1: and then in Game five to come in and score
Speaker 1: ten points, four for eight from the field, two for
Speaker 1: five from three and two for five from three. That's
Speaker 1: fine if you're Furkon, because they have to guard him
Speaker 1: on all five and I think that a lot of
Speaker 1: the times more than two of them fall when you're
Speaker 1: a firkn Cork must so look to me. I don't
Speaker 1: know how heavily he figures into the upcoming series, but
Speaker 1: he's someone that can be relied upon, like Tyrese Maxie,
Speaker 1: will come in and rise to the occasion. I loved
Speaker 1: seeing him close this series the way that he did.
Speaker 1: Doc Rivers often says that when Furkon's shots are falling,
Speaker 1: when Furkon is playing well, it usually means that the
Speaker 1: rest of the team is playing well too. So if
Speaker 1: you're using Furkon is sort of a litmus test, especially
Speaker 1: if you're going to be shorthanded. To see him finish
Speaker 1: this series successfully again, not sure how heavily he's going
Speaker 1: to play in not sure how many minutes he's going
Speaker 1: to get, but when he gets them, he's going to
Speaker 1: capitalize on them. And I've really enjoyed seeing him succeed
Speaker 1: in this situation. Selts, I know you're also a big
Speaker 1: for Concork Mods guy. He's just a good human as well,
Speaker 1: and so you got a root for those good humans.
Speaker 1: I think he at least he gave some good energy,
Speaker 1: especially in game four he and Tyres Maxie almost help
Speaker 1: the Sixers steal it. I think, yeah, I think it would.
Speaker 1: It would certainly help if fir can build off what
Speaker 1: we saw the last two games, because as Doc said,
Speaker 1: he feels like the Sixers could need him at some point.
Speaker 1: Why don't we rap with this? Obviously time and I
Speaker 1: think that when you have someone like Trey Young on
Speaker 1: the opposite side, if you're you're following the Sixers, your
Speaker 1: first thought is, well, we've got Ben Simmons and you
Speaker 1: can just go after that and try and shut Trey down.
Speaker 1: I don't know how do you think Doc might approached
Speaker 1: that matchup. It's obviously gonna be one of the key
Speaker 1: matchups of the series because there are some guys, whether
Speaker 1: it's DeAndre Hunter or John Collins, who who have some
Speaker 1: size and athleticism, who could get inside a little bit.
Speaker 1: And I'll be curious to see how much time Ben
Speaker 1: spends on Trey and maybe most of all, what stage
Speaker 1: of the game they put him on Trey. Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: gonna be interesting. And also to kind of go hand
Speaker 1: in hand with the courtmask thing is stible because if
Speaker 1: it's almost like if you combine them, you would get
Speaker 1: the greatest player to ever live, because you'd have somebody
Speaker 1: who can really really make shots and somebody who can
Speaker 1: really really defend. If if I'm not hoping, if Joel
Speaker 1: and Beat is out he went with Thible as a
Speaker 1: starter in Gay five, does he stick with that? And
Speaker 1: then it's very simple Thible, you're guarding Young pretty much
Speaker 1: every possession, and if you get in foul trouble, then
Speaker 1: we can go, we can try something different coming off
Speaker 1: the bench. That's the part the player who I think
Speaker 1: would be the biggest wildcard who may end up spending
Speaker 1: a lot of important minutes on him because he's long enough,
Speaker 1: he can get the trail block, he's quick enough, and
Speaker 1: he's he does still doesn't get all the calls that
Speaker 1: he probably should as an elite defender, but he gets
Speaker 1: a lot more than he didn't as a rookie, so
Speaker 1: he might be able to play just physical enough to
Speaker 1: make the catches for him a little bit easier, to
Speaker 1: fight over that screens and stay with it and just
Speaker 1: make those shots from a guy who, like you said,
Speaker 1: who can blow the game apart, just make it a
Speaker 1: little bit tougher for him. So that's one thing I'm
Speaker 1: really looking for. If Joel and beat he played alf
Speaker 1: duel Abat is there, like we all hope, now, he
Speaker 1: could come in and he can really play loose with
Speaker 1: his foules and play really overplay him at times, and
Speaker 1: I think making him uncomfortable, something that Knicks did for
Speaker 1: exactly zero seconds of this series, could be just huge.
