Embiid Returns | Sixers-Heat Game 3 Reaction

If you're in the Philadelphia area, it is not, in fact a beautiful morning, but it's a nice morning to sit inside, maybe rewatch Game three, reflect on the greatness that we were able to witness last night in South Philadelphia. Looking forward to getting into everything Game three with these guys. Matt Devon, good morning, A breath of fresh air to get that w It's a series. As Doc Rivers said at Thursday's practice, two one is as close as it can be after three games. The Sixers very much back

in this one. Good morning to you both. What a Game three, the Sixers taking it against the heat ninety nine seventy nine. It's good to be back with everyone. Thanks for being here. Live if you're on Sixers spaces right now with us on Twitter, thanks for listening after the fact on the seventy Sixers Insiders podcast feed. If you're not already following there, please do. But the Sixers with a twenty point win to pick up a win in the series against the top seeded Heat and Devon

Gibbons held them under eighty points. Of course, we're going to talk about the stats in a minute in our box score segment. Joel Embiid was the major storyline throughout the day. Was he going to make his return to the lineup after not playing in the first two games. Well, he did. He had a double double, He made a huge impact on the defensive end, and as a team they held the Miami Heat to under eighty points in

a playoff game. Well, good morning to you both the first absolutely just looking at what they did in totality last night, one game at a time, so as they are now back in this when picking up the one game two one, you hold serve as as Miami did on their home floor, and we're looking at two two and hopefully looking at the first road win on Tuesday in game five. But yes, defensively last night to hold an NBA team to seventy seven points as if this

is a college basketball game. That's just great work by the seventy six. Is the defensive game plan, what Dan Burke and those guys had to set up to execute those things. And also the big difference, as you just mentioned, is just simply having the big fella, the MVP candidate,

right back in there. And while he's the MVP candidate for a lot of the things that he does offensively, sometimes it does get loss of what it means to have him out there as a defensive presence, both in the paint and his ability to do the things that he does switching out or closing out on the perimeter to attack that shooter or just simply show that shooter with that length coming at them. So great defensive work last night. Great to see him back, and I'm sure,

of course we'll get into all of that. I think we should go ahead and jump in right now. If you're new here, this is the part where we go through the stats, and luckily last night the Sixers gave us plenty to talk about. So as I run through the box score from Game three, anything that stands out to you, send us a tweet, send us a DM. You can tweet at us. You can comment on the Sixers tweet and comment on the Space tweet. You can send us a DM. Me Matt or Devon are ready

to take your questions. So as I go through the box score, let us know where you'd like the conversation to head. First, we have some thoughts on where maybe it should go, but feel free to guide us along in this Saturday morning experience. So the box score four the seventy six ers, Matt said it holding the heat to just seventy nine points in an Eastern Conference semi final game. That perhaps the biggest stat that I'm going

to read. But let's get into the individual performances. The Sixers saw four of their five starters finish in double figures. The fifth, though, had a pretty good game himself, Danny Green, Let's start there. He finished with a team high twenty one points and four rebounds. He shot seven for nine from the field. All seven of his field goals were three pointers. That ties his playoff career high. Tied with twenty one points as well was Tyrese Maxie, who was

excellent in that second half. More on Tyrese's second half in a little bit, but twenty one points, two rebounds, six assists, two steals. Tyrese shot seven for eleven from the field, five for six from three point land, two for two from the free throw line. Joel Embiid in his return A very let's just call it brave double double from Joel Embiad last night. Eighteen points, eleven rebounds, an assist, a steal, and a block. He shot five for twelve from the field, eight for ten from the

free throw line. But those stats do not even begin to tell the full story of what Joel Ebiad was able to do last night. More on this, I know I keep saying more on this in a little bit, but more on what Joel was able to do that really did transcend the stat sheet. We talk about a player's presence transcending the stat sheet a lot, but to me, Joel's qualitative statistics last night were the biggest ones of all. Let's go next to one. James Harden seventeen points, eight rebounds,

six assists, in a block. He finished at a game high plus twenty seven and of course, the Sixers did end up winning this one by a twenty point margin, but it was closer throughout, So that plus twenty seven stood out to me when I was looking at the box score this morning. Who was four for eleven from the field, but eight for eight from the free throw line.

And Tobias Harris. Yet another strong performance from Tobias who did ultimately foul out, but he was playing that strong, steady defense we've seen all series long, all playoffs long, really and got very close to a triple double. Nine points, ten rebounds, eight assists and two steals for Tobias Harris in thirty nine minutes of play on the bench, steady contributions throughout. Shake Milton Matistible each had four. George Niang

hit a big three. Paul Reid backed up Joel Embiid finished out of plus twelve with two points, four rebounds, and an assist. Matt, I want to go to you first. Let's talk about Joel Embiid and the way that he was able to impact the game outside of that eighteen point eleven rebound double double. The thing that stood out to me most in his media availability was talking about the fact that the Sixers could use him as a decoy.

