I'm Tari's Mike Si and you're listening to the seventy six Ers Insider's podcast.
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We have grit and fight in us. Call the workers Compensation law firm of Stern and Cohen or visit their site Sterncohenlaw dot com. The consultation is free. Stern and Cohen are the official partners of the seventy six Ers. They'll go ring the insurance company's bell. Welcome back to the seventy six Ers Insiders Podcast. Two games into the first round for the Philadelphia seventy six Ers against the New York Knicks, Matt Murphy with Lauren Rosen and our
friend Nick Stauskas is back. Nick. It's been a little bit. How are you great to have you.
I'm doing great, could be a little bit better, but it's it's always good to see you. Know these two faces I'm with right now. I miss you guys. It's been a little bit, but anytime we're here talking six Ers basketball have some fun with it.
So I'm looking forward to it.
And who knows, Lauren, maybe we'll even release the bonus episode that the three of us taped. Were among other riveting topics, we talked about our favorite and least favorite subjects in school.
I'm down. I'm absolutely down. And listen.
As if we needed another excuse to go on a long run, here, Nick stauskis back in the fold. We got to get this man on the pod at least a few more times for weeks to come.
I'm available, I'm free. I have no job, i have no prospects. I'm ready to talk the.
Task at hand. The first round series second Sea to New York Knicks seventh seeded Philadelphia seventy six Ers. If you're not already subscribed to the seventy six Ers Insiders podcast, please do also subscribe to the Sixers YouTube channel check out a content day series we put out with most of this Sixers playoff roster and potentially a bonus episode
with this trio that we've got going right now. But it's the series Nick starting with your takeaways through the first two games that I mean national media, local media obviously, but nationally it's it's the series maybe that's the most intriguing to everyone. This six Ers Nicks series. I called it the most second round feeling the first round series maybe of all time. And the games have delivered, just going the next way in in close fashion, but they
defended their home court. So we'll get into the nitty gritty of some stuff from game two and a little bit from game one, but from an overall standpoint, what have been some of your takeaways?
Well, coming into this series, you could argue potentially, you know, two of the best players in the Eastern Conference in Jalen Brunson and Joel Embiid playing in a first round matchup, which obviously makes it exciting and you know, to your point, feeling more like a second round matchup. The Sixers aren't a normal seventh seed because you look at their record with Joel and obviously towards the beginning of the season, they were a top tier team not only in the
Eastern Conference but the entire league. So this was definitely a series, you know, beyond my bias of you know, being here in Philly and you know, working with you guys. Was definitely the series that I had circled in terms of most excited to watch. And as you mentioned, the games have lived up to it.
You know.
The crazy part for me is just how quickly the narrative or.
A series can change.
And just within seconds in Game two, we you know, went from coming back Philly one to one to now to nothing, bunch of controversy, a lot of different storylines, you know, coming into game three. So uh, that's the NBA Playoffs for you. And it just goes, you know, goes to show you how important every second of every game is.
And Nick Nurse had an interesting response to Lauren after Game two that spoke to what you just said, basically about how if the end of Game two had gone just a little bit different, the feeling would have been. We came on the road, we stole a game on the road, like that saying of steal one on the road to recapture the home court, and he spoke to you about just how close they were to doing that.
Yeah, and what's interesting, Matt is, yes, the Sixers are facing a difficult to nothing Knick series lead right now, but the games were so much closer than that would have indicated. Every time the Sixers fell back, they fought back in Both games were close down the stretch, especially
obviously Game two. So if you take and obviously wins and losses are literally the most important stats in the regular season and especially in the playoffs, But if you strip both games of the win and lost column, this is an extremely close series.
The margins are razor thin.
There's an argument to be made that the Sixers have played better than the Knicks have in most of this series thus far. So I'll let Kyle Lowry's words replace mine. He immediately and the being the pro that he is with the playoff experience that he has. In the locker room following Game two, said Listen, he had nothing to say about the game, about the forty eight minutes that had transpired, He said, they took care of business on
their home floor. They're up too to Oho. Now we have to go take care business on our home floor. Come back here to too. It was simple, measured exactly what you expect from Kyle Lowry and honestly describes what's happened pretty well. And of course it stays you wish you'd get back one to one and you get to play at home for a chance to go up three
to one. But having watched both games closely and now rewatched both games, Sixers have played really well in this series, despite certain intangibles not falling their way, Joelle Embiid not being able to play as much as he would have wanted to in Game one, Tyrese Maxi dealing with an illness in Game two, and still for things to be this close, pretty impressive stuff from the Sixers all things considered.
