Speaker 1: I'm Tari's Mike Si and you're listening to the seventy
Speaker 1: six Ers Insider's podcast.
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Speaker 3: They'll go ring the insurance company's bell. Welcome back to
Speaker 3: the seventy six Ers Insiders Podcast. Two games into the
Speaker 3: first round for the Philadelphia seventy six Ers against the
Speaker 3: New York Knicks, Matt Murphy with Lauren Rosen and our
Speaker 3: friend Nick Stauskas is back. Nick. It's been a little bit.
Speaker 3: How are you great to have you.
Speaker 4: I'm doing great, could be a little bit better, but
Speaker 4: it's it's always good to see you. Know these two
Speaker 4: faces I'm with right now. I miss you guys. It's
Speaker 4: been a little bit, but anytime we're here talking six
Speaker 4: Ers basketball have some fun with it.
Speaker 5: So I'm looking forward to it.
Speaker 3: And who knows, Lauren, maybe we'll even release the bonus
Speaker 3: episode that the three of us taped. Were among other
Speaker 3: riveting topics, we talked about our favorite and least favorite
Speaker 3: subjects in school.
Speaker 1: I'm down. I'm absolutely down. And listen.
Speaker 2: As if we needed another excuse to go on a
Speaker 2: long run, here, Nick stauskis back in the fold. We
Speaker 2: got to get this man on the pod at least
Speaker 2: a few more times for weeks to come.
Speaker 4: I'm available, I'm free. I have no job, i have
Speaker 4: no prospects. I'm ready to talk the.
Speaker 3: Task at hand. The first round series second Sea to
Speaker 3: New York Knicks seventh seeded Philadelphia seventy six Ers. If
Speaker 3: you're not already subscribed to the seventy six Ers Insiders podcast,
Speaker 3: please do also subscribe to the Sixers YouTube channel check
Speaker 3: out a content day series we put out with most
Speaker 3: of this Sixers playoff roster and potentially a bonus episode
Speaker 3: with this trio that we've got going right now. But
Speaker 3: it's the series Nick starting with your takeaways through the
Speaker 3: first two games that I mean national media, local media obviously,
Speaker 3: but nationally it's it's the series maybe that's the most
Speaker 3: intriguing to everyone. This six Ers Nicks series. I called
Speaker 3: it the most second round feeling the first round series
Speaker 3: maybe of all time. And the games have delivered, just
Speaker 3: going the next way in in close fashion, but they
Speaker 3: defended their home court. So we'll get into the nitty
Speaker 3: gritty of some stuff from game two and a little
Speaker 3: bit from game one, but from an overall standpoint, what
Speaker 3: have been some of your takeaways?
Speaker 4: Well, coming into this series, you could argue potentially, you know,
Speaker 4: two of the best players in the Eastern Conference in
Speaker 4: Jalen Brunson and Joel Embiid playing in a first round matchup,
Speaker 4: which obviously makes it exciting and you know, to your point,
Speaker 4: feeling more like a second round matchup. The Sixers aren't
Speaker 4: a normal seventh seed because you look at their record
Speaker 4: with Joel and obviously towards the beginning of the season,
Speaker 4: they were a top tier team not only in the
Speaker 4: Eastern Conference but the entire league. So this was definitely
Speaker 4: a series, you know, beyond my bias of you know,
Speaker 4: being here in Philly and you know, working with you guys.
Speaker 4: Was definitely the series that I had circled in terms
Speaker 4: of most excited to watch. And as you mentioned, the
Speaker 4: games have lived up to it.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 4: The crazy part for me is just how quickly the
Speaker 4: narrative or.
Speaker 5: A series can change.
Speaker 4: And just within seconds in Game two, we you know,
Speaker 4: went from coming back Philly one to one to now
Speaker 4: to nothing, bunch of controversy, a lot of different storylines,
Speaker 4: you know, coming into game three. So uh, that's the
Speaker 4: NBA Playoffs for you. And it just goes, you know,
Speaker 4: goes to show you how important every second of every
Speaker 4: game is.
Speaker 3: And Nick Nurse had an interesting response to Lauren after
Speaker 3: Game two that spoke to what you just said, basically
Speaker 3: about how if the end of Game two had gone
Speaker 3: just a little bit different, the feeling would have been.
Speaker 3: We came on the road, we stole a game on
Speaker 3: the road, like that saying of steal one on the
Speaker 3: road to recapture the home court, and he spoke to
Speaker 3: you about just how close they were to doing that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and what's interesting, Matt is, yes, the Sixers are
Speaker 2: facing a difficult to nothing Knick series lead right now,
Speaker 2: but the games were so much closer than that would
Speaker 2: have indicated. Every time the Sixers fell back, they fought
Speaker 2: back in Both games were close down the stretch, especially
Speaker 2: obviously Game two. So if you take and obviously wins
Speaker 2: and losses are literally the most important stats in the
Speaker 2: regular season and especially in the playoffs, But if you
Speaker 2: strip both games of the win and lost column, this
Speaker 2: is an extremely close series.
Speaker 1: The margins are razor thin.
Speaker 2: There's an argument to be made that the Sixers have
Speaker 2: played better than the Knicks have in most of this
Speaker 2: series thus far. So I'll let Kyle Lowry's words replace mine.