What a talented decoy for the seventy sixers. He of course changes everything on both ends when he's able to be out there on the floor and did so in those thirty six minutes. Matt, what did you think about the Big Fellaw's return. Wait, Lauren, I don't get to pick my box score takeaway today. Well, of course you do, but we have to start with Joel Embid And if you don't want to, can oh, I'll kick it to Divan in a second, but I'll do I guess I will do my box score takeaway as we normally do.

And when you say we have to start with Mbid, I mean we have to, like that is the number one story, but there were so many parts of the final stats that there's a lot of areas you could go and Joel did a lot that, like you said, transcended that box score. But maybe we can should we circle back, as we say in the corporate world, to some of the other players and what stood out to me on the box score and I'll just talk about Mbad.

I think the matchup with bam Adebio, who had a couple of good games to start the series, that was in the spotlight and even on the national broadcast, they featured bam pregame as I was rewatching it after getting back from the game, and it was a lesser game from bam Adebayo and in large part due to Joel Embiid. I think the one thing is like anytime the heat drove sometimes they didn't go all the way in just because you know that Joel is down there, and that

just changed so much for the Sixers. There was just a comfort level even on some of the switches and things like that. Guys just know they have that security layer with Joe LMB back there. Devon for you, what did you see with Joel and maybe his impact in the matchup against Bam, Like I just mentioned, I saw a lot Bam out of Bio twenty three points in the first three game on average, and he ends up with nine points on two for nine shooting, five of

which came at the foul line for him. The other thing that stood out again was just something that I had noticed in the last game, in particular with the drop coverage for the Sixers. Defensively, they would drop on a few things in the paint DeAndre Jordan, Paul Ree and get easier shots to your point, Matt because they would pull up at the foul line at the elbow area and feel good about the shot that was there

for them without maybe some resistance there. So I saw that defensively last night, where to which you just laid out that they were afraid to go in to Joel MB because of the presence that he does have in there. And it also showed in the box score because of

the points in the paint. Low scoring game last night, so you can understand this, but points in the paint for both teams, we were twenty eight points and the sixers with the Joel EMB in there playing the thirty six plus minutes that he did play, he had a big reason for that. And you know that the numbers were different in games one and two with the points in the paint for the Miami Heat, So that was encouraging.

And the other thing for me too, a typical staff line for Joel MB, as far as the box score goes, it is getting to the foul line and getting to the foul line ten times, making eight of them with that mask on, that's not an easy thing to do. So he got there, he made them, and that once again just puts the pressure on the defense to do what they need to do. To slow a player down, that player just happens to be him, and it gets teams in foul trouble, get you in the bonus early.

I remember last night, I believe it was in the first quarter where the Sixers were in the bonus at right around the six minute mark because of again the aggression of the team overall, but also because they were fouling him on the floor as well. And the other one for me was the eleven rebounds. Now, Tobias Harris is Laura mentioned that a bit of an off night, but he did other things to contribute with the ten rebounds in the eight assists to go along with the

nine points. But on a night in Game two on Wednesday, where furkon coorkmises, you're leading rebounder off the bench with six you need it Joel emb to collect those rebounds to give them a rebounding advantage like they did have last night with a total plus nine in the rebounding category. Sure, they did give up a few offensive rebounds and it always drives me crazy, but last night they did a much better job, and he and Tobias Harris had a lot to do it that on the glass. Hey, it's

Joe Conklin joined me for Conklin's comedy. United Parks Casino, the number one casino went Pennsylvania and the official local casino partner. If you are Philadelphia, seventy six ers, tune into seventy Sixers games for special Parks Casino offers for fans. Watch all the action on the big screens in the Liberty Belt, Gas grow Pub or the Beer Garden, and come see me live with comedians from all across the country in three sixty Parks Casino. Visit Parks Casino dot

com for tickets. Must be twenty one or over. Gambler, Let's talk about Tyrese Maxi's second half. I'm seeing a lot of d ms about Tyrese. I want to find one so I can read it to everybody. But as we've mentioned at the beginning of this one, Tyree struggled in the first half, and of course he's gained enough respect that the heat couldn't cheat off of him, they couldn't ignore him. But he didn't score in that first half,

finished with all twenty one points in the second. As Stacy said, way to go, Maxi to finish with twenty one points after zero in that first half. Annie wants to talk about the Maxie to Harden save said it was unbelievable. That might have been my favorite play, my

favorite single play of the playoffs thus far. Tyrese talked about a post game and said that it was actually he felt responsible for nearing a turnover in that possession and as soon as he realized where the ball was headed, it was going to be a foot race, and Tyrese said he was not about to lose in a foot race,

and lose he did not. If you haven't looked at that play, I actually posted it on my page this morning courtesy of the Sixers, so if you want to go click on my account, you can see the play that I'm talking about. But that for me not necessarily a momentum shifter, because the Sixers did feel largely in control throughout that one. But as soon as you saw Tyrese make that winning play, as he calls it, it

