Playoff experience
The fact remains that you don’t know what you don’t know. So until the Philadelphia 76ers get into post season play, the organization simply does not know what works or doesn’t work. But from the moment the Sixers earn that experience, the front office will learn immediately where the team works, and where the team needs reinforcements.
This is a young team. Neither Joel Embiid nor Ben Simmons have experienced the NBA playoffs. It’s no longer a wave of good teams and bad teams, each night a new set of faces, skills and cities. In the NBA playoffs, it’s two teams competing until one team wins four games. That’s a new dynamic for the Philadelphia 76ers.
Philly is a team no NBA team wants to face
But it’s not a bad dynamic. This is a team with an incredible number of talented players. And with their height, and the team focus through the front court, there are bound to be mismatches which favor the 76ers. Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid, and Dario Saric are three skyscrapers on the court. Toss in the artillery of J.J. Redick and the 3-and-D Robert Covington, and there is good reason why the starting lineup is so sound.
But the team has some unspoken advantages. This team does not quit in a game nor in a series. And there is that matter of Joel Embiid seeing videos and then replicating the moves on the basketball court. That talent showed up early in Embiid’s career as he revenged a nationally televised loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves last season with a hard fought win. And that is the very nature of this team. They can be beaten yes. But do not believe for a minute that one win means more wins. This team is resilient. Thanks to head coach Brett Brown, there is a passion in this team for the city and her fans. And that passion is hard to overcome.