The Philadelphia 76ers are the No. 1 seed, and they are the prohibitive favorites in their first round matchup with the eighth-seeded Washington Wizards, but this is the NBA playoffs. Everything that happened in the regular season goes out the window and play gets intense.
In Philadelphia’s Game 1 win over the Wizards, it had to overcome a poor shooting start, former league MVP Russell Westbrook and elite scorer Bradley Beal. Philadelphia trailed by one at halftime and had to make a few adjustments to pick up a win.
The Wizards did not back down from Philadelphia at all, and the Sixers will have to be ready for more of the same in Game 2.
“It’s the playoffs; there’s no bad teams,” said star big man Joel Embiid, who had 30 points in the win. “If you made it to this level, it doesn’t matter if you’re the first seed, it doesn’t matter if you’re the eighth seed. Teams are good once you’ve made it this far. A one seed can lose to an eight seed, it has happened.”
For example, the No. 8 Memphis Grizzlies knocked off the No. 1 Utah Jazz in their series opener on Sunday night. The playoffs are just a different game and the Sixers will have to be ready for this matchup.
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“I think this whole playoff series, game in and game out, you’re gonna see dogfights all around the league,” said Tobias Harris. “Washington, they’ve been one of the hottest teams after the All-Star break in the whole NBA. For us, we know the power that they have and the guys that can make shots on the team so that just adds to our focus as a group, and knowing how locked in we need to be for this whole series. That’s only going to help us to where we’re trying to go.”
Philadelphia did a solid job against Beal, but he still came up with 33 points. That is just who he is as a player. The same goes for Westbrook, who had 16 points and 14 assists. Washington has other solid players such as Davis Bertans, for example, who always gives the Sixers trouble. So getting ready for Game 2 will be another challenge for Philadelphia.
“Every game is gonna be competitive, but then again that’s on us to make sure that we play the right way, we play as good as we think we can, defensively,” said Embiid. “Offensively, just moving the ball, putting the ball in the right guys’ hand, and just making plays. We’ve done it all season and when we play that way, it usually results in a blowout. We just gotta play with each other, and play as the best defensive team in the league.”
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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