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Sixers Notes: Embiid, Wiz Series, Wells Fargo Center, Doc

May 30th, 2021 at 3:02pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

All-Star Sixers center Joel Embiid showed off his MVP-caliber bona fides with his play in Game 3 of Philadelphia’s first-round series against the Wizards, writes Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington. Embiid scored his efficient 36 points in a variety of ways. He shot 14-of-18 from the floor and 3-of-4 from deep.

“Joel is a special talent,” Wizards All-Star swingman Bradley Beal acknowledged. “He plays like a guard, it’s kind of crazy.” The Sixers won in resounding fashion: the final score was 132-103.

There’s more out of the City of Brotherly Love:

  • The Sixers are exploiting a notable size advantage in their series against the Wizards, observes Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Sixers reserve center Dwight Howard assessed his current team’s vertical edge against his former club. “I just think that the lineup we present with Joel being 7’2″, 300 [pounds is imposing],” Howard said. “We got some big guards. In our second unit, I’m a little bit undersized [6’10”] as a center, but I like the way we are set up.” The Wizards added 6’10” power forward Davis Bertans to their starting lineup and subtracted 6’1″ guard Raul Neto in an effort to counteract the size of the Sixers.
  • The Sixers will return to full fan capacity for their home floor, Wells Fargo Arena, on June 2, tweets Derek Bodner of The Athletic. Bodner adds that the previously-projected return date for full crowd attendance was June 11.
  • After striving to keep a Celtics superstar core happy en route to the 2008 title, Sixers head coach Doc Rivers has thus far appeared up to the task in Philadelphia, too, says Mike Sielski of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Sielski notes that Rivers and his staff’s strategy has been to bring out the best from their top player, Embiid, while accentuating the skillset of ancillary star point guard Ben Simmons. “You just communicate it to them,” Rivers said. “But everyone doesn’t have it. A lot of guys want to play the way they play, no matter what. In my opinion, that eventually doesn’t work. If everybody on every team got to play the exact same way that they only wanted to play, I don’t know if you can win that way. It’s tough.”
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Westbrook, Curry Cleared To Play Tonight

May 29th, 2021 at 5:37pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Wizards will have Russell Westbrook in the lineup for tonight’s Game 3 against the Sixers, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.

Philadelphia’s Seth Curry will also be active, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

Westbrook was a game-time decision with a sprained right ankle that he suffered in Game 2. He didn’t practice on Friday, but he made enough progress with the injury that Washington’s medical staff cleared him for tonight.

Curry sprained his left ankle in Game 2 and missed practice as well on Friday, but received clearance just before game time.

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Southeast Notes: Westbrook, Wizards, McMillan, Heat

May 27th, 2021 at 10:32am CST by Luke Adams

It was a rough night for Russell Westbrook in Philadelphia on Wednesday. The Wizards guard left the blowout loss in the fourth quarter after injuring his right ankle, then had popcorn dumped on him by fan as he limped toward the locker room. Addressing the incident after the game, Westbrook called on the NBA to better protect its players with fans now permitted back in arenas, as Brian Windhorst of ESPN writes.

“To be completely honest, this s–t is getting out of hand, especially for me. The amount of disrespect, the amount of fans just doing whatever the f–k they want to do — it’s just out of pocket,” Westbrook said. “There are certain things that cross the line. Any other setting … a guy were to come up on the street and pour popcorn on my head, you know what happens. … In these arenas, you got to start protecting the players. We’ll see what the NBA does.”

The Sixers announced today in a press release that the fan who poured popcorn on Westbrook has had his season ticket membership revoked and will be banned indefinitely from attending events at Wells Fargo Center. While that’s a good first step, it’ll be interesting to see if the league takes any further action.

LeBron James (via Twitter) echoed Westbrook’s call for the NBA to protect its players, and the incident in Philadelphia isn’t the only one involving fans this week. A Knick fan appeared to spit on Hawks guard Trae Young on Wednesday (link via Bleacher Report), and Jason Quick of The Athletic notes (via Twitter) that multiple Trail Blazers players took issue with some Nuggets fans as the team was leaving the court in Game 2.

