What are they talking about: the appearance of Maxey, Morey’s “tampering” and previewing the 76ers vs. the Eagles

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From Tyrese Maxi’s appearance in the first round against the Wizards to the prospect of the 76ers playing against the Hawks without Joel Embiid-even Daryl Morey’s A little tampering-this is what they said of the team before the Eastern Conference semifinals…

[NOTE: The Sixers-Hawks schedule came out Friday afternoon, and you can check that out here. We’ll also have a full preview from Kyle Neubeck on Saturday, so be sure to check back for that.]

Great… Great for Maxey

Tom West | Free agent

Before turning to the Wizards series, let us finally review the 76ers’ first-round breakthrough star: rookie Tyrese Maxi. He is one of the main themes of our own “What we know about the 76ers” post, but based on the amount of ink he has received in the past few days, it’s clear that we (and Doc Rivers) are not alone in that evaluation.

Here’s more from Tom West from free agency about the young defender and how he can motivate the team…

Maxey’s performance, and the 76ers coaching staff’s trust in him to play a more important role, fully illustrate his growth in the past few months (I studied in more detail here a few weeks ago). His recent performances have consistently surpassed Shaker Milton and have won more playing time and the opportunity to surpass his old teammates in the rotation (Milton played only 7 minutes in the fourth game and in the fifth game Only played 6 minutes and 46 minutes).

“I think he is a very good player,” Doc Rivers said of Maxey after the fifth game. “I think he has found himself. He has now figured out how to play, how we need him to play, what makes him not only a good player, but also allows everyone on the court to perform well. “

The rookie continued to make an impact with the energy, speed and driving impact he provided, adding new vitality to the 76ers bench. In the past few months, Maxey has improved the way he changes speed and caught defenders off guard by changing stop and start drives. In addition to embracing contact more frequently, he also used this approach to significantly increase his shooting percentage at the basket instead of relying too much on his floats, and he demonstrated this again in Game 5. This change in Maxey’s shooting style is the key to his shooting. His true shooting percentage has increased from 50.4 before the All-Star weekend to 56.3 afterwards. [libertyballers.com]

For Doc Rivers, Maxey-over-Milton’s move does not seem to make any progress, although if the rookie has two bad games in a row, it would be interesting to see how the 76ers coach reacted. Will he panic and return to Shake? Or will he let Kentucky products find their footing and solve problems on the court?

Survive without Embiid

Kevin Pelton | ESPN+

News Flash: The Sixers may not have Joel Embiid for at least part of this series. Although this did not prove to be a problem in Game 5 against the Wizards, it could lead to a difficult matchup against Eagles center Clint Capela, who used to defend against Embiid. The performance is quite outstanding.

If Dwight Howard encounters foul trouble, the 76ers may be forced to enter more small goals, which is a big (not a pun) requirement for a team larger than the Wizards. Here are more Kevin Pelton from ESPN…

Atlanta’s strong offensive statistics test Philadelphia. The Hawks’ offensive efficiency in the regular season is higher than that of the 76ers. If Embiid misses time in the second round, this advantage will be exacerbated. NBA’s leading offensive rebounder Clint Capela seems to be a particularly difficult matchup for Rivers’s small lineup starting in Game 5 against Washington, with winger Matisse Sebull replacing Embi De and Simmons became the biggest players in Philadelphia.

Rivers would rather not let Dwight Howard and Simmons start together, but instead let the traded Tony Bradley or the No. 4 Mike Scott as the center in the absence of Embiid. If Howard is the only healthy traditional center of the 76ers, Rivers may have no choice but to start him in the game against Capella, who was his former substitute for the Houston Rockets. Avoiding foul troubles is also critical to Howard, who has the highest rate of 6.0 fouls per 36 minutes among qualified players in the regular season. [espn.com]

But don’t be afraid, because without their MVP candidate, the 76ers should still be able to hold the fortress. If they can do this before he returns, Philadelphia should send the Eagles.

For Philadelphia, the 2018 first-round series victory against the Miami Heat may be the template for this series. Due to an orbital fracture, Embiid missed the first two games of the series, but after Embiid was allowed to play, the 76ers still managed to split the two games at home and won the next three games. The third game seems to be a reasonable goal for Embiid. The first game is scheduled to be held in Philadelphia on Sunday, which may mean an extended break between the second and third games. […]

Of course, Philadelphia will need Embiid to return in order to win another semifinal series with the Brooklyn Nets and Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference Finals. From now to then, without Embiid, the more victories the 76ers have won, the more likely he will get the remaining time needed to return close to full speed. [espn.com]

The eagle will never die?

Matt Cahill | Sense of six

In The Sixer Sense, Matt Cahill wrote about why the Eagles might be tougher than many expected. After all, since introducing Nate McMillan as their coach in the middle of the season, they have had one of the best records in the entire NBA (and the best in the East).

The national media claimed that the Eastern Conference was the three-horse race for the entire season, but an interesting thing happened on the way to the playoffs. After starting 14-20 and struggling throughout the season due to COVID issues and lingering injuries, the Atlanta Hawks changed coaches, switched to Nate McMillan, and began to climb the standings step by step. Suddenly, this team, which has always been full of potential and untapped talents, began to play like anyone in the NBA.