Speaker 1: And he's probably the best player equipped in the whole
Speaker 1: league perhaps to do that and not have the offensive
Speaker 1: responsibilities that Ben Simmons obviously has. Yeah, it's a really
Speaker 1: really good point, and I think that Matise spending as
Speaker 1: much time as he's had to on Bradley Beale over
Speaker 1: the last few days is going to prove really formative.
Speaker 1: He said after the game last night that guarding Beale
Speaker 1: taught him a lot it was a crash course in guarding.
Speaker 1: He called Bradley Beale one of the greatest scorers in
Speaker 1: the world. I agree. So having that experience and now
Speaker 1: going to one of the other Trey Young is also
Speaker 1: one of the greatest scorers in this game. But younger,
Speaker 1: a little less experienced, a little less likely to get
Speaker 1: into Matis's head the way that Bradley Beale was because
Speaker 1: Bradley Beale, Matise said, was able to start anticipating him,
Speaker 1: and now they're just anticipating each other and it becomes
Speaker 1: this just weird back and forth. And Matisse got some
Speaker 1: of his, but Bradley Beale got a lot his. I
Speaker 1: don't think that Trey Young could read defenders the way
Speaker 1: that Bradley Beale can. So Matisse had some good warm
Speaker 1: up reps in this first set, his hands might be
Speaker 1: even more full. Like you said, if there's no Joel,
Speaker 1: does he just come in and your job is to
Speaker 1: just run with Trey best of luck, please slow him down.
Speaker 1: I agree with you. If anyone is going to be
Speaker 1: forced to go run in there, use your motor use
Speaker 1: your athleticism, and use your skills. It's a good series
Speaker 1: to have. Matisse's Bible on your side. I'm right. I
Speaker 1: think maybe I could use Thursday off and after that
Speaker 1: we can start game one of the series Friday. I'm
Speaker 1: just intrigued, excited, curious. I want to see how it starts.
Speaker 1: The Yeah, now we gotta wait a while. Yeah Nowaday,
Speaker 1: now we gotta wait. At least it's one o'clock bin
Speaker 1: zone and when some of your bigger players might need
Speaker 1: a little bit of rest. And it's sure, sure, there
Speaker 1: is a certain big man they say you're going to
Speaker 1: use rest and rehab. Perhaps the extra couple of days
Speaker 1: of rest of rehab could work out well for the sixes.
Speaker 1: One might say, that's a great theory that I would
Speaker 1: I would be willing to subscribe to. All Right, you
Speaker 1: see Tyrone. You hear Tyrone just about everywhere this time
Speaker 1: of year during six or season. Thank you man so much.
Speaker 1: Really appreciate it. No, I'm thrilled, thanks so much for
Speaker 1: having me. I appreciate it. As far as what you
Speaker 1: can expect to hear here on the seventy Sixers podcast
Speaker 1: network between now and the start of round two, I'm
Speaker 1: going to try and knock out a bonus mail bag
Speaker 1: episode of the pod at some point before Sunday afternoon,
Speaker 1: so be on the lookout for that and then over
Speaker 1: on our second feed, the Scoop. Simply search seventy Sixers
Speaker 1: Scoop wherever you get your pods and give us a follow.
Speaker 1: We'll have daily updates from practice whenever the seventy Sixers
Speaker 1: hold it, so check our scoop feed for practice reports
Speaker 1: between now and the opening of the second round. Thanks
Speaker 1: again to Tie Johnson, Thank you to Lauren Rosen. Thanks
Speaker 1: as always to you for listening. We'll talk to you
Speaker 1: leading up to the second round seventy Sixers and the
Speaker 1: Hawks as the Sixers look to keep this thing going.
Speaker 1: See you. You've been listening to Fanatic about the Playoffs
Speaker 1: from the seventy Sixers podcast network presented by DraftKings and
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