The Philadelphia 76ers finished off the seeding games and the 2019-20 regular season with a matchup with the Houston Rockets on Friday night inside the bubble. The game resulted in a 134-96 win over James Harden and the Rockets to earn a final record of 43-30.
Tobias Harris had 18 points for Philadelphia while Alec Burks had another big game while Joel Embiid had 14 points and six rebounds. Philadelphia shot 18-for-37 from deep in this one as well with Al Horford knocking down two of them
Here are the three observations from this final warmup game before the playoffs:
The reserves make final statements
This was a final audition to coach Brett Brown for players to make their stake in the playoff rotation. Alec Burks will definitely be in the rotation off the bench and he had another solid effort in this one with 16 points, five rebounds, and five assists with two steals and he shot 4-for-6 from deep. Matisse Thybulle will definitely be receiving playing time as will Furkan Korkmaz.
However, Brown would like to keep things to nine players. So who earned that final ninth spot? Raul Neto played well again with 14 points and five assists while Mike Scott also played well with 10 points and seven rebounds. This was a solid night for the bench and Brown will definitely have some solid options coming his way in the playoffs.
The final tune-up for Embiid
Despite a lingering ankle injury and a hand injury he suffered in the previous game, the Sixers wanted him to play in this one just to get into a rhythm for the playoffs. He looked like he was engaged in this one from the jump as he was running to the rim and setting himself up underneath the basket to dominate. He did pick up a couple of cheap offensive fouls as the smaller Rockets got under his skin, but the effort and the energy were there in this one despite it being a meaningless game and that is the most important thing.
He got into a little dust-up with Harden in the third quarter and that was something that should catch the interest in a lot of Sixers fans. That shows that he is ready to go and the correct mindset is there. He’s going to need to be mean and nasty against the Celtics.
Richardson’s defense
One underrated piece of this Sixers team heading into the playoffs is the importance of Josh Richardson’s perimeter defense with Ben Simmons likely done for the season. Friday was a huge challenge in the form of quite possibly the best offensive player the game has ever seen in the form of Harden. He was active, he was aggressive, he was strong, and he was really hard to screen. Harden still got his numbers, that’s just who he is as a great player, but Richardson will have a lot of tests coming up against Boston’s wings and this was a nice warmup for him. [lawrence-related id=36806,36803,36799]