From March 1 to the end of the season, the Atlanta Hawks have a record of 27-11, the same record as the 76ers, second only to Phoenix and Denver (tied for 29-10), and better than Brooklyn and Milwaukee. . McMillan has always been an excellent defensive coach, but he has also improved his offense, adding a series of screens and cuts to match their perimeter snipers.

There are many reasons for concern. The Hawks are young, big, talented, deep, well-trained, and stable in every position. They have a lot of young talents, and most people think they can compete in two years, but McMillan has accelerated the process. Injuries that have plagued them throughout the year have forced so many players to play more important roles that they eventually grew up together, and now when they go to the bench, there is almost no decline. [thesixersense.com]

Stop Tre Young

Noah Levik | NBC Sports Philadelphia

One of the Sixers’ first tasks will be to shut down Trae Young-when it comes to defensive priorities, this must be at the top of the list. Young defenders can fill it up.

good news? The 76ers have two of the best defensive players in the NBA (or three if you count Embiid). They are Ben Simmons and Matisse Sebull. They were able to close Bradley Beal in the first round and will now try to do the same in the second round. Here’s more about Yang (and how to stop him) Noah Levick from NBC Sports Philadelphia.

5. Trae Young owns the “Logo” series. He made 28 shots (36.4%) from 30 feet from 77 shots in the regular season and was very comfortable shooting anywhere. The point here is that the Sixers shouldn’t be swayed by deep jump shooters who please the audience or cause boos.

6. In our view, the reliable way to deal with Yang will include high catch points, flexibility in transitions, and a certain degree of aggressiveness in pick-and-roll coverage, without crossing the line into an uninterrupted Kamikaze Blitz. They also need to guard Spain’s pick-and-rolls keenly. Keeping in touch with the Eagles shooters is not as easy as it sounds.

Ben Simmons and Matisse Thybulle are the 76ers’ best choices to defend Young, although Danny Green was his main defender on April 30. Regardless of whether Embiid is available, the 76ers have the right personnel to keep Yang below his normal output and efficiency for the series. [nbcsports.com]

Sixers at 6?

Steve Ashburner | NBA.com

Despite not having their best players for an uncertain period of time, the overwhelming belief remains that Philadelphia will take care of its business. It may only take a game or two longer than expected.

This is the prediction of Steve Aschburner from NBA.com…

The No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, in the final weeks of contention, is now very important to Philadelphia. The Eagles have no offense, but must win against Brooklyn or Milwaukee, and Embiid may limp or sit down completely, which will be a problem. The Hawks are not burdened by expectations at this point, which may make them more dangerous-or easier to defeat. The worst-case scenario for the 76ers center is not necessarily fatal-they had some success through Embiid’s long absence in the middle of the season, and with Simmons as the mid laner, on Wednesday night with coach Dow Cliffs Washington eliminated Washington in their small ball lineup. Putting an extra home game in their back pocket won’t hurt, even though they may not need it. The 76ers are at 6. [nba.com]

Dr. Dig’s coach?

Keith Pompeo | Philadelphia Inquirer

Well, we have reviewed the Wizards Series and the Eagles Series, now, let’s look at the others. And in this regard is beyond the season.

After Danny Ainge’s amazing retirement and promotion of head coach Brad Stevens to president of basketball operations, Sam Cassell appears to be Doug River One of the assistants of Doc Rivers, he is associated with the Celtics as a coaching candidate. Keith Pompey of the Enquirer has more…

Sam Cassel is considered a possible candidate for the position of head coach of the Boston Celtics.

The 76ers assistant coach is familiar with the organization of the Celtics. He played in Boston in the last NBA season of the 2007-08 season. Boston won the NBA championship that season under the current 76ers head coach Rivers. […]

According to sources, Celtics assistants Jay Laranaga and Vinnie Allen have accepted interviews for this job. Lloyd Pierce, the former Atlanta Hawks head coach and 76ers assistant, is one of the main candidates for this job.

But Kassel has received public support from ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins, a former Celtics teammate. [inquirer.com]

Not enough curry?

Wes Goldberg | reporter

Finally, it’s a bit interesting that Daryl Morey, who was previously fined for tampering with tweets, issued the following after winning Game 5 of the 76ers (and Seth Curry’s 30-point performance).

Naturally, fans think that Morey is recruiting Stephen, and through this wording, it is easy to see why. But Morey was very smart to give it a lot of room for interpretation. When asked, he insisted on the defense of “No, you misunderstood”. We will not keep his previous record, but make him doubt this record. Especially because the 76ers got Stephen-no matter how hard Morey tried to recruit him-almost a non-starter.

This is not the first time Morey has used his tweets to get people’s attention. Last year, after Harden asked for a Houston trade, the NBA fined Morey $50,000 because he congratulated his former player James Harden on Twitter, which was the anniversary of his scoring milestone. When he advocated civil rights in China through forwarding, he also pushed the NBA into an economic crisis.

Regardless of the meaning of Morey’s tweet, the acquisition of Stephen Curry does not seem realistic. Stephen’s five-year, $201 million contract has one year left, and he can renew this offseason, which will allow him to spend his 37-year-old season.

Even after the Warriors missed the playoffs, all signs indicate that Stephen will not go anywhere. [thereporter.com]

Follow Matt on Twitter: @matt_mullin

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