felt like it was winning time for the seventy Sixers. Matt, I'll go to you first, your thoughts either on that play or on Tyrese Maxi's game or season as a whole. He just continues to be one of the best and perhaps most underrated storylines in this league. What he's been able to do this season and then night after night not be rattled by a tough first half and then make a huge impact in the second. What did you

make of Tyrese's game? I loved that play so much, the chase down save and throwing it over his head. Forget the old coaching adage of don't save the ball under your own basket. He knew exactly what he was doing, throwing it down court almost to half court, pass some Heat players to a Sixers player and getting it down and eventually keeping the possession alive as a team and scoring with turning it right into the Joel the masked mbid and one jumper. What a play. I think that

just says a lot about Tyrese Maxie. It says a lot about why the Sixers fans and NBA fans love him so much and his playing dial. So that's actually where I was going. I was craving the box score takeaways, and that was going to be my pick, was Tyrese's performance. I know Devon mentioned to Bias when we were coming off the box score and our friend Gina is listening and also mentioned Tobias saying, I'm here once again to give Tobias Harris as flowers for being an absolute force

on offense and defense in both series so far. There was a few different places I was looking on the stat sheet and Danny Green's threes that we touched on at the top were one as well. I'm sure we'll get there, but for me, it was the Maxi scoring flurry. And when we say with a bunch of threes mixed in, when we say Tyrese Maxie did not score in the first half, he actually did not score in the first thirty three minutes of the game, so most of his scoring came at the very end of the third quarter

and then throughout the fourth quarter as well. Whenona says max is a great example of don't stop till they drop no points in the first half, and still Maxie ends with twenty one points at the end of the game. I love the analytics on Maxie foot speed. That must have been part of the broadcast that I didn't see. But we know Tyrese Maxie is very fast. Eric Spoelster has talked about it during this series, how his speed

is unique. We heard Matisse Thyble talk about how he doesn't have any answers for how to stop Tyrese Maxie, and he's not envious of the other teams having to figure out a way to force him left, force him right, stay square with him. It was really the Tyrese Maxi's show down the stretch, and I guess either of you can jump back in. But that was amazing to me that he didn't score in the first thirty three minutes of the game, and that was his third playoff game

of this playoffs with at least five three pointers. It seems like when they're on their home court, he has a knack for knocking down clutch threes. Yo Brad says Maxie's energy was absolutely everything in the second half. I kept screaming for him to get going, and he did. He should have won Most Improved Player. I do agree with Yo Brad's secondary thought there, but absolutely incredible what

Tyrese Maxie was able to do last night. And for me, it's the confidence that's something that has now been coming up almost every day in media availability, whether it's Doc Rivers or veterans like Tobias Harris and Danny Green, or fellow youngsters like Shake Milton and Matisse Thyble talking about Tyrese's confidence. He does not lack a single ounce of confidence needed to be a big time player in this league. We say it all the time, but he's just twenty

one years old. It's only his second season in the NBA. He was given a very tall task, as we all remember at the very beginning of the season. He took it in stride. He grew quickly. Then he assimilated to playing alongside James Harden the second time this season that his role changed drastically, and he's handled it with that same poise, that same confidence, that same grace that we've

become accustomed to when we talk about Tyree Smaxie. It's been an absolute privilege and pleasure to watch him grow into the player that he's become. And once again, just so happy to see him get his flowers on national television once again. Matt, I know you want to move into Danny greenland, so let's go ahead and do that. Well, let's tee up divan about Danny Green. I also have some stuff about Harden that I would like to get to.

I didn't see a direct question about Green on my side of things, but there maybe there should be because Danny Green. I've got one. I've got one. Yes, So Breezy says what we were all thinking. Can Danny Green go for twenty plus points again? In all caps? Can this level of play be sustained? I like that question because Doc Rivers talked about it postgame. But Danny Green's veteran presence and confidence, Danny really struggled from deep in game two. It's been a quiet series for him thus far.

Ahead of Game three, but at no point did any Sixers fan, any Sixer teammate, or any Sixer coach doubt that Danny would have any problems shooting at a high volume and making shots seeing them fall, not get rattled by a tough game to come in and be absolutely lights out in game three? Devon, what did you see from Danny Green? Obviously we should talk about how he looked on the court, but his presence. We've talked so much about what last season's playoffs might have been had

he not gotten hurt in the second round. What did you make of what Danny was able to do and what's coming ahead for Danny Green. Shooting three for sixteen on the road is not ideal, and in that second game, one for ten, one to four, nine from beyond, and he has some really good looks. They talked about it postgame. He mentioned how he needed to be better, and oftentimes we talk about it. I'm just gonna repeat something that many people have already heard. Role players play better at home.

