It’s amazing if you only focus on Simmons on D. I can’t believe they are playing him.
Jimmy Butler kind of takes over in 4th qtr. Been that way since he came over.
The total disrespect they showed for Gasol on the offensive end turned out to be a brilliant strategy.
And let Embiid cover Siakam (who had a rough game).
He may get max money but his shooting has been pretty poor since he joined the Sixers. HRB's view is that its a role/usage issue and it may well be though I am not totally sold that this is what is going on. The guy was brought to Philly to catch and shoot which was partially his role in LA and Detroit before that and he has struggled with the shoot part of that whole thing.
I’m not going to disagree about Simmons but the one thing I like about this 76ers team is the interchangeable parts. Butler and Harris have good handles and can create their own shots. Embiid can attack the basket. Redick can get hot. I see Simmons as a defensive asset and rebounder. Philly dominated the boards tonight. Ben is a big part of that, even if he doesn’t get the rebound.
Philly also shot unsustainably badly in the 2nd half, even if the looks weren’t great.
It’s pretty fun to watch a game where every big is nearly unplayable defensively, but the teams have no choice but to play them.
I mean, Portland needs to find some better duct tape. They can take Nurkic's torso, Leonard's Frankenstein head, Collins legs and Kanter's mustache to form a zombie big
I guess but he can't create for others like a Kyrie, Curry, Dame, Harden, or Lowry. Denver and MKE create through their big men. Philly is kind of in limbo at the end of games .
That was a familiar-looking playoff game, defensive, physical. Boston has the soundest defense among the remaining teams. Philly can play good D when it’s backed into a corner. But they could just as easily forget about D in Game 3. Not always a focused team. Butler tries to preach defense but his is a lone voice.
I only saw the last 3Qs but seems to me that Simmons did a pretty credible job on KL when he was 1 on 1. Of course, TOR can get out of that matchup if they want but at the end of the shot clock, Simmons is the bet guy for PHI on KL.
Yes, but the talk is basically like a debate over why a guy gets called for a block if he moves in front of a dribbling player but wouldn’t get called for one if he stood to the side and the player reached out his off ball arm to create contact while dribbling past. To respond to one of the previous posts, an offensive player gets to jump forward literally as far he wants, just like he can on a layup, and is entitled to land, so long as the defensive player hasn’t already established a right to the space. He can’t extend his limbs, legs or arms, into space that isn’t part of his path of travel to swipe at the defender, create contact, and get a foul call. It may be complicated to differentiate these at times, but the line itself is not complex or vague.
PHI-TOR is more compelling to me just because of the higher stakes and strategic adjustments. I find that more entertaining than Enes Kanter getting tooled on. I can see the appeal of Den-Por though: there are several really really skilleed players in the series.
He's there to make sure that it's 1-1. He's the underdog on the road ref, and he does what he's told.
Yeah Foster is not doing any particular team a favor.
That looked like the best version of Denver last night and Portland was still in the game to the very end. Jokic will continue to feast on Portland's bad defensive bigs, but I wouldn't expect the same level of production from Murray and Milsap night after night. Portland needs to make adjustments, but they got the offensive looks they wanted. This looks like a six or seven game series from what I saw last night.
Refs make a huge difference in the outcome of NBA playoff games. And it's too bad. One would think that a $50 billion enterprise, with $7+ billion in annual revenue, could figure out how to ref games better.
