The Philadelphia 76ers have one more seeding game left on Friday, but their playoff opponent is known and it is in the form of the rival Boston Celtics. This is a team that has had their number in the past, but Philadelphia did take three out of four matchups in the regular season.
The biggest factor heading into the series is going to be how Philadelphia defends the explosive Celtics wings led by Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Gordon Hayward. That does not even mention Kemba Walker at the point guard who has given the Sixers trouble historically.
Philadelphia will lean on Josh Richardson and Matisse Thybulle out on the perimeter and Al Horford will make a difference in the pick-and-roll, but another guy that coach Brett Brown has confidence in is Furkan Korkmaz.
“I do. I think he’s made great progress this year,” said Brown. “He understood well and truly that it was going to influence clearly how much he was going to play and because we experienced different things this year with lots of injuries. That opened up a door for him, that he took advantage of.”
Korkmaz will undoubtedly have a role in the playoffs due to the fact that he can shoot the ball, but his defense may very well be the difference for the Sixers in this series. They, of course, will not have Ben Simmons so that means they will have to rely on others to step up and fill that void defensively.
“He’s a great scorer as we all know compared to where he was where it needs to be told I suspect that it will,” Brown added. “I think that his defense has improved enough where you know you feel confident he can come in and play in an NBA rotation.”
The Sixers will use Friday’s game against the Houston Rockets as one final warmup game before the playoffs get going on Monday for them. That will give Korkmaz more time to get going defensively and make a case for more playing time in the playoffs. [lawrence-related id=36772,36769,36766]