Speaker 2: He immediately and the being the pro that he is
Speaker 2: with the playoff experience that he has. In the locker
Speaker 2: room following Game two, said Listen, he had nothing to
Speaker 2: say about the game, about the forty eight minutes that
Speaker 2: had transpired, He said, they took care of business on
Speaker 2: their home floor. They're up too to Oho. Now we
Speaker 2: have to go take care business on our home floor.
Speaker 2: Come back here to too. It was simple, measured exactly
Speaker 2: what you expect from Kyle Lowry and honestly describes what's
Speaker 2: happened pretty well. And of course it stays you wish
Speaker 2: you'd get back one to one and you get to
Speaker 2: play at home for a chance to go up three
Speaker 2: to one. But having watched both games closely and now
Speaker 2: rewatched both games, Sixers have played really well in this series,
Speaker 2: despite certain intangibles not falling their way, Joelle Embiid not
Speaker 2: being able to play as much as he would have
Speaker 2: wanted to in Game one, Tyrese Maxi dealing with an
Speaker 2: illness in Game two, and still for things to be
Speaker 2: this close, pretty impressive stuff from the Sixers all things considered.
Speaker 3: And we know the stats about two to zero series deficits.
Speaker 3: Thirty three teams have overcome that in the NBA playoffs,
Speaker 3: including Nick Nurse's twenty nineteen Raptors that went on to
Speaker 3: win the championship. They lost both in Milwaukee to start
Speaker 3: the Eastern Conference Finals, and then one four straight. It's
Speaker 3: also it's happened in each of the last few postseasons,
Speaker 3: including with the Warriors dropping two in the first round
Speaker 3: at Sacramento just last playoffs ended up winning in seven
Speaker 3: in Sacramento, so we know about that. Nick, what are
Speaker 3: your thoughts on people who say the way that they
Speaker 3: lost game two can have an effect because Kyle Lowry
Speaker 3: is already flushing it. But there are people who say,
Speaker 3: perhaps could it be too demoralizing to carry over into
Speaker 3: game three and it might be too hard of a
Speaker 3: finish to wipe out for the next two.
Speaker 5: You know, I think it's important to.
Speaker 4: Focus on the positives if you're Philadelphia in terms of
Speaker 4: not overthinking things or getting too demoralized or too beaten up.
Speaker 4: You know, especially with you know, the last two minute
Speaker 4: reports that are coming out, it's so easy to focus
Speaker 4: on those and get caught up in everything that's being
Speaker 4: said in the media and you know, be a little
Speaker 4: bit demoralized, like you said, But I think for them,
Speaker 4: they do need to focus on the fact that that
Speaker 4: was their game to win. They put themselves, they did
Speaker 4: everything they could do to put themselves in a position
Speaker 4: to win, and you know, a brief thirty second lapse
Speaker 4: towards the end of the game, you know, change the outcome.
Speaker 4: But that shouldn't make them think they can't win games coming,
Speaker 4: you know, moving forward in this series, and you know,
Speaker 4: Joelle even said it.
Speaker 5: Like we're the better team. You know they truly believe that.
Speaker 4: But on the flip side, I will say this, My
Speaker 4: other argument is and like this could be a good thing,
Speaker 4: could be a bad thing. But if you told me
Speaker 4: after two games Jalen Brunson was sixteen for fifty five
Speaker 4: from the field, I would have told you Sixers are
Speaker 4: up to nothing. So from the Knixt perspective, they're like,
Speaker 4: we're up to and our best player hasn't really played
Speaker 4: well yet. So if you're a Philly, you have to
Speaker 4: know that. That's if you're the Sixer, you have to
Speaker 4: know that's coming. Like he's not going to continue shooting
Speaker 4: like that for a seven game series.
Speaker 5: So I guess we'll see how that plays out.
Speaker 2: Would it be fair to suggest that perhaps the Sixers
Speaker 2: best player also may feel that way and has said
Speaker 2: as much himself, Right, Joel knows that he can put
Speaker 2: more into these games, and we have not seen him
Speaker 2: at peak Joel Embiid quite yet, Right, So I don't know.
Speaker 2: I'm still excited about it. I'm so excited about what's
Speaker 2: to come. I think this is going to be a
Speaker 2: very long and continue to be a very close series.
Speaker 3: I guess the two sides I was presenting to Nick
Speaker 3: originally was like, on one hand, if you're the Sixers,
Speaker 3: you're like, we should have won that game. But on
Speaker 3: the other hand, and this is the side that to
Speaker 3: the point of excitement, you're like, we were right there
Speaker 3: and we should have won that game. So like, you
Speaker 3: can look at we should have won that game as
Speaker 3: a negative or a positive, and maybe coming home with
Speaker 3: the two days in between will help them look at
Speaker 3: it as more of a positive. To the point about
Speaker 3: brunson twenty nine percent shooting, this is from Justin Kabatco
Speaker 3: from Stattitudes, really great newsletter that he puts out. It's
Speaker 3: over the last sixty seasons, no player with at least
Speaker 3: fifty attempts has recorded a lower field goal percentage over
Speaker 3: the first two games of a playoff series. And Lauren
Speaker 3: who has stood out for the Sixers in defending Jalen
Speaker 3: Brunson because it hasn't always been Kelly, but toom it's
Speaker 3: a Maxie just the way that they're defending him as
Speaker 3: a team. What has jumped out to here.
