The Philadelphia 76ers find themselves in an 0-2 hole in the NBA Playoffs against a Boston Celtics team that has carved them up with Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Kemba Walker out on the perimeter. This is mostly due to the fact that they are missing elite defender Ben Simmons, but something else is missing.
They don’t have that guy to light a fire under them. They don’t have a leader who’s going to get upset, get in his teammate’s faces to demand more out of them–a la Jimmy Butler–and it is not in coach Brett Brown’s personality to do that either.
In Game 2, their body language said they were defeated. Their effort on the floor said the same and nobody seemed to care.
“There’s nobody in that locker room that is a kick a chair, swing at your towel, flip a desk type of guy,” said Brown. “That’s not a bad thing, we’re all wired differently. Joel’s going to have his way where he can reinforce the point that I just said. Lots of times with Joel (Embiid), it comes from on-court performance.”
With the team down 0-2, that is exactly what is missing. Embiid can go out and get 34 points and 10 rebounds as he did in Game 2, but it won’t matter if nobody on the team is demanding the effort needed on the floor in order to defeat a good team such as the Celtics.
The Sixers have talent, but nobody to be that leader and that guy to get more out of his teammates. Al Horford is a guy who has had a ton of success in this league, but he is not a guy who is a yeller or a screamer either. He is a veteran who is going to lead by example so that then leaves Tobias Harris to use his voice a bit more.
While Harris has done an excellent job of leading the group in terms of their racial injustice messages–and that is much bigger than a basketball game–at some point, he has to get into his guys and be a leader on the floor.
“Al Horford has the ability and willingness in a locker room to share a story of his 12 years in the NBA Playoffs,” Brown added. “Tobias Harris is the emerging voice whether it’s talking about racial injustice, whether it’s talking about we better do better on defense when there’s a team meeting, he’s emerging into that type of role.”
The point is, nobody has to be a drill sergeant, but they need a guy who’s going to actually demand more out of the rest of the team whether it be in practice or in games. Somebody has to say “enough is enough” and expect more out of a team that is expected to do great things, even without Simmons.
“That’s always a slippery slope,” Brown finished with. “I’m always mindful of a crowded mind equals slow feet. So trying to navigate that is at times a slippery slope. There has to be adjustments that have to be made. You wish you could say ‘We’re just going to do what we do and do it harder, better, longer and that’s going to be the answer’, I don’t believe that. In series as they play out teach you different things so we need to make some adjustments, one.
Two, you want to create an environment where it’s not dizzying and it’s uplifting and it’s still filtered with belief. Somewhere within that ecosystem, you hope to strike a balance with the answer.”
Somebody has to step up and be a leader on this team or else they will have a quick playoff exit which will bring inevitable changes to the roster and most likely, the head man on the bench. [lawrence-related id=37004,36999,36994]