Adjustments The Sixers NEED To Make Before Game Two

The Atlanta Hawks upset the Philadelphia 76ers 128-124 in game one of the Eastern Conference semifinals on Sunday afternoon. It was just the fifth home playoff loss for the Sixers since 2017. It felt as if the Sixers were down by 15 points for the entirety of the game, yet found themselves within three in the final minute.

 

While their relentless effort was commendable, the Sixers shouldn’t have let the game become as out of hand as it did. There were a myriad of reasons for why the Sixers found themselves in the position they did on Sunday.

 

The good news is, those issues are an easy fix in my opinion. The bad news is, these were issues that should have been established and avoided before game one even began. While I do have faith in Doc Rivers and his coaching staff to fix these problems before game two, the solutions need to be outlined anyway.

 

Danny Green Cannot, Under Any Circumstance, Guard Trae Young

 

Anyone who doesn’t have a vision disability and watched game one knows that Danny Green cannot guard Trae Young. The reason that Green was tasked with guarding Young in game one in the first place is because Green has had success in the past guarding smaller guards. That logic sounds reasonable, until you remember that Trae Young isn’t like a single other small guard in this league.

 

Danny Green is far too slow to guard Trae Young one-on-one. His lackadaisical performance on defense led to a putrid offensive output and mental errors like the one below that simply cannot be made in the playoffs.

 

 

Danny Green is an above average defender. His terrible performance Sunday afternoon does not change that. However, a team that features a defensive player of the year candidate in Ben Simmons and another potential first-team all defensive player in Matisse Thybulle has no business employing 33-year-old Danny Green with their most important defensive assignment.

 

I understand that Young can get Ben Simmons into foul trouble. In fact, Young did just that in the first three minutes of the second half when Simmons received two personal fouls while guarding him. With that being said, Doc Rivers cannot let the fear of foul trouble prevent him from using his once-in-a-generation-talent type defender against Atlanta’s most prolific offensive player.

 

Instead, Simmons was tasked with defending sharp shooter Bogdan Bogdanovic. Don’t get me wrong, I know Bogdanovic is a good player, he proved that on Sunday. However, he is not going to hurt you the way Trae Young can hurt you. That was also proven on Sunday afternoon.

 

There is also the enticing option of inserting Thybulle into the starting lineup, and telling him that every minute Young is on the floor, he is too. The reason Danny Green starts over Matisse now is because he gives you an offensive element that Thybulle doesn’t. However, if Danny Green is going to continue to have five point offensive outputs like he has in the last two games, then I would argue that Thybulle is more valuable than Green is in the starting lineup.

 

Now, do I think that Doc makes this switch? No, I don’t. Why? This starting lineup is what got you the one seed in the East, and Doc is a loyal head coach. That’s why everyone loves playing for him. He’s not going to tinker with the starters, at least not right now.

 

For what it’s worth, Young was just 3-10 in the second half. For those who don’t remember, Thybulle did a lot of Trae Young duty in the second half.

 

Abolish The All Bench Lineup

 

During game one, Doc Rivers turned to an all-bench lineup for a spark in what was a dismal first quarter. When they entered the game with 2:38 left in the first quarter, the score was 34-22 in favor of Atlanta. When they departed six minutes later with 8:32 left in the second quarter, the score was 53-27. That lineup was outscored by Atlanta 19-5 and surrendered an antagonizing 17-0 run.

 

About halfway through that 17-0 run, Doc Rivers called a timeout. This was obviously for some adjustments and to put some of the starters back in the game, right? Wrong. Rivers sent the all-bench lineup back on the floor after the timeout, for reasons far beyond my realm of thought, and they unsurprisingly continued to struggle. If Rivers goes back to some of the starters during that timeout, maybe the outcome of the game is different. There is no way to know for sure, but the math checks out.

 

 

One thing I do know, though, is that Rivers simply cannot go back to that lineup. At least two starters need to be in the game at all times. The all bench lineup is fine to try out during the regular season, and it even worked out last series because the Wizards are a truly horrendous excuse of a playoff team.

 

It’s the second round of the playoffs now. We are down to the eight best teams that this league has to offer. Doc Rivers cannot afford to be testing lineups anymore. The way I see it, the Sixers should be locked into an eight, maybe nine, player rotation. The five starters plus George Hill, Thybulle, a sprinkling of Dwight Howard (I still like the idea of Simmons playing the five if Embiid isn’t in the game), and maybe Tyrese Maxey or Furkan Korkmaz if you need a scoring spark plug.

 

It’s the playoffs. The time for earning minutes in the rotation and experimenting with lineups is over. Stick with the guys who give you the best chance of winning 12 more games.

 

The Fundamentals

 

The Sixers turned the ball over nine times in the first quarter alone. They had 19 turnovers for the whole game. Ben Simmons had five of those 19 and was pretty careless with the ball at times during the game. Once the first quarter was over I immediately started looking to see if Brett Brown was on the bench. I haven’t seen the Sixers that sloppy all year under Doc Rivers. Knowing Doc’s coaching style, that shouldn’t happen again this series, and certainly not on Tuesday night in game two. I’m not worried about turnovers going forward in this series.

 

The Hawks hit a playoff franchise record 20 three pointers in game one, eight more than their average of 12 threes per game. It seemed as though every three that Atlanta hit was a wide open, uncontested shot. When the Sixers double team on the perimeter the way that they did in game one, guys are going to be wide open. The Sixers need to do a better job of contesting everything on the perimeter, and continue to let the big man do what he does down low.

 

If the Sixers are able to cut their turnovers from game one in half, and carry the same defensive intensity they showed in the final four minutes on Sunday afternoon, they should be able to win this series.

The Sixers Will Win This Series

 

The Hawks aren’t going to hit 20 threes in another game this series. The Sixers aren’t going to turn the ball over as frequently as they did in game one. The Sixers are not going to find themselves down 20 points at halftime in another game this series.

 

The Hawks played their perfect game. The Sixers played what was likely their worst three and a half quarter stretch of the entire season (with everyone healthy). Yet, the Hawks only won the game by four points. This Hawks team is a good team, and Trae Young is an elite player, but if I learned anything from game one, it’s that the Hawks are not there yet.

 

The end of the fourth quarter proved it. Atlanta struggled with the Sixers tenacious full court press and could not match their intensity once the Sixers got the momentum. The sport of basketball is all about momentum and scoring runs. As badly as the Sixers struggled in the first three quarters of game one, they got up and punched Atlanta right back in the mouth in the fourth quarter as if to say, “You might win this one, but we’re taking the momentum with us into game two.”

 

The Sixers will continue to be challenged the rest of this series, but they will not lose three more games to this team. The Sixers are the better team with more championship pedigree. That will be on full display the rest of the series.

 

Sixers in six.

 

 

 

 

By Matt Szczypiorski | June 8, 2021
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