And we know the stats about two to zero series deficits. Thirty three teams have overcome that in the NBA playoffs, including Nick Nurse's twenty nineteen Raptors that went on to win the championship. They lost both in Milwaukee to start the Eastern Conference Finals, and then one four straight. It's also it's happened in each of the last few postseasons, including with the Warriors dropping two in the first round at Sacramento just last playoffs ended up winning in seven
in Sacramento, so we know about that. Nick, what are your thoughts on people who say the way that they lost game two can have an effect because Kyle Lowry is already flushing it. But there are people who say, perhaps could it be too demoralizing to carry over into game three and it might be too hard of a finish to wipe out for the next two.
You know, I think it's important to.
Focus on the positives if you're Philadelphia in terms of not overthinking things or getting too demoralized or too beaten up. You know, especially with you know, the last two minute reports that are coming out, it's so easy to focus on those and get caught up in everything that's being said in the media and you know, be a little bit demoralized, like you said, But I think for them, they do need to focus on the fact that that
was their game to win. They put themselves, they did everything they could do to put themselves in a position to win, and you know, a brief thirty second lapse towards the end of the game, you know, change the outcome. But that shouldn't make them think they can't win games coming, you know, moving forward in this series, and you know, Joelle even said it.
Like we're the better team. You know they truly believe that.
But on the flip side, I will say this, My other argument is and like this could be a good thing, could be a bad thing. But if you told me after two games Jalen Brunson was sixteen for fifty five from the field, I would have told you Sixers are up to nothing. So from the Knixt perspective, they're like, we're up to and our best player hasn't really played well yet. So if you're a Philly, you have to know that. That's if you're the Sixer, you have to
know that's coming. Like he's not going to continue shooting like that for a seven game series.
So I guess we'll see how that plays out.
Would it be fair to suggest that perhaps the Sixers best player also may feel that way and has said as much himself, Right, Joel knows that he can put more into these games, and we have not seen him at peak Joel Embiid quite yet, Right, So I don't know. I'm still excited about it. I'm so excited about what's to come. I think this is going to be a very long and continue to be a very close series.
I guess the two sides I was presenting to Nick originally was like, on one hand, if you're the Sixers, you're like, we should have won that game. But on the other hand, and this is the side that to the point of excitement, you're like, we were right there and we should have won that game. So like, you can look at we should have won that game as a negative or a positive, and maybe coming home with the two days in between will help them look at
it as more of a positive. To the point about brunson twenty nine percent shooting, this is from Justin Kabatco from Stattitudes, really great newsletter that he puts out. It's over the last sixty seasons, no player with at least fifty attempts has recorded a lower field goal percentage over
the first two games of a playoff series. And Lauren who has stood out for the Sixers in defending Jalen Brunson because it hasn't always been Kelly, but toom it's a Maxie just the way that they're defending him as a team. What has jumped out to here.
Sim Lowry as well.
I think maybe that could be part of why Brunson's taking a little bit longer to figure out what he's dealing with is how well this committee has shared defensive responsibility, and you ask about Brunson specifically more holistically defensively. The improvements we saw in game two I thought were pretty special, and the offensive rebounding discrepancy that they dealt with in game one to erase it in game two extremely impressive
right out the gate. This was a team that understood where they faltered in game one and adjusted right away. And that was something that the players and coach alike said that they were going to pride themselves in themselves in being able to do in this playoffs. So to see the way that they responded, and again, it's tough to talk about game two, it felt so much like a win, right We're talking about it as though they made all the adjustments.
They did exactly what they needed to do right.
Difficult to stomach the idea that it didn't result in a victory, But they made so many positive adjustments and improvements that I would expect them to continue doing exactly that in these next couple of games.