And he got into a pretty good groove early on hitting it three point early and he had some good looks again this time they fell and it was really good to see that because they need it and they need that shooting. The shooting couldn't continue the way that it had played out in Miami, and with him knocking things down, he's the best shooter on the team, and with him being the best shooter on the team, he

has to make his shots. And it was really good to see it with him be back, with them still finding him, passing him to basketball to despite his struggles. No matter the struggles, you still have to pass him

the basketball. He's lined up in the corner, sizing up the shot, on the wing, wherever he is out there, he is still a threat and they have to find him on the floor, run him off that line if they if they can, and it didn't matter last night seven for nine twenty one points to ask the question that you know answered the question that was thrown out there. I didn't see that coming last night. I didn't maybe two,

maybe three, possibly four. I didn't expect seven, but it was a welcome sight to see him knock those shots down once again. They do need it going forward. I don't again expect it to be seven for nine in the game's upcoming, but I do expect him to settle in feel much better after you see one, two, three go down. He had seven go down, and on an off day, getting back in there one more time, knowing those rooms, knowing the spots on the floor, knowing what

he likes, it was encouraging to see it. And defensively, he always makes a play or two to help out where he rotates the right way, where he gets his hand in there and knocks the ball loose. Defensively as well, that would lead to maybe Maxie picking the ball up and streaking up the floor for an opportunity. On the other end, it was really important to get that from Danny Green last night in thirty three plus minutes. They

needed it badly, and let's see it now. If he can carry over to the next game on Sunday, I feel like we have a lot more joelmbad talk to get to, given just the magnitude of his return last night. So if you have a thought or a question about Joel embiid, please click on our avatars, send us a DM send us a tweet, and we'll certainly get to

those to to keep the Danny Green discussion going. Just with an added quote here, I really liked what Danny said here postgame on how it felt to see some shots fall after games one and two quote, it felt good to be able to help my team and do my job. That's it. I'm not in any way, shape or form satisfied. We are not taking any deep breaths or exhaling. We know we have to win another game, so we have to stay locked in and focused, taking

it one game at a time. Hopefully we can keep that momentum and have another decent shooting night on Sunday. I would say that Danny Green's Game three shooting performance was better than decent at seven for nine from three, But I like that mindset. It is similar to what we all just heard Devon Given say earlier at the start of the show. Devon somebody asked about James Harden's game. It was Kyle saying, what did you think of Harden's

game last night? So what do you think in Brufest on the Danny Green Part one more time, Matt, just the experience that Lauren talked about that he has. He's been there, He's won three titles, He's had some really deep runs for many years in the postseason. So no matter how old he is, he's been there. He knows what to expect in these types of games, and he

knows what his role is. So it was good to hear him say just that that that was something that he was unacceptable for the type of shooter that he is and what they needed. So glad to see that he was able to knock it down pointed out last night and hope to look to continue. But as far as James Harden goes seventeen points, eight boards, six assists, and the one that stands out of the seven turnovers.

As the point guard possessions in the postseason are very valuable, they're meaningful, and the six has had nineteen turnovers overall, he had seven, and once again that's something that you would like to see toned down just because you want to make sure you have an opportunity to shoot the basketball, whether it's a miss or not. You want the extra possession.

You don't want to give them an opportunity to move down the floor, gets some easy transition buckets, but seventeen points four James Harden four of eleven for his points last night, one for seven from beyond getting it going early again with the nine points in the first half, it seems like he tries to score early with the passing the setting up of his teammates, but also then later on really get into facilitat or mode as the

game goes along. So I'm still monitoring that trying to get a sense of what he's thinking out there, how he's trying to go about the game, and what he's really trying to do with the first half, in the second half or ever. It's just something that he just simply sees from the defense that allows him to do what he did. Because then Maxie goes off, you don't need Harden to score the way that he did in the second half because the ball is now in Tyree's

Maxi's hands. So the nine points in the first quarter much needed, especially with the low scoring that it was twenty one seventeen. He looked good. He was attacking early and it got into facilitated mode once again later on. I would still like to see if he can for the amount of time that he is still attack as a scorer, and his IQ is so unique he will find his teammates and give them extra chances to shoot

the basketball. So I would like to see more scoring as as I'm greedy on that one, I know, but it kind of helps me out when I hear Doc Rivers say and joelbe say that they want him to be himself as well and potentially put up a few more points. So decent game has to cut down on turnovers, and I know that's a point of emphasis for him and them coming into Sunday's game at home. Yeah, James Harden not at all happy with his care of the ball last night, but still did a lot of great things.

