The Philadelphia 76ers and the Washington Wizards will begin their Round 1 playoff series on Sunday and it is expected to be a hard-fought series. While the Sixers are the clear favorites, the Wizards do offer their own challenges for Philadelphia in this one.
The Wizards are led by a star backcourt of Russell Westbrook and Bradley Beal and they will have to be defended by Philadelphia’s defensive tandem of Ben Simmons and Matisse Thybulle. The two of them have been terrific on that end all season and they will have to be tasked with that challenge in this one.
Wizards coach Scott Brooks had a lot of praise for the two Philadelphia defenders and that is something else he will have to prepare for.
“They’re long and athletic, they’ve got good defensive skills, and we have to be able to manage that and it’ll be a great matchup,” said Brooks before Game 1 on Sunday. “There’s going to be a lot of great matchups, a lot of games within the game, but we’re prepared and we’re excited about things that we can do.”
Simmons has constantly taken on the opposition’s best scorer and held him in check. Elite scorers such as James Harden, Jayson Tatum, and others have had issues against the Defensive Player of the Year finalist and that will be a huge factor in this series.
Thybulle, on the other hand, is a menace in the passing lanes and he is a game wreaker supreme as he does a great job of getting his hands on passes and turning them into points on the other end for the Sixers.
“We’re gonna have to play well, but it’s a best of seven series for a reason,” said Brooks. “It’s not won by one game and we’re focused on each game. We got a lot of days off between games so the minutes can be extended and then the timeouts…so there’s plenty of time to rest. The matchups are going to be definitely great intrigue with a lot of the matchups that both teams can present to each other.”
The Sixers and the Wizards will tip off at 1 p.m. EDT from the Wells Fargo Center.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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