Speaker 1: Sim Lowry as well.
Speaker 2: I think maybe that could be part of why Brunson's
Speaker 2: taking a little bit longer to figure out what he's
Speaker 2: dealing with is how well this committee has shared defensive responsibility,
Speaker 2: and you ask about Brunson specifically more holistically defensively. The
Speaker 2: improvements we saw in game two I thought were pretty special,
Speaker 2: and the offensive rebounding discrepancy that they dealt with in
Speaker 2: game one to erase it in game two extremely impressive
Speaker 2: right out the gate. This was a team that understood
Speaker 2: where they faltered in game one and adjusted right away.
Speaker 2: And that was something that the players and coach alike
Speaker 2: said that they were going to pride themselves in themselves
Speaker 2: in being able to do in this playoffs. So to
Speaker 2: see the way that they responded, and again, it's tough
Speaker 2: to talk about game two, it felt so much like
Speaker 2: a win, right We're talking about it as though they
Speaker 2: made all the adjustments.
Speaker 1: They did exactly what they needed to do right.
Speaker 2: Difficult to stomach the idea that it didn't result in
Speaker 2: a victory, But they made so many positive adjustments and
Speaker 2: improvements that I would expect them to continue doing exactly
Speaker 2: that in these next couple of games.
Speaker 3: Sixers were up one oh one ninety six late in
Speaker 3: that game end up losing one four one oh one. Maxi,
Speaker 3: while questionable because he was under the weather, goes for
Speaker 3: a near triple double with thirty five, nine and ten.
Speaker 3: I want to stay on Brunson for one more second. Nick,
Speaker 3: with your background as a as a professional player NBA player,
Speaker 3: the way that he shoots the ball and the way
Speaker 3: that the pace that he plays at. I saw this
Speaker 3: going around X a little bit with like a two
Speaker 3: motion shot, like his release is kind of in two
Speaker 3: parts almost, and Maxi had a block in Game one
Speaker 3: that people were pointing to that the Sixers have through
Speaker 3: two games sort of figured out how to time when
Speaker 3: he's going to shoot, because he'll get to that elbow
Speaker 3: and he'll rise, but it takes him a second to
Speaker 3: actually release the ball. And you can see it on
Speaker 3: a play like Maxi blocking him from behind his pace
Speaker 3: and how that affects everything in the way that he
Speaker 3: shoots the ball. It seems like the Sixers have sort
Speaker 3: of figured it out from the jump on when they
Speaker 3: watch film.
Speaker 4: I wouldn't go as far as say that they've they've
Speaker 4: figured it out, because I'm sure Brunson will still you know,
Speaker 4: he'll respond, he'll make adjustments and he'll find a way
Speaker 4: to get his But they've done a phenomenal job, as
Speaker 4: good as any team has done this year at slowing
Speaker 4: him down, because this is an all NBA type of
Speaker 4: player who's had an incredible season that's put the Knicks
Speaker 4: in a position where they're the number two seed in
Speaker 4: the East. So you know, many coaches have touched on
Speaker 4: the fact that there's not much you can do to
Speaker 4: slow Brunson down, that that pace he plays with, the
Speaker 4: stop and go, the change of speed, you know, his hesitations,
Speaker 4: his ability to shoot from deep, get to the basket,
Speaker 4: crafty finishes like the mid range. There really isn't any
Speaker 4: gaps in his offensive repertoire. But you know, to both
Speaker 4: of your points, I think by committee they've done a
Speaker 4: good job of just throwing bodies at him, being physical.
Speaker 4: And again, the Sixers do have size and that's something
Speaker 4: that's working to their advantage with Brunson being a smaller guard.
Speaker 4: Again on that part, they need to just continue doing
Speaker 4: what they're doing on the defensive end and hope that
Speaker 4: Brunson doesn't, you know, make his adjustments and catch fire,
Speaker 4: because you know, I'm sure he's probably Brunson's probably watching
Speaker 4: the tape and trying to figure out where he can
Speaker 4: get some better looks at.
Speaker 3: And look, we're going to talk about the positives, more
Speaker 3: positives than just the defense on Jalen Brunson for the Sixers,
Speaker 3: some offensive positives and stuff like that as we move
Speaker 3: along here after games one and two, before the Sixers
Speaker 3: come home. But going off the defense one more time,
Speaker 3: how have you seen this storyline of playing off some
Speaker 3: of the other players in the Knicks lineup, such as
Speaker 3: Josh Hart. How have you seen that play out? Because
Speaker 3: it's going the next way, but it's another thing that
Speaker 3: could shift as the series continues.
