The Philadelphia 76ers had a lot of expectations for the 2020-21 season. Led by their star duo of Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, combined with new leadership in coach Doc Rivers and team president Daryl Morey, there was hope the Sixers could get it done this time.
Rivers did great work with the roster. He got the most out of Tobias Harris as well as new additions Seth Curry and Danny Green. The team earned the No. 1 seed in the East for the first time since 2001. It knocked off the Washington Wizards in five games in the first round.
However, as the Sixers went into second round, they ran into similar problems that dogged them in the past. Simmons failed to make an impact on the offensive end as the driving lanes were not there as they were in the regular season.
“Postseason, it’s just a different ballgame than the regular season,” said Harris after the Game 7 loss. “Regular season, you’re running and going, and it’s not real defense. In the postseason, every possession counts and that type of defensive intensity is there on both sides.”
There is a reason Simmons’ numbers were down in the postseason from the regular season and even down in the second round from the first. That is the difference in play in the postseason. There were plenty of moments in the regular season he was able to get into the paint and make an impact, but not in the playoffs.
“It’s just a different speed, a whole different feel to it,” Harris continued. “You’re playing in a series with a team so the adjustments come one after another. In the regular season, you’re playing one team and that team could be a good defensive team, the next team you play can be one of the worst defensive teams in the league, so it’s kind of like fool’s gold at times.”
The Sixers were a middle-of-the-pack offensive team in the regular season finishing 13th in offensive rating at 113.2, but they began the playoffs scoring 118 points or more in seven of their first eight games. However, once the Atlanta Hawks buckled down, Simmons was not able to push the pace and the Sixers were not able to get those same easy looks.
“I don’t know if fool’s gold,” Morey started. “I 100% agree with what he’s saying that, generally in the playoffs on defense, the teams get to scheme and they’re gonna start to attack your weaker defenders. On offense, they’re going to take away the easy options, and you’re going to get into less efficient options so in terms of that I completely agree with them if that’s what he meant.”
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The Sixers held an 18-point lead in Game 4 and a 26-point lead in Game 5, and they lost both. Really, Philadelphia should have won this series in five games if it had taken care of business.
“Absolutely we had big leads,” said Curry. “We knew we were capable of getting through the series and we let ourselves down in whatever games those were. We shouldn’t have put ourselves in a situation for a Game 7, but we did and they took advantage of it.”
As far as any huge difference in the playoffs, Morey admits that they obviously have more work to do to get it done in the postseason.
“We’re building a team to win the championship, to win in the playoffs so those things have to absolutely be factored in and the regular season is different from the playoffs,” he stated. “Sometimes people make that difference too big, they’ll say defense win championships, no it actually helps to score too so. I believe that that’s true, but it also often gets overstated.”
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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