Here’s more from around the Southeast:

  • Westbrook’s impressive play in the second half of the season was crucial in propelling the Wizards into the playoffs, but the team will need more from him in this series in order to have a chance at upsetting Philadelphia, writes Candace Buckner of The Washington Post. First and foremost, the Wizards will need Westbrook healthy — his status remain up in the air after Wednesday’s ankle injury.
  • Hawks head coach Nate McMillan found his rotation decisions under the spotlight following Wednesday’s loss, but he said he was happy with his game plan, per Chris Kirschner of The Athletic. “Our starters played 35-plus minutes. That’s a lot of minutes for those guys,” McMillan said. “Trae plays 35. Bogi (Bogdan Bogdanovic) plays 35. Clint (Capela) is at 36. That’s a lot of minutes for starters. … I thought we got a little gassed in that first half. I think we have to give those guys a little breather. They’re not going to be able to play 40-48 minutes.”
  • Heat president of basketball operations Pat Riley was aware that his club probably needed more firepower to have a chance to return to the NBA Finals this year, says Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel. However, Riley was unable to land Kyle Lowry at the deadline and his acquisition of Victor Oladipo didn’t work out, which could contribute to an early postseason exit for the defending Eastern champs.
  • With the Heat trailing the Bucks 2-0, Anthony Chiang and Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald explore whether a frontcourt pairing of Bam Adebayo and second-half addition Dewayne Dedmon might be a viable solution to counter Milwaukee’s size.
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Simmons Addresses Negative Feedback

May 27th, 2021 at 8:18am CST by Luke Adams
  • After receiving some criticism in Philadelphia for putting up just six points (to go along with 15 rebounds and 15 assists) in the Sixers‘ Game 1 win, Ben Simmons scored 22 points on Wednesday and addressed that negative feedback after the game. “I’m not trying to stick to anybody in Philly,” Simmons said, according to Brian Windhorst of ESPN. “I thought it was pretty hard to get 15 assists and 15 rebounds in the NBA in the playoffs. I thought that was pretty impressive. And we won. What y’all want? You want to win? For me, I’m here to win and I’m doing what I need to do to help my team win, whatever it is. I’m not trying to prove anybody wrong or anything like that. I’m trying to do my job to win.”
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Rivers Dismisses Simmons' Critics; Sixers Starting To Rely More On Hill

May 26th, 2021 at 9:36am CST by Luke Adams
  • After Ben Simmons scored just six points on 3-of-9 shooting in Game 1, Sixers head coach Doc Rivers said he doesn’t understand criticism of the standout guard, who contributed 15 assists and 15 rebounds in the team’s victory. “Only in Philadelphia,” Rivers said, per Rob Maaddi of The Associated Press. “If you guys don’t know the treasure you have by now, then shame on everyone because he’s been fantastic for us. … I’m amazed that people don’t see what he does. We’re so caught up in the amount of points he scored. … Does it matter if Ben had all 125? Would we be mad that Joel (Embiid) didn’t score? Who cares who scores as long as we’re scoring. … When Ben plays, we score more points.”
  • After Ben Simmons scored just six points on 3-of-9 shooting in Game 1, Sixers head coach Doc Rivers said he doesn’t understand criticism of the standout guard, who contributed 15 assists and 15 rebounds in the team’s victory. “Only in Philadelphia,” Rivers said, per Rob Maaddi of The Associated Press. “If you guys don’t know the treasure you have by now, then shame on everyone because he’s been fantastic for us. … I’m amazed that people don’t see what he does. We’re so caught up in the amount of points he scored. … Does it matter if Ben had all 125? Would we be mad that Joel (Embiid) didn’t score? Who cares who scores as long as we’re scoring. … When Ben plays, we score more points.”
  • It took a while for George Hill to get healthy and make his Sixers debut after he was acquired at the trade deadline, but the veteran guard will be relied upon more heavily now that the postseason is underway, writes Tom Moore of The Bucks County Courier Times.
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Community Shootaround: Eastern Conference First-Round Series

May 25th, 2021 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

As we discussed on Monday, the postseason is off to a fascinating start in the Western Conference, where the underdogs in all four series won Game One. The results in the Eastern Conference haven’t been quite as surprising so far.