Speaker 4: It's a slippery slope with that because you know, to
Speaker 4: a certain extent, you're like, well, you know, make someone
Speaker 4: else beat you. That's always what you hear as a coach,
Speaker 4: We'll talk about, you know, make someone other than the
Speaker 4: star player on the other team beat you. And that's
Speaker 4: what you have to give the Knixt credit where they
Speaker 4: have had a number of different guys step up. You know,
Speaker 4: we saw Miles McBride in game one, even game two,
Speaker 4: make big shots, Bogdanovic, Josh Hart, I mean, Devincenzo. These
Speaker 4: are all guys that are stepping in on the big
Speaker 4: stage and you know, helping their team get meaningful victories.
Speaker 4: And I think that's where the Sixers, I feel like,
Speaker 4: could make some improvements. You look at Game two, they
Speaker 4: didn't other than Joelle and Tyresee, they didn't really have
Speaker 4: a third guy come in and make that huge impact.
Speaker 4: Where the Knicks have, They've had by committee, multiple players
Speaker 4: affecting the game on the offensive end. So you know,
Speaker 4: you're not gonna be able to take everything away. You
Speaker 4: know you're not gonna be able to limit everyone to
Speaker 4: under ten points. It just it just doesn't work like that.
Speaker 4: But I think just not as many open threes for
Speaker 4: those supporting cast players on the Knicks, like that's going
Speaker 4: to be important. Like even that last possession, the fact
Speaker 4: that Devincenzo got too wide open step in threes to
Speaker 4: make them go up one. You know, that's one of
Speaker 4: the best shooters in the NBA this year. It's just
Speaker 4: that can't happen late in the game. And so I
Speaker 4: think they can do just a better job of limiting
Speaker 4: those good looks. But also at the same time, you
Speaker 4: still got to show bodies with Brunson and make sure
Speaker 4: that he's seen a crowd at all times.
Speaker 3: Do you buy the supporting cast the role players play
Speaker 3: better at home things? I know, it's the garden, it's
Speaker 3: the bright lights that the Sixers were facing.
Speaker 5: I do think so.
Speaker 4: Personally, I've always felt like in this situation, I'd probably
Speaker 4: be more comfortable, more hyped up at home. But also
Speaker 4: there's some guys that like playing into the villain role. Like,
Speaker 4: I don't know, do the Sixers have any villain type
Speaker 4: players in the supporting cast?
Speaker 2: I mean potentially, right, what I will say story maybe
Speaker 2: Kyle Kelly. These guys got pretty hyped up by the
Speaker 2: noise in that building. What I will say is it
Speaker 2: was a very special environment. The Knicks fans showed up.
Speaker 2: They came out running out onto the court for Game one,
Speaker 2: the Sixers, of course, running out onto the court with
Speaker 2: about twenty minutes left on the clock. This was including
Speaker 2: a tip slide, right, So like these fans have waited
Speaker 2: for a while, they got there early. They're there to
Speaker 2: just boo the Sixers from the moment they run out
Speaker 2: onto the floor. And what I will say, observing that moment,
Speaker 2: Sixers were not afraid of that. They kind of liked it,
Speaker 2: Like They liked that energy, they liked that tension that
Speaker 2: they ran into literally in that building, and I think
Speaker 2: again by and large, they responded to it pretty well.
Speaker 2: That being said, we know the Sixers fans will bring
Speaker 2: a similar special, different Philly style energy that hopefully motivates
Speaker 2: the Sixers in another way, Hopefully that positive energy can
Speaker 2: get some win in the sales of some of the
Speaker 2: role players that you mentioned, Nick Stawskis. Yes, there are
Speaker 2: guys that are that can embrace the villain role on
Speaker 2: this team, for sure, but there are also a lot
Speaker 2: of guys on this team that have credited the environment
Speaker 2: at home and the building that they're able to play
Speaker 2: in with some of their success. So looking forward to
Speaker 2: seeing that dynamic shift in games three and four.
Speaker 3: By the way, Devincenzo two and eighty three regular season
Speaker 3: threes was third to your point, Nick, Steph was three
Speaker 3: point fifty seven, Luca was two eighty four, So Dante
Speaker 3: Devincenzo was only one three pointer. It's incredible, credible. Yeah,
Speaker 3: he's had a great turnaround under Tibbs in New York.
Speaker 3: So and then in game two we saw how it
Speaker 3: ended for the Knicks because of him putting them ahead
Speaker 3: and uh Lauren Game one though, just to put a
Speaker 3: bow on it, because Nick talked about McBride's stepping up.
Speaker 3: They had three twenty point scores, including Deuce McBride off
Speaker 3: the bench. But for the Sixers, the way that they
Speaker 3: came back from double digits down at halftime was the
Speaker 3: Maxi and Lowry show in the third quarter. It was
Speaker 3: even Lowry getting an and one while still down double
Speaker 3: digits early in the third quarter. That kind of fired them.
Speaker 2: Up a bit, and some of them have both had
Speaker 2: truly a great playoff run thus far, especially when you
Speaker 2: think about the limited amount of reps that they have together.
Speaker 2: This is still a team that's getting to know each other,
Speaker 2: that was getting to know each other in the absence
Speaker 2: of its thirty five point a night man in Joel Embiid, right,
Speaker 2: So now having them all together, they continuing to get
Speaker 2: to know each other. I agree with you. I liked
Speaker 2: what we were able to see from Kyle Lowry in
Speaker 2: the second half of Game two. I liked what we
Speaker 2: saw from Tyrese Maxey in the second half of Game two.