And I appreciate someone who holds themselves at themselves accountable, and James Harden has certainly done that in each and every day of his career as a sixer thus far. I want to go to Data, which is an awesome name, not a question, but Thibal is a defensive nightmare. For Hero and Embiid is a defensive nightmare for Ada Bio. We can win this series in six I like the confidence, but I want to talk more about that defense. Matisse

Thybal did a really good job last night defensively. James Harden Doc Rivers both said that he got back to the place where they need him to be moving forward, extremely active, quick and engaged. But but Joel Embiid was to me the difference maker. Joel Embiad the reason that the Sixers were able to hold the Miami Heat to under eighty points in a playoff game. An absolute, honestly

master class from Joel Embiade defensively last night. He was open about the fact that he wasn't feeling at full strength. But if you watch highlights and Matt and I I know both rewatch the game last night because we were so excited about what we saw live, but watching it on TV, you can see different things right, and just the way that Joel's presence impact what the other team is willing to do in the paint or unwilling to do in the paint in this case was really fascinating

to watch. After watching games one and two, watching the Heat get what they wanted at the rim, get into the paint. Attack the Sixers backups, who again did a really strong job and did their best in those first two games. But the way they were unwilling to take some of the same risks or make some of the same lunges that they were making in games one and two really stood out to me. And the reason they were unwilling to do so was Joel Embiid's presence in

the paint. At least that's what I saw. Devon. I want to go to you first. What did you make of the defensive impact that Joel's simple, Yeah, just the fact that again he's there. So when you're looking at setting and screen up at the top on a perimeter, pulling the big man away from the basket to open up an opportunity potentially for a driving situation or a pull up shot, or someone else committing to defense and sliding over and now you have an extra pass for

a better shot. He cuts a lot of that off because he's so agile on the perimeter, able to defend guards and not necessarily stop him. That's not his job. His job is to hold him off when he hedges out and make sure that he pushes there, so they're not into their sets as easily as we may have seen in the first two games. And he simply does that. And then when you get into the painted area and you see that big fella right there, you think twice

about how you want to shoot the basketball. A drive to the basket with a layup before now turns into maybe a running floater that you didn't expect that you would have to put up there because he is there. So that's what he does. And the block shot lead that was a big block shot that he had, and only having the one doesn't tell the story of what the stat line would have you to believe with his

defensive presence. So that's what he does, and he makes it easier for other people on a perimeter to buyas however's continuing to play well. Danny Green once again and Matisse, Tyble and Winona had sent a message to me and asking would you agree that Matisse looked a little more like himself. He did, he looked a little more like himself. I didn't think he was himself, but a little more

like himself. And I think that that will start to pick back up as he's playing more minutes and out there on the floor, and it doesn't hurt to have Joel and be out there, and not only with all those other things that he did up. We pointed it out early, the two for nine that Bam Auto Bio had yesterday, that was just something that I didn't expect. I thought he was still maybe get into double digits, mid double digits, because in Bat was getting himself back

in after missing eight days seven days. But Joel Embe did his part defensively and that's why he's often talked about as an all MBA defensive center. Got some more Embiid thoughts from the listeners. Thanks everyone for being here. These messages came in from a few people, so just wanted to run through some of these, and then Eric Spoelstra talked about Embiid's impact as well. I'll go to that and then we'll describe some of the atmosphere as well.

I think Lauren has some thoughts on what it was like as we were in the building for Game three and Mark said team is so different with MBIID playing. He didn't play his best and still we get a win. I definitely think we can win this series. Dustin talks about well asked a question, is there anyway and beats toughness can be challenged by the national media any longer?

Injury prone, injury prone, blah blah. Dustin says, don't challenge and be its toughness with that question, Brad, are we wrong for seeing mbiad as a superhero showing up to save the series? All he needs is a cape and that kind of keep that in your mind as we talk about m Bead and the atmosphere in the building, because it was very superhero like as the game was about to start. And then Genie said, early yesterday afternoon, I sent this to Winona so some six or space

as listeners messaging one another. I think if Jojo good shot, I'm upset. I think if Jojo plays tonight. So this is from yesterday afternoon. Genie said, I think if Jojo plays tonight, even for ten minutes, his presence will be so inspiring and uplifting to the guys that it wouldn't surprise me if they blow out the heat. Well, ultimately a twenty point win, so that was a good prediction.

He played well more than ten minutes. But Lauren, when I say the message from Brad about Brad said, are we wrong for seeing him beat as a superhero showing up to save the series? No cape for Joel Embiid, but he had the mask. And as the layup lines came to a close at the center, there were chants MVP chants before the game even started. Well, look, rightfully, I think there was a lot of concern all day long about whether or not Joel would in fact be

ready to play in this game. He has not one, not two, but three serious injuries that people know of at this point, playing against some serious and look, Joel no stranger to playing through adversity, but this maybe some of the biggest adversity that he's faced in his career. Lots of concern, of course, concussions are no small matter, so lots of concern about whether or not he would be able to play a and if he was able to play, if he was able to be himself or not.

And I think as soon as Joel took the floor during layup lines and the crowd was able to finally exhale, wondering if they would actually see him, if he would actually be able to overcome all the hurdles needed to get to that point, the massive exhale the immediate MVP chance. I'll be honest, it takes a lot for me. I've seen a lot of been around for a minute now, but takes a lot to give me chills. I had chills.