The No. 1 Sixers and No. 2 Nets took care of the Wizards and Celtics in their respective Game Ones. Although Washington and Boston were competitive, the star power of the higher seeds may be too much for the two play-in teams — Joel Embiid and Tobias Harris racked up a combined 67 points for Philadelphia on Sunday, while Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden scored 82 of Brooklyn’s 104 points on Saturday.

Meanwhile, after upsetting the Bucks in last year’s second round, the Heat have dug themselves a 2-0 hole in this year’s first round, and Monday’s loss was especially one-sided. Milwaukee poured in 46 first-quarter points and 22 total three-pointers en route to a blowout victory.

Based on what we’ve seen so far, the most exciting Eastern Conference series in the first round should be the one featuring two teams that have spent the last few years out of the postseason. The Knicks and Hawks went down to the wire on Sunday, with Trae Young clinching an Atlanta victory by hitting a floater with less than a second left in regulation.

The Celtics, Wizards, and Heat still have plenty of time to turn things around, but oddsmakers view it as a long shot that any of these three clubs will pull off a comeback. BetOnline.ag currently lists the Nets as -2750 favorites, meaning that if you want to bet on Brooklyn to win the series, you’d have to risk $2,750 in order to win just $100. The Sixers (-1800) and Bucks (-1000) are also heavy favorites.

The Hawks’ Game 1 upset has made them the frontrunners over the Knicks, but Vegas still views that series as practically a toss-up compared to the other three — Atlanta is only a -255 favorite.

We want to know what you think. Will the East’s top three seeds hold on and win their respective series with relative ease, or will the Celtics, Wizards, and/or Heat come alive and make things interesting? Do you expect a long series between the Hawks and Knicks? Who are you picking to win that one?

Head to the comment section below to share your thoughts!

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Doc Rivers Turning Star-Studded Team Into Winners

May 23rd, 2021 at 7:31pm CST by JD Shaw
  • Sixers head coach Doc Rivers has turned his star-studded team into winners, Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes. Rivers holds several years of coaching experience and memorably guided the Celtics to a championship in 2008. He was also named the NBA’s Coach of the Year with Orlando in 2000.
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Finalists For Major 2020/21 NBA Awards Announced

May 20th, 2021 at 6:42pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

During a TNT broadcast ahead of tonight’s Wizards-Pacers play-in matchup, the finalists for six big end-of-season 2020/21 awards were announced. Here is the full list, as voted on by reporters.

NBA Most Valuable Player:

NBA Defensive Player of the Year:

NBA Rookie of the Year:

NBA Most Improved Player:

NBA Sixth Man of the Year:

NBA Coach of the Year:

  • Quin Snyder (Jazz)
  • Tom Thibodeau (Knicks)
  • Monty Williams (Suns)

Some of these current contenders are familiar with the hardware they’re up for again. Curry is a two-time MVP, having won the award previously in 2015 and 2016. Gobert and Green have both previously won Defensive Player of the Year awards — Green in 2017 and Gobert in 2018 and 2019. Thibodeau was voted Coach of the Year a decade ago while with the Bulls.

The winners for the awards will be announced during the 2020/21 NBA playoffs.

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Embiid Initially Feared March Knee Injury Was Season-Ender

May 18th, 2021 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams
  • When Joel Embiid suffered a knee injury on March 12 that was later diagnosed as a bone bruise, he initially feared that it would be a season-ender, he tells ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne, who published an in-depth feature on the Sixers center. “As soon as I fell, the first thing that I’m thinking is: ‘My season is over,'” Embiid said. Having avoided a major injury such as an ACL tear, the big man returned to action just three weeks later, on April 3.
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