Speaker 2: And I know we've already talked about it, but he
Speaker 2: really was sick, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: And to be able to put that.
Speaker 2: He was both types of sick in game two, and
Speaker 2: to see someone that this city and this franchise No
Speaker 2: Pun Intended, has believed in all along excel on that level.
Speaker 2: You just wish, you just wish that they had been
Speaker 2: able to get that win because of how extraordinary Tyrese
Speaker 2: Maxie's performance was in game two.
Speaker 3: The most improved player in the twenty twenty three to
Speaker 3: twenty four NBA season, the Keia most Improved Tyrese MAXI
Speaker 3: and I.
Speaker 2: Had some stats queued up to discuss snaps for tyres
Speaker 2: to discuss how special year four was. I wanted to highlight,
Speaker 2: as we did upon the announcement that Tyrese would win
Speaker 2: his first Most Improved Player award of his career, I
Speaker 2: wanted to highlight the fact that he probably could have
Speaker 2: won it before. For example, his rookie season to his
Speaker 2: sophomore season, he earned six votes, a modest amount of
Speaker 2: votes for most Improved Player. Two years ago, he scored
Speaker 2: eight points a game as a rookie, eighteen points a
Speaker 2: game as a sophomore, twenty points a game last season,
Speaker 2: twenty six points a game this season. He has improved
Speaker 2: so mightily. Every year, and of course at a certain
Speaker 2: point you get into historic territory, right if you're looking
Speaker 2: at these types of increments. If he adds six points
Speaker 2: a game to his cumulative season stats every year for
Speaker 2: the next four or five years, at a certain point,
Speaker 2: he's going to be averaging like fifty something points a game.
Speaker 3: My brain, we would love to see the equations over
Speaker 3: my head right now, which.
Speaker 2: Which obviously listen. If anyone could do it, it's probably
Speaker 2: Tyrese Maxie. I don't want to limit this man, but
Speaker 2: the way that he's continued to grow his game in
Speaker 2: different ways every single season, to me, he's been the
Speaker 2: most improved player every season he's been allowed to play
Speaker 2: in the NBA. Last season, of course, limited in games
Speaker 2: because of his injuries and because of some other situations
Speaker 2: that were happening with the team last year, didn't perhaps
Speaker 2: have as many opportunities to improve.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 1: Seeing him win an award like this was a true treat.
Speaker 3: One would counter the stats you just gave about his
Speaker 3: career by saying eight to eighteen is that second year
Speaker 3: jump that yeah, no better or worse people just expect
Speaker 3: with NBA players, And then eighteen to twenty is not
Speaker 3: a big enough points per game jump for him to
Speaker 3: have gotten it last year, and twenty twenty point three
Speaker 3: to twenty five point nine was a big enough jump
Speaker 3: scoring wise, I guess in people in voter's minds.
Speaker 2: It's still young in his playoff year right, Obviously two
Speaker 2: games only in the playoffs this season, but a fourteen
Speaker 2: point jump in playoff points for Tyrese Maxi thus far
Speaker 2: twenty point five points per game in the playoffs in
Speaker 2: twenty twenty two to twenty three, thirty four points per game.
Speaker 1: Thus far in these playoffs while sick.
Speaker 3: And how much does him taking over lead guard duties
Speaker 3: factor into him being most improved because his assists went
Speaker 3: up to six point two as well, not just a
Speaker 3: scoring role. Obviously, the James Harden trade happens this season
Speaker 3: earlier on, and Maxi has run with it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I'm sure Tyrese still would have had
Speaker 4: a fantastic season if Harden was still here, but we
Speaker 4: probably don't see him have multiple fifty point games and
Speaker 4: just make an All Star team maybe, Like there were
Speaker 4: so many different things that came with it, And give
Speaker 4: credit to Tyrese, he was ready for that role. He
Speaker 4: was ready to take on any and all challenges. And
Speaker 4: this makes me think back to earlier in the year
Speaker 4: on one of our radio shows, Matt we were we
Speaker 4: had Coach Gates, and Coach Gates was like, if I
Speaker 4: could buy stock, if this is a stock mark, I
Speaker 4: could buy stock in one player, I would buy the
Speaker 4: Tyrese MAXI ticker whatever that is, like TM zero, whatever
Speaker 4: you call it.
Speaker 5: He goes, I would buy that.
Speaker 4: And so to now see months later him get rewarded
Speaker 4: with most improved Player, and you see him just looking
Speaker 4: like a superstar in these first two games, like on
Speaker 4: the Road in New York, comes out three for three
Speaker 4: to silence late in the game. Yes, game two with
Speaker 4: a long three, got long three, and he went back
Speaker 4: to the bench popping off. I was I was getting
Speaker 4: pretty excited. I was getting pretty excited. So, uh, it's
Speaker 4: just it's awesome to see him blossom into the player
Speaker 4: he's becoming. And yeah, I mean, let's let's do the math.
Speaker 4: I'm sure by twenty twenty seven it's going to be
Speaker 4: like fifty points a game to Lawrence to Lawrence points.