It was really cool. It was really brave. I know, brave isn't not a word that we want to throw around lightly, but what Joel Embiid did last night was superhero like. And I don't have any problem saying that, especially after I listened to the way that his coach

and his teammates discussed his return last night. Tyrese Maxie, of course a wonderful teammate, but also a wonderful friend, and he and Joel have developed a really special bond this season, a big brother a little brother type bond where they continue to challenge one another and work their hardest to make one another better on the court, but it was interesting to get a little window into what

their relationship is like off the court. Yesterday, Tyrese said, despite the wind, despite the heroics, that he was most concerned about whether or not Joel was okay. He said that they were going to play, they were going to fight regardless of if he was able, but they were most concerned about whether Joel was okay, and for Tyrese to have that exhale that the crowd had when he realized that he'd be able to play alongside his brother

was really really cool to listen to. And then I liked Tyrese's quote about when he figured out that Joel really was going to play last night. He said, I was so happy to see number twenty one hanging up in the locker room with his mask. Joel is a soldier man thumb mask, concussion, broken face, He's resilient. He's the MVP for a reason. It's a testimony to his

will and his wanting to win. I think the way that Tyrese describes seeing Joel's jersey in his locker is probably the same experience that all the fans in the building and the fans watching at home around the world saw when Joel came out healthy enough to play, smiling and being himself, which was really really cool to see. And of course, Joel had a businessman like mentality last night. He knows that he didn't play up to his full potential.

I really thought that the quote where he talked about the fact that his offensive game was tough because of the vision issues, but you don't really have to see to play defense. I thought was maybe the understatement of the century. I think I would have to see. But the fact that Joel can do it without his vision being fully there and do it at that high level, it's really remarkable. I think I'm still sort of processing what we were able to see last night, but I

hope I articulated it well. For those of you who weren't able to be in the building, Devon, how did

you feel watching those events unfold? Yeah, So, since I wasn't in the building last night, had to do everything from the studio, just monitoring it all as you all captured it, whether it was social media or via the television, and obviously how it sounded on the air, and for the people who did not hear it on the radio side, Tom McGinnis allowed Matt Core to do his part and we listened on the radio, and you can just feel it.

Having been in that building for so many of these big moments, hearing net last night is definitely big, knowing how much this town and sixty fans in general just simply love that guy and the fight, everything that he's going through. I mean, look, let's run it down, Lauren, Right, torn ligament, busted up face, and now he has to wear this mask. And oh, by the way, he's coming

back from a concussion. So and you know, sixty plus games of a regular season where he's doing all his work against these big guys and taking a beating the way that he does, so we know his body is far from being one hundred percent. And he goes out there and he gives people a hope as the news just starts to trickle in throughout the entire day of

him coming back. Son't didn't surprise me at all. The twenty one thousand plus in the building chanting the MVP right of what he is and all season long just feeling that way. Whether he won the award or not, that's how they feel about him. And the performance that he put together all season long to come back and play under these circumstances. That's that's not easy to do. That. I've never broken my face, but I'm sure I've been

hitting my nose plenty of times playing basketball. It hurts, so imagine getting hit in your eye and having a fracture and then having to adjust to a mask, coming out there in a high pressure situation and still perform the way that he did that. The fans never let me down when it comes to how they treat their team and all of that. So just great to see it, Just great to see. I can't wait to see what tomorrow night now looks like. I saw what you saw, Devon, Glad to hear it that it hit the same for

both of us regardless of where we were. Wanted to give a quick shout out. I've seen some comments about Tobias Harris game last night again, nine points, ten rebounds, eight assists too steals a quieter scoring night for Tobias, But we've talked a lot all playoffs long about who

this team considers it's MVP. Thus far, the consistent see that Tobias Harris has brought on a nightly basis finding ways to impact the game and something he talks about, finding ways to impact the game regardless of what's working for him or what's working for others, and do whatever it takes to help the team win. Tobias did that again.

Joel was the leading rebounder on the night with eleven, but Tobias had ten boards last night, playing aggressively, doing what's worked for him early in the series, so the first time he was in single figures, I believe let me look, yeah, in this entire playoff run, so nine points his lowest scoring total, but of course that comes when Joel Embiide comes back and when Tyrese Maxie exploded

in that second half. So just impressed with the way that Tobias has continued to impact the game every night. Like that he took five threes even though he only made one. He's been shooting at a higher clip throughout the playoffs and becoming that three point especially a catch and shoot threat that teams really have to account for in a way that maybe they didn't quite do in the regular season. I like what Winona had to say about Tobias. He was focused on those rebounds because we

had suffered in those areas. True enough, Matt, where do you want to go to wrap this one up? This is the look ahead question, and I'm curious what you

both think it comes from. Breezy. I think he is a game changer, meaning embiid in Game four, can the Sixers be even more dominant and can that energy be carried into South Beach four Game five to pull off a win so I guess feel free to this is me ad limbing here, feel free either of you to give any thoughts about the series moving forward coming off the twenty point win for the Sixers in Game three,

Thanks Breezy. I mean, look, game three was extremely important because there's a huge difference between being down three zero and being down to one in a series. That being said, there's almost a bigger difference between being down three one and being tied two two. So to me, this game four, I don't know if it's as important as Game three was, but it's certainly almost as important, if not equally important.

