Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers are off to a great start in the 2021 playoffs. They have done an excellent job of scoring in the half-court, they have done a great job of pushing the pace every chance they get, and they have a 3-0 stranglehold after a win in Game 3 over the Washington Wizards on Saturday.
However, that is not the goal. Is it nice to be up 3-0? Yes. However, they are not even done with the Wizards yet. This is a 7-game series and while no team has ever come back from down 0-3 to win a series in NBA history, the Sixers understand that there is still work to be done on Monday in Game 4.
“There’s nothing to be happy about,” said Embiid. “The job’s not done. We go to close out the series and we got to get one more win and worry about the rest later. We got to take it one game. There’s no reason to be happy about where we are. We just wanted to take it step by step and make sure we don’t skip any and accomplish our goal.”
The Sixers could definitely use some time off. They are dealing with ankle injuries to top guys such as Seth Curry and Tobias Harris and Danny Green is a veteran guy who could use the rest in order to prepare for Round 2.
“It’s very important especially if you have older guys our guys banged up,” said Green. “Obviously, we have a younger group, but we still have some guys with some ankle injuries so that week would definitely help them to their strength, some other guys get the rhythm, and it’s always good to get rest. It’s very important not only to not give that group any type of confidence, but also for us, to give them a good rest come for the next series.”
Also, with how condensed the regular season was, now is the time for the Sixers to get some time to relax a little. However, the Wizards aren’t just going to give in. Led by stars Russell Westbrook and Bradley Beal, they will continue to attack hard in order to work their way back into things.
“We want to get the sweep so we can get some rest, but this is a tough team,” Ben Simmons added. “You never know what they’re gonna do every night, especially with Beal and Westbrook. They’re relentless, you have to keep attacking and keep going. We got to come prepared on Monday.”
As long as the Sixers come in with the correct attitude as they did on Saturday in Game 3, they will be able to accomplish step one of their championship plan.
“It will be big for us,” Harris added. “I think from the start of the series, that was always our goal as a team to come in and handle business. Just for us to be able to be locked in through all these games, I think we’ve come in with a great focus. Tonight (Saturday), we came in with a really good demeanor and focus to handle business so we need the same type of mentality in the next one.”
It also helps that the Sixers have a coach who will not allow them to look ahead to anything else. They have to take care of business right now.
“I just say ‘great job, and we’ve done nothing’,” said coach Doc Rivers. “I’ve said that at every game. We’ve done nothing. We just got to keep doing what we’re doing.”
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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