Speaker 3: So bump doubt him better every day, Right, it's a
Speaker 3: lot of percentage points. The right hand reverse bin that
Speaker 3: he's had all season, but especially in this series. It
Speaker 3: makes you think about that last play. Hertenstein, who blocked it,
Speaker 3: actually said he expected Maxi to go under the basket
Speaker 3: instead of staying on the left and it ends up
Speaker 3: with thirteen seconds left. He gets the block and then
Speaker 3: the Knicks tack on a couple of game winning free throws,
Speaker 3: but he stayed on the left side and didn't quite
Speaker 3: finish it all the way off like he has so
Speaker 3: many times in this series. Through just the two games.
Speaker 2: All season on the road with Tyrese, it's been fun
Speaker 2: to watch opposing crowds react to what they're seeing because
Speaker 2: you come into the building watching a Sixers game, if
Speaker 2: you're not necessarily super duper duper locked in to Let's
Speaker 2: say you're a Western Conference a fan of a team
Speaker 2: in the Western Conference, and you go and you watch
Speaker 2: the Sixers for the one time you're going to see
Speaker 2: them all year. Unless you're super locked into Eastern Conference basketball,
Speaker 2: you don't know what Tyrese Maxey has been up to.
Speaker 2: You're coming into the building excited to see Joel Embiid.
Speaker 2: You've heard of Kyle Lowry, You've heard of Tyrese Maxey,
Speaker 2: you've heard of Tobias Harris, but you don't know what
Speaker 2: this young man is capable of doing. And it has
Speaker 2: been such a treat to go from arena to arena
Speaker 2: and watch people realize that they're seeing something special and
Speaker 2: hear a crowd of people that are supposed to be
Speaker 2: rooting for the other team go ooh or oh. Like
Speaker 2: this noise that you hear coming from a collective crowd
Speaker 2: that's rooting against this player and his team carried over
Speaker 2: into again the most hostile playoff environment that I've ever
Speaker 2: been in in Madison Square Garden, not a lot of
Speaker 2: representation for Sixers fans in either game one or Game two,
Speaker 2: and hearing this crowd that was so determined to boo
Speaker 2: and yell profanities at this team just not be able
Speaker 2: to control themselves with some of these tyres. Maxie finishes
Speaker 2: with the ooh or the little like, did you guys
Speaker 2: see did you see that?
Speaker 4: Like?
Speaker 2: Watching people watching Knicks fans look at each other and
Speaker 2: realize what they've just seen was such a treat, and
Speaker 2: I really hope it continues.
Speaker 3: The Maxi and embiids stats are phenomenal through the first
Speaker 3: two games, and Nick mentioned the fifty point outings that
Speaker 3: Tyre's had during his most improved campaign, him and Joel
Speaker 3: doing it three times each had never been done before
Speaker 3: by teammates. Something else that hadn't been done by a
Speaker 3: Sixers duo since nineteen sixty seven was each have a
Speaker 3: thirty point double double in the same playoff game. It
Speaker 3: was Hal Greer and Wally Jones in nineteen sixty seven.
Speaker 3: Maxi had thirty five ten assists. Joel had thirty four
Speaker 3: points ten rebounds in Game two.
Speaker 2: So if Tyre's rebounding pretty well in this series, toeah
Speaker 2: give him credit.
Speaker 3: And that's how much to people talk about rebounding between
Speaker 3: games one and two, because it was fifty five thirty
Speaker 3: three nicks, So that buzzword in the playoffs of adjustments,
Speaker 3: Sixers didn't get out rebounded nearly as badly in Game two.
Speaker 3: They made some adjustments, whatever that might be, in subtle
Speaker 3: ways when it comes to securing defensive boards. Now, with
Speaker 3: the way and Beat and Maxie are playing the way
Speaker 3: that they seemingly have fixed some of the rebounding stuff,
Speaker 3: what are some of these ways they can improve for
Speaker 3: Game three?
Speaker 4: Well, I just think collectively, you know, guys just being
Speaker 4: ready to knock down open shots. Like obviously, you know,
Speaker 4: if you're the Sixers, you don't want to get away
Speaker 4: from what's working, and that's Tyres and Joel. You know,
Speaker 4: you need to continue to put them in positions where
Speaker 4: they're going to succeed. But as the Knicks defense continues
Speaker 4: to load up on them, you know, and it is
Speaker 4: very much a make or miss league, but these guys
Speaker 4: just need to be ready to catch and shoot. And
Speaker 4: that's why, you know, the supporting cast is always so
Speaker 4: important in these playoff games because we've seen how the
Speaker 4: three point shot can change the game when you know,
Speaker 4: role players get hot and you know, like you see
Speaker 4: a Duce McBride, you know, five threes just like that
Speaker 4: in Game one. That makes a huge impact.
Speaker 3: And Hard has four plus in both games, right, he
Speaker 3: hadn't done that in the whole regular season. Nicks made
Speaker 3: sixteen threes to the six Ers twelve in Game one,
Speaker 3: and that in some ways was the difference.
Speaker 5: Yep, yep, for sure.