Good to know that the Sixers have forced another trip to South Beach, but they want to force it right back to South Philadelphia as well. So very much looking forward to seeing what the Sixers are able to do on Sunday. You would hope that this day in between games will be helpful, helpful for Joelmbid. You wish, of course, that the Sixers could have a little bit more of a break at some point in this series. Really interesting

to see the way that the schedule fell. And I'm not going into any conspiracies here, let me be very clear, but the Sixers do only have one day off between each game Games one through six, while we've watched two other series in these playoffs get a three day break. So I just think that that's interesting and a little bit unfortunate luckwise for the seventy Sixers, for Joelmbid specifically to not have a little bit more time to get back. But that being said, perhaps a shorter turnaround good for

the team that built momentum last night. So I don't want to necessarily say that the days off are going to play that large of a role, but because this series is having is happening in such quick succession, hopefully a good opportunity for the Sixers to capitalize on the

momentum they built at home. And really, even this thing up, we talk about it all the time, but the series doesn't really start until the home team loses, and the home team has not lost yet, so hopefully the Sixers will be able to continue that trend in game four tomorrow night, and then maybe change that trend in game five. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Devon Gibbons, what

are you looking for in game four? Well, just to follow up quickly off of which you both just talked about, yesterday was as much as close to a must win situation as you could get without it being one, and they did it so that I liked how they stepped up to it, because as we saw in round one, to go down three nothing, it's really difficult for a team to come back, and what Toronto battled as best as they could. The Sixers were just in a better situation,

in a better spot to take that win. But for Game four, I want to see a few things continue. One thing that we didn't talk about was the fast break points, which was nineteen to six to six. Has had that advantage last night, and I would hope that they're able to keep that going. Get out and get

some easy transition buckets. Even with duel Embiid, who is a force in the half court and makes things so much easier for you to run your actions, you still need to get out in transition and get some easier buckets where it's not so hard, and a lot of that is just simply defense and rebounding. So for me, in game number four, I would like to see them turn the ball over less. The nineteen really does hurt, and even in a win, and they had nineteen points

to Miami. He did off of those nineteen turnovers protective basketball. I can't stress it enough. They're too valuable. They put those possessions in the postseason are too valuable. Nineteen cannot happen in the game, and seven cannot happen from your point guard. So I would like to see that change in game number four. Continue to rebound and get on the glass, not letting out possessions where the Miami Heat get three offensive rebounds and one trip down the floor.

That can be deflating. Your shoulders start to drop when something like that happens. When you're out there on the floor, you feel like you're battling for the twenty four seconds and they beat you to the fifty fifty ball. And we saw that a few times last night, where that's how they were able to come back and get back into the game and close it Miami as much as one point after being down by fourteen and the third quarter. So rebounding again continuing for me, and you need the

shooting to just continue to fall. It was good to see it last night the way that it did. I would say that a few others. I hope they're able to knock down a few more shots, George Niang along with Danny Green continuing to shoot the basketball, and it starters to just continue to play the way that they play aggressive early for Tais Maxie, I know I'm running down the entire game playing like Doc Rivers and this

is the white board. But I just I just see so any good things from them, and saw so many good things from them last night despite only scoring ninety nine points, but defensively they were so strong. I hope that they're able to keep that up. You give yourself a better chance of winning how you want to win when you don't turn the ball over, and that's really key for me. Yeah, Devon, you bring up a couple things that I want to highlight if I'm a Sixers fan and I'm looking down the pike at the rest

of this series. The Sixers beat the Miami Heat by twenty points. They did not play anywhere close to their best basketball, So to me, I'd almost be more concerned if they had played a perfect game and won, because you know that that's how thin the margin of error is, and realistically the margin of error will be smaller. The Heat will react, they will CounterPunch. In Game four, I

have no doubt about that. But when you nearly double your opponents turnovers and you still win by twenty points, and you see all of your top scorers traditionally I'm talking James Harden for for eleven, Joel Ebad five for twelve, to Bias Harris four for thirteen, shoot at that low efficiency level, much lower than what we're used to seeing from any of that group, and you're still able to win by twenty points. It means that there's still more

for this team to unlock. There's plenty of them, there's plenty for them to look at in today's film session, at tomorrow's shoot around, and they will be motivated because they know that there's more that they can do. So I wanted to make sure we highlighted the fact that this was a great win, but not necessarily a great performance from this group. They can do more, and they know that they can, so looking forward to seeing them try to tap into that. Matt, what are you looking

