Who Is Most to Blame for the 76ers Epic Collapse?
The Philadelphia 76ers just had their best opportunity for a championship in two decades…. and absolutely blew it. In what might be the most embarrassing playoff loss in franchise history, the Sixers completed their collapse on Sunday night, falling to the Hawks in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals. Understandably, the fans are furious and searching for someone to point the finger at, but who really deserves the most blame for this meltdown?
- Ben Simmons
You knew where this was headed. Without question, Ben Simmons deserves the most blame for this series loss, as he found himself at the center of every problem Philadelphia faced. Unless he is leading a fastbreak, Simmons is completely irrelevant on offense, as it’s clear his confidence is damaged to the point where he’s scared to attempt any type of shot — no matter how wide open (see picture above). He’s not a scoring threat in any capacity and the defense knows it. Sure, he can’t shoot free throws, but the problems he creates for everyone else on offense are worse than the percentage he could shoot from the line. In fact, we saw the Hawks abandon their Hack-A-Simmons strategy in favor of letting him stand under the basket, clog up the paint, forcing our offense into tough shots every trip down the court. For someone who is supposed to be a walking mismatch as a 6’10 point guard, he became unplayable. It was as embarrassing and shameful a performance as you will ever see in the NBA, as we saw a 3x All-Star shrivel into an insecure mess. Ben Simmons hit rock bottom and he brought the rest of the team down with him.
- Doc Rivers
The amount of blame drops off considerably from our #1 to our #2, but still blame persists. Doc Rivers was just at the controls for yet another playoff collapse. We knew his history of playoff implosions, but the way this team played all year left fans optimistic. The inexperienced Atlanta Hawks would not have even taken this series 7 games if it weren’t for the Sixers blowing a 19-point & 26-point in games 4 & 5. This is entirely on Doc, who continued to stand by strange and ineffective lineups even as he saw the lead slip away. At times, his substitution patterns seemed totally random. Tyrese Maxey only played 33 total minutes until Game 6, where he instantly made an impact off the bench, propelling Philly to a win. Matisse Thybulle was hardly seen for more than 5 minutes at a time. How about Shake Milton playing 23mpg during the regular season and only playing 5 minutes in Game 7? These are only a few examples of the many questionable decisions made by a coach who might already be on the hot seat.
- Tobias Harris
The issue with Tobias Harris comes down to one figure: 5 years/$180M. Fair or not, a contract of this size comes with even bigger expectations. Someone getting payed $36M a year can not score only four points in a Game 5 at home. While Tobias counting stats were not horrible, he often disappeared when it mattered most for Philadelphia. His focus and aggressiveness slipped as each game progressed which, to be fair, could be said for the whole roster. However, the rest of the roster isn’t on a max contract. A player with Tobias’ skill set should be asserting himself when he sees his team is struggling. Too may times it seemed like Tobias was happy to deflect the responsibility of winning onto someone else in crunch time. While his game may have suffered due to reasons out of his control mentioned earlier, there’s no doubt he needs to add to his game if he’s going to justify that max deal.