Speaker 4: And so you look at the Sixers and they they
Speaker 4: have a lot of players that are capable, you know,
Speaker 4: seeing that all throughout the season, guys with playoff experience,
Speaker 4: and so I think it's important for the Sixers to
Speaker 4: not panic or get away from what they've been doing,
Speaker 4: because I think in a sense it has been working.
Speaker 4: It just has maybe been a little bit of bad luck.
Speaker 4: But yeah, I think they're gonna I think they're gonna
Speaker 4: be okay. I think me personally, I would I would
Speaker 4: like to think that they're going to win these two
Speaker 4: games at home and we're going to go back to
Speaker 4: New York for a best of three series. I think
Speaker 4: this is a seven game series, right, I'm thinking.
Speaker 2: I mean people have been saying that leading up to
Speaker 2: the series, right, And and the fact that again both
Speaker 2: both of these games, the margins were so thin. You
Speaker 2: just hope that they continue to to sort of the
Speaker 2: variance to use a word that Daryl Morey uses a lot,
Speaker 2: but the variance ends up on the Sixer side in
Speaker 2: these next couple because they're they're playing hard. Like you said, Nick,
Speaker 2: obviously you're going to need some more production from the
Speaker 2: non embiid non Maxie guys. But what we've seen from
Speaker 2: Embad and Maxie are, in my opinion, pretty clearly the
Speaker 2: two best players in the series so far. They're both
Speaker 2: on your team, right, So get the rest of your
Speaker 2: guys going get back to some of the things that
Speaker 2: you were doing super well down the stretch in that
Speaker 2: nine game.
Speaker 1: Winning streak and see what happens.
Speaker 2: I still feel very optimistic about what's coming in the
Speaker 2: rest of this series.
Speaker 3: It's the best of seven. It's hard to or i
Speaker 3: should say, it's easy to forget that sometimes in the
Speaker 3: immediate aftermath of a specific game in the series. So,
Speaker 3: as we wrap up, I wanted your reaction to this post.
Speaker 3: I saw that said, remember, when you lose a playoff game,
Speaker 3: it feels like you're never going to win again, And
Speaker 3: when you win a playoff game, it feels like you
Speaker 3: are never going to lose again. It's the playoffs wild times.
Speaker 3: We've lived it in different capacities as reporters, broadcasters, a
Speaker 3: player in your case, Nick, So, how how do you
Speaker 3: feel about that statement? That does feel like when you
Speaker 3: lose a playoff game, it it feels like you're never
Speaker 3: going to win again, and when you win, it feels
Speaker 3: like you're never going to lose again.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's I mean, it's like I said earlier, it's
Speaker 4: so crazy how the narrative of a series can change
Speaker 4: within seconds, Like you know, you could go from the
Speaker 4: Sixers being favored to also and the Sixers are down
Speaker 4: to oh in thirty seconds, and so I think it's
Speaker 4: just important to always take that step back and just
Speaker 4: look at the bigger picture. But it's hard because of
Speaker 4: all the outside noise in the world we live in,
Speaker 4: with everyone like ourselves, having opinions and you know, pointing
Speaker 4: out different stats and the rest. There's there's so much
Speaker 4: that you can talk about. And I think it's just
Speaker 4: important to fall back on the work and your values.
Speaker 4: And I think I think the Sixers have that in
Speaker 4: a you know, a great coaching staff, a good group
Speaker 4: of guys who believe in themselves. And I think that's important.
Speaker 4: That belief in yourself can never waiver, you know, bad loss,
Speaker 4: when doesn't matter, you need to continue to trust your work.
Speaker 4: And I think that's what the Sixers will do here.
Speaker 3: Can't get too high, can't get too low.
Speaker 2: And the most optimistic locker room that I've ever been
Speaker 2: able to walk into in a situation where you are
Speaker 2: down in a playoff series, right, you go into that
Speaker 2: locker room after a really really brutal ending dwell Embiid
Speaker 2: says worse than Game seven in Toronto when Kawhi made
Speaker 2: that sort of act of god shot.
Speaker 1: To go into that.
Speaker 2: Room and feel that it's a group of people that
Speaker 2: really feels like they're going to still win this series
Speaker 2: was special and so I'm going to hold onto that
Speaker 2: feeling as we head into Games.
Speaker 1: Three and four.
Speaker 3: That two month journey that Nick Nurse did in Toronto,
Speaker 3: that year you did with Boston just a couple of
Speaker 3: years ago, what sticks with you from an NBA Finals run.
Speaker 4: There was a lot of highs and lows, you know,
Speaker 4: a lot of feelings like, oh, our season's over, Oh
Speaker 4: we're going all the way on there. We were down
Speaker 4: three to two in Milwaukee going into Game six and
Speaker 4: so our season on the line, you know, on the road,
Speaker 4: and just felt like we didn't have it. Just felt
Speaker 4: like we didn't we weren't going to win the game.
Speaker 4: And then all of a sudden, we win that game
Speaker 4: and it was like that was Eastern Conference semifinals, so
Speaker 4: we're you know, we still got to go back home
Speaker 4: and win Game seven. But immediately my mind was like, oh,
Speaker 4: we're going to the NBA Finals now, like and it
Speaker 4: was just that one road win that kept our season alive.
