The Philadelphia 76ers are off to a very good start in the 2021 NBA Playoffs. They find themselves up 2-0 against the Washington Wizards and they have taken advantage of the home-court advantage they have in their possession.
As the series now shifts to D.C. for Game 3 on Saturday, they have to now face the challenge of having to take on a desperate Wizards team with their season essentially on the line as well as now facing a road crowd. The Sixers have not really faced a real road crowd all season due to the restrictions of the pandemic so this will be something new for them this season.
Despite having control of the series, coach Doc Rivers acknowledges that they have not accomplished anything. There is still a lot of work to do in order to get it done in this series and they can’t relax or allow the Wizards to gain any momentum.
“We’ve done nothing,” said Rivers. “We’ve won two games. You don’t get anything until you get to four. We’ve accomplished nothing as far as we’re concerned. We didn’t go to the playoffs to win two games and then celebrate I can tell you that, but just human nature. No fear means no urgency. You have to have the proper amount of fear every night to play or humility you can use either word you want.”
That is the message that Rivers is passing down to his team. While the Sixers are certainly in the driver’s seat, they have not accomplished anything yet.
“The series looks like 2-0, but we are going to every game like a 0-0,” said Furkan Korkmaz. “This should be our mentality. We know what we can do what we gotta do. I don’t think it’s about Washington, I think it’s about us in this series. We’ve shown them already, we beat you guys twice. We are coming to get the third and fourth win, and then get back to Philly and wait for our opponent. We are still trying to go step by step and then everybody knows that.”
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For the Sixers to be able to get done what needs to be on the road, they will need their role players to step up and knock down shots. Players such as Seth Curry, Danny Green, Korkmaz, Shake Milton, and others will have to knock down open looks. It is known that in the playoffs, the role players will normally shoot better at home than on the road.
“They are far more comfortable at home, there’s no doubt about that, but there’s no speech I’m going to give them,” said Rivers. “One thing you do know with role players, it’s not urgency because they’re going to come with that. They’re going to come with intensity. They just have to be comfortable and understand it’s the same baskets, it’s the same distance, it’s just that you’re getting booed instead of cheers.”
Game 3 from Capital One Arena is set for 7 p.m. EDT on Saturday.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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