Sixers were up one oh one ninety six late in that game end up losing one four one oh one. Maxi, while questionable because he was under the weather, goes for a near triple double with thirty five, nine and ten. I want to stay on Brunson for one more second. Nick, with your background as a as a professional player NBA player, the way that he shoots the ball and the way
that the pace that he plays at. I saw this going around X a little bit with like a two motion shot, like his release is kind of in two parts almost, and Maxi had a block in Game one that people were pointing to that the Sixers have through two games sort of figured out how to time when he's going to shoot, because he'll get to that elbow and he'll rise, but it takes him a second to
actually release the ball. And you can see it on a play like Maxi blocking him from behind his pace and how that affects everything in the way that he shoots the ball. It seems like the Sixers have sort of figured it out from the jump on when they watch film.
I wouldn't go as far as say that they've they've figured it out, because I'm sure Brunson will still you know, he'll respond, he'll make adjustments and he'll find a way to get his But they've done a phenomenal job, as good as any team has done this year at slowing him down, because this is an all NBA type of player who's had an incredible season that's put the Knicks in a position where they're the number two seed in
the East. So you know, many coaches have touched on the fact that there's not much you can do to slow Brunson down, that that pace he plays with, the stop and go, the change of speed, you know, his hesitations, his ability to shoot from deep, get to the basket, crafty finishes like the mid range. There really isn't any gaps in his offensive repertoire. But you know, to both of your points, I think by committee they've done a good job of just throwing bodies at him, being physical.
And again, the Sixers do have size and that's something that's working to their advantage with Brunson being a smaller guard. Again on that part, they need to just continue doing what they're doing on the defensive end and hope that Brunson doesn't, you know, make his adjustments and catch fire, because you know, I'm sure he's probably Brunson's probably watching the tape and trying to figure out where he can get some better looks at.
And look, we're going to talk about the positives, more positives than just the defense on Jalen Brunson for the Sixers, some offensive positives and stuff like that as we move along here after games one and two, before the Sixers come home. But going off the defense one more time, how have you seen this storyline of playing off some of the other players in the Knicks lineup, such as
Josh Hart. How have you seen that play out? Because it's going the next way, but it's another thing that could shift as the series continues.
It's a slippery slope with that because you know, to a certain extent, you're like, well, you know, make someone else beat you. That's always what you hear as a coach, We'll talk about, you know, make someone other than the star player on the other team beat you. And that's what you have to give the Knixt credit where they have had a number of different guys step up. You know, we saw Miles McBride in game one, even game two,
make big shots, Bogdanovic, Josh Hart, I mean, Devincenzo. These are all guys that are stepping in on the big stage and you know, helping their team get meaningful victories. And I think that's where the Sixers, I feel like, could make some improvements. You look at Game two, they didn't other than Joelle and Tyresee, they didn't really have a third guy come in and make that huge impact. Where the Knicks have, They've had by committee, multiple players
affecting the game on the offensive end. So you know, you're not gonna be able to take everything away. You know you're not gonna be able to limit everyone to under ten points. It just it just doesn't work like that. But I think just not as many open threes for those supporting cast players on the Knicks, like that's going to be important. Like even that last possession, the fact that Devincenzo got too wide open step in threes to make them go up one. You know, that's one of
the best shooters in the NBA this year. It's just that can't happen late in the game. And so I think they can do just a better job of limiting those good looks. But also at the same time, you still got to show bodies with Brunson and make sure that he's seen a crowd at all times.
Do you buy the supporting cast the role players play better at home things? I know, it's the garden, it's the bright lights that the Sixers were facing.
I do think so.
Personally, I've always felt like in this situation, I'd probably be more comfortable, more hyped up at home. But also there's some guys that like playing into the villain role. Like, I don't know, do the Sixers have any villain type players in the supporting cast?
I mean potentially, right, what I will say story maybe Kyle Kelly. These guys got pretty hyped up by the noise in that building. What I will say is it was a very special environment. The Knicks fans showed up. They came out running out onto the court for Game one, the Sixers, of course, running out onto the court with about twenty minutes left on the clock. This was including a tip slide, right, So like these fans have waited
for a while, they got there early. They're there to just boo the Sixers from the moment they run out onto the floor. And what I will say, observing that moment, Sixers were not afraid of that. They kind of liked it, Like They liked that energy, they liked that tension that they ran into literally in that building, and I think again by and large, they responded to it pretty well.