Speaker 4: That was like life changing for us. It gave us
Speaker 4: that new life. And so I think for the Sixers,
Speaker 4: just being back home and having you know, that home crowd,
Speaker 4: maybe we should make a rule if you're wearing a
Speaker 4: Knicks jersey not allowed into Wells Fargo Center.
Speaker 5: Can we like can we.
Speaker 3: With all the blue even at the garden like I
Speaker 3: was at Game one, And it's hard to differentiate who's who.
Speaker 3: But when you walk past, when a Sixers fan walks
Speaker 3: past on the concourse, they just immediately get booed by
Speaker 3: all the Knicks fans. So it was Sixers fans. The
Speaker 3: challenge is on to do it in as respectful of
Speaker 3: a way as as possible because some of the mbat
Speaker 3: stuff was a little outlandish from yeah man, but the
Speaker 3: Sixers fans do need to be up to the task
Speaker 3: coming up in this series for sure.
Speaker 4: So yeah, well, I think I just think for the Sixers,
Speaker 4: I think, you know, it'll be it'll it'll change the
Speaker 4: whole narrative. Coming back home, getting a good win in
Speaker 4: Game three and just getting that, just being in the
Speaker 4: win column again brings back that feeling of like, oh,
Speaker 4: we're back on the right track. We're you know, we're
Speaker 4: doing everything that we can to to win this series.
Speaker 3: It's a shame though, because that win that you just
Speaker 3: spoke about from your personal experience literally could have been
Speaker 3: the Sixers on Monday Night. They could have captured that
Speaker 3: type of road win that energizes you so much in
Speaker 3: game two of the playoffs.
Speaker 5: No. Well, and you know, to the other point, we
Speaker 5: did have.
Speaker 4: We did have a loss that series that year in
Speaker 4: the NBA Finals to Golden State at home in Game four,
Speaker 4: which on the on the flip side, we lost Game
Speaker 4: four to have the series tied to to instead of
Speaker 4: being up three to one. And I can promise you
Speaker 4: we went back to a locker room and I could
Speaker 4: tell we weren't going to win that series anymore. Like
Speaker 4: it was just that loss was the one where the
Speaker 4: vibes changed.
Speaker 5: And it's just important.
Speaker 4: For this team, for the Sixers team, to not let
Speaker 4: any of the outside noise or just even that loss,
Speaker 4: the refing anything to dictate what happens moving forward, because
Speaker 4: I think we can all see that they are very
Speaker 4: much capable of beating this next team in this seven game.
Speaker 2: Series, and heartening perhaps on the heels of that story
Speaker 2: that you just told. To circle back to the story,
Speaker 2: I just told about the fact that going into that
Speaker 2: locker room, it did not feel.
Speaker 1: Like a group that felt that they had lost the series.
Speaker 1: It did not feel that way at all.
Speaker 2: So very much looking forward to these next couple of days.
Speaker 3: Home teams have been dominant in the NBA playoffs. I'm
Speaker 3: sure in a future episode we'll talk about what's developing
Speaker 3: outside of the Sixers series. I leave you both with
Speaker 3: this that Nick stascus your basketball reference page might be
Speaker 3: one of the most trafficked pages during the playoffs because
Speaker 3: if you type in for Jokic nik your basketball reference
Speaker 3: page comes up right away. So you're probably getting a
Speaker 3: lot of hits during this time. People trying to look
Speaker 3: up Jokic's numbers as well.
Speaker 4: So's there's very few numbers on my page, so they'll be.
Speaker 2: Listen, I've never seen the two of you in the
Speaker 2: same room at the same time.
Speaker 1: So you got you got a game to play tomorrow.
Speaker 4: Yeah, but he's I mean, he's only got a couple
Speaker 4: He's got like maybe like seven inches on me, maybe
Speaker 4: a couple extra zeros in his bank account, some MVP trophies,
Speaker 4: NBA ring, he's got a couple of things.
Speaker 3: To go to your page to verify that you don't have. Yeah, no,
Speaker 3: I mean it's a fun basketball reference page. Don't tell
Speaker 3: yourself short.
Speaker 5: Yeah yeah, it's.
Speaker 3: Long NBA careers longer than most.
Speaker 4: It's I mean, there's more teams listed than most. I'll
Speaker 4: tell you that. I'll tell you that for sure.
Speaker 3: I love it. So we'll let you get back to
Speaker 3: watching TJ McConnell in the playoffs too, when you're not
Speaker 3: focused on the.
Speaker 5: Second just picking up Dame full Court yesterday. It's a
Speaker 5: tough task.
Speaker 2: It's a good game. That was a fun one. The
Speaker 2: first road team to win a playoff game, or the
Speaker 2: Indiana Pacers, they.
Speaker 5: Got a chance to win that series. They have a chance.
Speaker 1: There's some good stuff going on around the league. I
Speaker 1: love the playoffs.
Speaker 5: I love basketball.
Speaker 1: Go Sixers.
Speaker 5: I love basketball, and I love you too.
Speaker 3: Love you guys.
Speaker 1: What a beautiful note to end this on. I guess
Speaker 1: now I have to say love you too.
Speaker 5: Love you, guys.
Speaker 3: Thanks for listening to the seventy six Ers Insiders podcast.