for as this series continues and really gets underway. Well, I'm gonna go off of the shooting and let our listeners their comments do some of the talking here. T Will sent us a couple notes. It was all about Danny Green. If he doesn't hit those shots, the game is much tighter, much more tighter. The Sixers need Green and Niang to go off in a game together right now, So Devan sort of just touched on that. Mark asked about the shooting, how much home court advantage impacted that,

and Ken the Sixers have a good shooting game in Miami. Well, it seems like that tide is starting to turn after Game three, and I thought Doc Rivers talking about Danny Green since he was such a big part of the good shooting night. The one thing that Doc said that I thought was hilarious was he's never going too fast because he can't, and then he started laughing. So he's

actually just a very calm force for us. But always after a big win there's some more lighthearted stuff and Doc, obviously Danny's a huge veteran presence and his game was amazing, but I thought him Doc taking kind of a shot at him was pretty funny. My last thing, probably underrated by most you guys, thought since the Bluecoat season was over, I wouldn't sneak something in, But news flash, I'm going to and it is the matchup at the end of

the game. When Haywood high Smith was guarding Shake Milton. That was a big moment, I thought for any fans of the Blue Coats, because those guys as rookies, those were two of the first guys that I had the chance to work with in the twenty eighteen nineteen season, and heywoo, Highsmith now on the heat. Shake Milton of course in the Sixers group, and they were playing against each other, and they came in the league and played most of that twenty eighteen nineteen season as teammates with

the Blue Coats and with the Sixers. They actually played in a G League an NBA game in the same day, both at the Center, which was historic. So I had to get that in before we get out of here. You might have thought I couldn't get a G League reference in, but I proved you wrong. I would never underestimate your ability to work the G League in as you should. Lots of G League success stories across this roster. We didn't talk a ton about Paul Reid, but count

him among those guys as well. Good to see him continuing to grow, continuing to build confidence, and continuing to back up the MVP. Joel finishes with eighteen points and eleven rebounds in his return, he as there is still so much more that he is able to do. That was a sentiment that rang true across this roster. After the game, Matt devon, I am so looking forward to doing more of these with you guys as the playoffs continue. As always, this has been a post Sixers win Twitter

space presented by bet Parks. If you joined us late and you want to hear the beginning, you can find this recording on the seventy Sixers Insiders podcast feed. Make sure you are following that wherever you get your podcasts. These post win shows are also presented by bet Parks

over on the seventy Sixers Insiders podcast feed. If you haven't listened to The Big Niang Theory with George Niang and you're looking for some Sixers content to fill your rainy day in Philadelphia or hopefully a sunny day elsewhere around the world, make sure you listen to The Big Niang Theory with George Niang. He taught he has talked now to pretty much everybody on this roster, that at

least the guys that performed heavily last night. More episodes to come, but that, of course, is George's podcast where he has in depth conversations with his teammates in an attempt to get to know them a little bit better on and off the floor. And we hope that you guys enjoy those episodes as much as I've enjoyed recording them. So send us your feedback when you listen there, Send us your feedback when you listen here. We love doing this with you, guys. Matt Devon final thoughts from you.

I will let you, guys shut it down. Mother's Day game game four, So happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there and Sixers looking to even up the series eight pm Eastern on Sunday. If you're listening to the podcast before that game has happened, tune in on TNT and on the radio side ninety seven five the Fanatic divon you got us covered alongside Tom McGinnis. Can't wait to tune in to you guys as the series

continues on their home court. The Sixers have a chance to tie the series up, so that coverage is going to be must listen to close out the weekend. I appreciate that, Yes, we will have that for you right before tiptime and happy Mother's Day yet to all the moms out there, and after you have your good meal, to get that nice food in early, make sure you sit back and listen and watch the game and see the Sixers tie this thing up on Sunday night and

six offense. Just be in the building early like you always are. Make sure you put on a show so this squad can even things up and head back to Miami on Tuesday night. Devon, thank you for reminding me. That's something that I'll actually close this one with. I've been at all three games. I've been at all three games in this series, and there was a distinct difference in atmosphere in Game three from what we saw in games one and two. Louder earlier, louder for longer, more

engaged doesn't come as a huge surprise. But seeing those games back to back and seeing what the Philly crowd was able to do last night, let's keep that same energy up for Game four. Thanks to everybody who was there, Thanks to everybody who's here, Thanks to everybody that participates and sends us questions. You can do so anytime between

now and then the end of the game tomorrow night. Afterwards, hopefully after a victory, and we will get to as many of them as we can when we are with you next time on a post six Ers win Twitter space presented by Bett Parks. Thank you, Matt, thank you Devon, thank you everybody, and we will talk to you next time. Thanks everyone, Thank you all appreciate it.