In the third game against Atlanta, the 76ers almost went well. Joel Embiid handled the double double team at a master level, Ben Simmons performed well in the third quarter, and Tobias Harris filled the vacancy all night, showing us his playoffs Some of the best playoffs I’ve seen in my career. But seeing Danny Green wearing walking boots is very frustrating, and when discussing Green’s plight late on Friday night, Dr. Rivers did not really inspire hope.

“This is a calf injury, just my PhD. I will tell you that the calf injury is not serious,” Rivers said. “I didn’t rule out Danny, but I almost ruled out him. I doubt whether he will participate in the next game.”

Assuming that the person they call Doc didn’t lead us astray, it means that the 76ers will need to perfect a starting lineup that is going all out for the whole year. Who is the best candidate for this job? It may well be the one who spent an important night on the bench in the absence of Green.

Control the fiery hand — Furkan Korkmaz

Some people questioned whether Korkmaz should play in the third game. He was one of the worst players in the second game rotation, and Rivers could have easily decided to leave his bench shooter to provide more point players (or guards) on the court.

But as Korkmaz explained after winning the third game, only he can do it, and it may take some time to gain a foothold in the series.

“The first game they will tell you every time, you are a fish out of the water, sometimes you don’t know what it will be like. You are too hyped, sometimes you don’t, I think that’s why the first game It’s tricky every time,” Korkmaz said. “But in the second and third games, we were very confident, we knew what we needed to do, and we did it.”

Korkmaz played an important role in the game against the Atlanta Hawks, scored 14 points off the bench and provided the latest example of the mentality of the next man in Philadelphia. Once Danny Green is ruled out, the 76ers need to replace his shots in some form or way, and Kirkmaz is the one who managed to do that.

Throughout the season, Corkmaz experienced some of his best moments when he was asked to start as a starter. When Korkmaz replaced Seth Curry or Danny Green on the court, the 76ers absolutely destroyed their opponents on both ends:

These are world-class numbers, although the sample is small, and they continue to follow this path in the playoffs. This is not as much for Korkmaz as the description of the 76ers Big Three destroying the team together, but when other bench players partner with the group, you will be surprised how dramatic the swing is. For example, a lineup that combines Embiid, Simmons, and Harris with Thybulle did not perform well in the regular season. According to Cleaning The Glass, it scored -16.1 per 100 rounds, ranking the bottom 5% of all lineups in the NBA this season. Due to the way the rotation works, the team doesn’t have much time to prove its worth, but based on what we know about them in other lineups, the poor offensive performance of the Simmons/Sebull combination on the court is intuitive together. .

Korkmaz brings something that few players on the roster can offer-mobile shooting. Green is a corner sniper, as a stationary player, but the 76ers won’t and shouldn’t let him fly around looking for shots. Although he is not a static screen, Green mainly moves from corner to corner along the bottom line, simplifying part of the defensive 76ers.

With Korkmaz’s position, the 76ers have added a bit of movement. When you combine Korkmaz’s shooting feel with his height, he is a difficult person to bypass these screens. The Eagles discovered this in Game 3:

By moving Korkmaz into the starting lineup, you can provide him with the most defensive help at a time while ensuring that the first unit still has enough shots around them to start the game. Kokmaz is now a better defensive player than ever, so the first point is not necessarily that important, at least in this series. Korkmaz is the simple answer here, and it is likely to be the correct answer.

Choosing a defensive option-Matisse Sebre

When Green fell on Friday night, Rivers first thought of his defensive ace in the hole. This is an understandable place of thought drift. The long-term hope should of course be that Thybulle will lock a position in the starting lineup as he grows on the offensive end.

On the defensive end, it was clear what this kid brought. Placing Simmons and Sebull on the court at the same time can feel overwhelming for opponents-when you think you have escaped from one person, the other person falls off the rafters, allowing Philadelphia to break through quickly in another way. Some defenders rely on hard work, some rely on tools, and some even rely on understanding of plans and opponents. Thybulle combines these three together. Even if he is just waiting to cut off the next exit in the right position, he can make a heroic save and make mistakes in the transition.

The multi-million dollar question is whether Sebull can play a sufficient role on the defensive end to justify the impact of his presence on the offense. Atlanta will sometimes be in the 2-3 zone in the second half of the third game, and Saibull can allow them to pay with three-pointers from the corner, and they basically dare to shoot. But it seems that it doesn’t matter how many or even how many he shoots, because if Sebull’s corner three-pointer is the end result of Philadelphia’s possession, it is much better than a one-on-one shot against Embiid or Simmons. Like Danilo Gallinari.

As mentioned above, in the limited opportunities this season, Sebull’s match with the core trio is not going well for Philadelphia. In the early stages of Game 3, it certainly did not look good, at least on the offensive end, although many of the problems were execution errors rather than clumsy products.

If you start using Thybulle, another potential problem is to make yourself vulnerable to the Hawks’ rotation adjustments, allowing Trae Young to play. In fact, the 76ers can basically throw either Simmons or Saibull to Tre Young within 48 minutes, because their playing time currently only partially overlaps. Atlanta may not be able to change their model to allow Young to be completely free, but according to Rivers’ approach to the bench, if they start together, Young may eventually force one of them to retreat from the bench before they are fully rested. This is something to remember.

Choose from the guard pool

For Rivers, the other option seems to be the most unlikely option. Considering their current performance in the playoffs, can you believe that any one of Maxey/Milton/Hill is now in the starting lineup? I will argue no.

Hill is where I entered the playoffs, and I hope he will eventually steal some key moment representatives from Seth Curry. Not only did this not happen, Hill looked a little uncomfortable when managing the second team. As a creative force, the players around him were limited and overburdened. Putting it down to slow him down does not reduce it, because many of Hill’s mistakes now come down to mental acumen, and this is not something you can “protect” by putting him together with other starters. . The best Hill should have a place in the starting lineup, but this is not the Hill they got.

In a roundabout way, maybe this is a good reason for keeping him there. If the 76ers can pass this series, they will almost certainly need a better Hill in the playoffs, and giving him more room for turnovers surrounded by starters may be the key to unlocking him. To a lesser extent, you can say the same to Milton or Maxi, who have had their brilliant moments in these playoffs.

But my guess is that Rivers will leave this group. Each of them offers something very different from Green, and while this may be positive in the right circumstances, the 76ers will almost certainly not try to repair or tamper with a machine that has fired on all cylinders.

---

Follow Kyle on Twitter: @Kyle newback

Like us on Facebook: Voice of Philadelphia Sports

Subscribe to Kyle’s 76ers podcast “The New Slant” apple, Google, with Spotify