The Philadelphia 76ers made a move to bring in a professional shooter in the form of Danny Green hoping that he can help the team take the next step. He is a 3-time champion, he is a career 40% shooter from deep, and he is ready to be a leader for this team.
Green played against Philadelphia in the 2019 East semifinals helping the Toronto Raptors win a championship and there was a lot to remember about that series. Philadelphia is always a tough place to play and because they are led by the talented Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, they made it tough on Toronto which is what Green remembers the most.
“A lot of their main pieces are still here,” Green added. “They were one of the toughest teams. I always hated playing in Philly. One of the toughest teams at home to play against, especially with Joel [and] Ben defensively how good they were, how much they pushed the pace, obviously Tobias (Harris) how great of a scorer he was.”
One also has to add the fans into the equation as well. The Sixers are a team that is very talented, but they also have the help of some of the more passionate fans in all of sports in Philadelphia.
“It was just a pain in the [expletive] to play, especially the fans getting on you, but they shot it well at home, they play well at home,” Green laughed. “Defensively, they’re a monster, they got after you, and that series was tough, they played as well. They played us to the very end.”
Of course, there was also the Jimmy Butler factor at the time, but after Butler left, they were still a tough team to battle against. Embiid and Simmons made sure the team still had a chance and they were always a tough team to score on.
“Just remembering how tough they were certainly when they had Jimmy too, but even without Jimmy, they’re still the same identity,” Green finished. “A very good, tough, scrappy group that hung their hat on the defensive end of the floor and push [the] pace offensively. You had to be very smart and strategic in how you attack them. It was hard to get off easy looks against them. There weren’t many easy looks so you had to make tough shots against them.”
Everybody remembers how that series ended–very painfully–but the Sixers are still a team that has a lot of hope right now. Led by Embiid and Simmons plus the addition of Green and guys like Seth Curry and Dwight Howard, there is hope that they can get back on track. [lawrence-related id=40138,40118,40114]