As the Philadelphia 76ers await their fate in the 2025 NBA Draft, all that their fans can do right now is to sit back and enjoy the playoffs as an idle audience — a first for the franchise since 2017. After all, this year’s iteration packs more parity than before, making for unpredictable matchups that can swing both ways.
In the Eastern Conference, the 3-versus-6 matchup between the New York Knicks and the Detroit Pistons has become as tight as it can be. While many are penciling the Knicks in as heavy favorites, the upstart Pistons have snatched homecourt advantage from them after winning a close game and escaping the Big Apple with a huge dub to send the series into a deadlock.
The runaway favorite for the Most Improved Player award, All-Star guard Cade Cunningham, led Detroit with 33 points and 12 rebounds, but the name of the game was defense. Despite struggling from downtown, the Pistons limited high-octane New York to just 94 points, forcing them to have to win on the road.
However, another player stood out — much to the chagrin of 76ers fans.
Tobias Harris proves the 76ers wrong with rock-solid performance
Tobias Harris, who signed with Detroit last summer after his contract with the 76ers expired, has been a rock-solid addition to the young squad. In Game 2, he was once again a vital part of their winning effort, playing efficient two-way basketball.
The veteran forward finished with 15 points and 13 rebounds on six of 11 shooting, and was second-tops on his team as a +8 in 43 minutes of gameplay. But more importantly, he was tremendous defensively, latching onto multiple players and making life tough for them to even get shots off. He was also huge on the boards, routinely boxing out players bigger than him.
This is to be expected from someone with ample experience in the postseason, but Harris was nowhere near this industrious in his final hurrah with the 76ers last season. Against the same Knicks team, he laid out a big, fat egg to end his stint in Philadelphia.
Harris’ stint with the Philadelphia 76ers was marred by unfair criticisms, yet he also did not do anything convincing to overturn those slightly bloated assessments. Now, he is proving that those abject showings could just be mere aberrations, especially given his body of work this season in helping the Pistons rise from being the worst team in the league to having an outright playoff spot.
Good for him, I guess.