That being said, we know the Sixers fans will bring a similar special, different Philly style energy that hopefully motivates the Sixers in another way, Hopefully that positive energy can get some win in the sales of some of the role players that you mentioned, Nick Stawskis. Yes, there are guys that are that can embrace the villain role on this team, for sure, but there are also a lot of guys on this team that have credited the environment at home and the building that they're able to play
in with some of their success. So looking forward to seeing that dynamic shift in games three and four.
By the way, Devincenzo two and eighty three regular season threes was third to your point, Nick, Steph was three point fifty seven, Luca was two eighty four, So Dante Devincenzo was only one three pointer. It's incredible, credible. Yeah, he's had a great turnaround under Tibbs in New York. So and then in game two we saw how it ended for the Knicks because of him putting them ahead and uh Lauren Game one though, just to put a bow on it, because Nick talked about McBride's stepping up.
They had three twenty point scores, including Deuce McBride off the bench. But for the Sixers, the way that they came back from double digits down at halftime was the Maxi and Lowry show in the third quarter. It was even Lowry getting an and one while still down double digits early in the third quarter. That kind of fired them.
Up a bit, and some of them have both had truly a great playoff run thus far, especially when you think about the limited amount of reps that they have together. This is still a team that's getting to know each other, that was getting to know each other in the absence of its thirty five point a night man in Joel Embiid, right, So now having them all together, they continuing to get to know each other. I agree with you. I liked what we were able to see from Kyle Lowry in
the second half of Game two. I liked what we saw from Tyrese Maxey in the second half of Game two. And I know we've already talked about it, but he really was sick, you know what I mean?
And to be able to put that.
He was both types of sick in game two, and to see someone that this city and this franchise No Pun Intended, has believed in all along excel on that level. You just wish, you just wish that they had been able to get that win because of how extraordinary Tyrese Maxie's performance was in game two.
The most improved player in the twenty twenty three to twenty four NBA season, the Keia most Improved Tyrese MAXI and I.
Had some stats queued up to discuss snaps for tyres to discuss how special year four was. I wanted to highlight, as we did upon the announcement that Tyrese would win his first Most Improved Player award of his career, I wanted to highlight the fact that he probably could have won it before. For example, his rookie season to his sophomore season, he earned six votes, a modest amount of
votes for most Improved Player. Two years ago, he scored eight points a game as a rookie, eighteen points a game as a sophomore, twenty points a game last season, twenty six points a game this season. He has improved so mightily. Every year, and of course at a certain point you get into historic territory, right if you're looking
at these types of increments. If he adds six points a game to his cumulative season stats every year for the next four or five years, at a certain point, he's going to be averaging like fifty something points a game.
My brain, we would love to see the equations over my head right now, which.
Which obviously listen. If anyone could do it, it's probably Tyrese Maxie. I don't want to limit this man, but the way that he's continued to grow his game in different ways every single season, to me, he's been the most improved player every season he's been allowed to play in the NBA. Last season, of course, limited in games because of his injuries and because of some other situations that were happening with the team last year, didn't perhaps have as many opportunities to improve.
Right.
Seeing him win an award like this was a true treat.
One would counter the stats you just gave about his career by saying eight to eighteen is that second year jump that yeah, no better or worse people just expect with NBA players, And then eighteen to twenty is not a big enough points per game jump for him to have gotten it last year, and twenty twenty point three to twenty five point nine was a big enough jump scoring wise, I guess in people in voter's minds.
It's still young in his playoff year right, Obviously two games only in the playoffs this season, but a fourteen point jump in playoff points for Tyrese Maxi thus far twenty point five points per game in the playoffs in twenty twenty two to twenty three, thirty four points per game.
Thus far in these playoffs while sick.
And how much does him taking over lead guard duties factor into him being most improved because his assists went up to six point two as well, not just a scoring role. Obviously, the James Harden trade happens this season earlier on, and Maxi has run with it.
