CAMDEN, N.J. — There seems to be a familiar theme with the Philadelphia 76ers as they move forward after being ousted by the Miami Heat in Game 6 on Thursday. Tobias Harris said the Sixers need to be more mentally tough and veteran Danny Green seems to agree.
Green has three championship rings and he has been around a lot of great players in his career. So when he speaks on issues like this one, it comes from a place of success and experience that nobody else on the Sixers really has.
Philadelphia obviously has a ton of talent with Joel Embiid, James Harden, Tyrese Maxey, and Harris leading the way, but they haven’t exactly learned from their past mistakes. They have to be able to learn from the past so they don’t repeat those mistakes in the future.
“We have the talent,” said Green on Friday. “We have the pieces. I think it’s just putting our individual selves aside for the greater good of the group and that’s making multiple efforts offensively and defensively to be sharp and maturity.”
Green then pointed out the Round 1 series with the Toronto Raptors. Philadelphia led that series 3-0 and they should have got that series done quickly. Instead, they let the Raptors win two games in a row and Embiid then suffered the orbital fracture in the Game 6 clincher of that series which hobbled him against the Miami Heat.
“I honestly think that if we were a mature team, we don’t have to go to six games with Toronto,” he explained. “Obviously, injuries hurt a lot too. Missing Joel the first two games hurt. Last game, me not being there definitely hurt, but I think if we come in, more focused, and more mature, we don’t have to have these lapses or wake up call games where we get embarrassed to come in and do our jobs or be more locked into a playoff series.”
Green is absolutely right. At some point, this Sixers team has to grow up and learn from their past mistakes. If not, they are doomed to repeat it over and over again and keep falling in the second round of the playoffs.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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