The Philadelphia 76ers will have their hands full when they take on the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference semifinals with Game 1 on Monday. The Heat are the No. 1 seed in the East and they have been terrific to start the playoffs.
The task was already tall, but now they will have to do it without Joel Embiid who is out for at least Games 1 and 2 of this series with the hope that he can return for Game 3. Without him, the Sixers will obviously have to play a different style against the Heat.
Philadelphia will be relying more on James Harden to get the job done and the future Hall of Famer listed some keys for the Sixers in order to compete and be successful against Miami.
“It’s pretty simple what we gotta do,” said Harden at practice on Sunday. “We gotta space the floor, get to the paint and finish the basketball, kick-outs to our shooters. I think for us, it’s a defensive mindset that we have to have. If we contain them and take away the gifts as we call them, offensively, we’ll take care of the rest.”
The Sixers will surround Harden with pieces that fit his game the most. In order to be successful, Philadelphia will put shooters like Danny Green and Tyrese Maxey next to him and have him play with rolling big man off screens.
“We’ll do a really good job of generating really good shots, making sure we get really good shots, and not turn the ball over,” Harden added. “Every series, every playoff game, if you rebound the basketball, don’t turn it over. You give yourself a really good chance to win. I think that’s really the key.”
The Heat are sort of like Philadelphia’s previous postseason opponent, the Toronto Raptors. They will grind out possessions and they will make life tough on their opponent on either end of the floor. They also thrive off forcing turnovers and rebounding.
“I think as long as we pay attention to detail, things that we can’t allow them to have,” Harden finished. “We call them bonus possession, bonus points. Everything they get, they got to work for them, and they gotta go go through our bodies. Easy posts ups and transition, mishaps, whatever the case may be, open shots for their shooters. If we can limit those and take away those things as much as possible, we got a really good chance.”
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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