Yeah, I mean, I'm sure Tyrese still would have had a fantastic season if Harden was still here, but we probably don't see him have multiple fifty point games and just make an All Star team maybe, Like there were so many different things that came with it, And give credit to Tyrese, he was ready for that role. He
was ready to take on any and all challenges. And this makes me think back to earlier in the year on one of our radio shows, Matt we were we had Coach Gates, and Coach Gates was like, if I could buy stock, if this is a stock mark, I could buy stock in one player, I would buy the Tyrese MAXI ticker whatever that is, like TM zero, whatever you call it.
He goes, I would buy that.
And so to now see months later him get rewarded with most improved Player, and you see him just looking like a superstar in these first two games, like on the Road in New York, comes out three for three to silence late in the game. Yes, game two with a long three, got long three, and he went back to the bench popping off. I was I was getting pretty excited. I was getting pretty excited. So, uh, it's just it's awesome to see him blossom into the player
he's becoming. And yeah, I mean, let's let's do the math. I'm sure by twenty twenty seven it's going to be like fifty points a game to Lawrence to Lawrence points.
So bump doubt him better every day, Right, it's a lot of percentage points. The right hand reverse bin that he's had all season, but especially in this series. It makes you think about that last play. Hertenstein, who blocked it, actually said he expected Maxi to go under the basket instead of staying on the left and it ends up
with thirteen seconds left. He gets the block and then the Knicks tack on a couple of game winning free throws, but he stayed on the left side and didn't quite finish it all the way off like he has so many times in this series. Through just the two games.
All season on the road with Tyrese, it's been fun to watch opposing crowds react to what they're seeing because you come into the building watching a Sixers game, if you're not necessarily super duper duper locked in to Let's say you're a Western Conference a fan of a team in the Western Conference, and you go and you watch the Sixers for the one time you're going to see them all year. Unless you're super locked into Eastern Conference basketball, you don't know what Tyrese Maxey has been up to.
You're coming into the building excited to see Joel Embiid. You've heard of Kyle Lowry, You've heard of Tyrese Maxey, you've heard of Tobias Harris, but you don't know what this young man is capable of doing. And it has been such a treat to go from arena to arena and watch people realize that they're seeing something special and hear a crowd of people that are supposed to be
rooting for the other team go ooh or oh. Like this noise that you hear coming from a collective crowd that's rooting against this player and his team carried over into again the most hostile playoff environment that I've ever been in in Madison Square Garden, not a lot of representation for Sixers fans in either game one or Game two, and hearing this crowd that was so determined to boo and yell profanities at this team just not be able
to control themselves with some of these tyres. Maxie finishes with the ooh or the little like, did you guys see did you see that?
Like?
Watching people watching Knicks fans look at each other and realize what they've just seen was such a treat, and I really hope it continues.
The Maxi and embiids stats are phenomenal through the first two games, and Nick mentioned the fifty point outings that Tyre's had during his most improved campaign, him and Joel doing it three times each had never been done before by teammates. Something else that hadn't been done by a Sixers duo since nineteen sixty seven was each have a thirty point double double in the same playoff game. It was Hal Greer and Wally Jones in nineteen sixty seven.
Maxi had thirty five ten assists. Joel had thirty four points ten rebounds in Game two.
So if Tyre's rebounding pretty well in this series, toeah give him credit.
And that's how much to people talk about rebounding between games one and two, because it was fifty five thirty three nicks, So that buzzword in the playoffs of adjustments, Sixers didn't get out rebounded nearly as badly in Game two. They made some adjustments, whatever that might be, in subtle
ways when it comes to securing defensive boards. Now, with the way and Beat and Maxie are playing the way that they seemingly have fixed some of the rebounding stuff, what are some of these ways they can improve for Game three?
Well, I just think collectively, you know, guys just being ready to knock down open shots. Like obviously, you know, if you're the Sixers, you don't want to get away from what's working, and that's Tyres and Joel. You know, you need to continue to put them in positions where they're going to succeed. But as the Knicks defense continues to load up on them, you know, and it is very much a make or miss league, but these guys
just need to be ready to catch and shoot. And that's why, you know, the supporting cast is always so important in these playoff games because we've seen how the three point shot can change the game when you know, role players get hot and you know, like you see a Duce McBride, you know, five threes just like that in Game one. That makes a huge impact.
And Hard has four plus in both games, right, he hadn't done that in the whole regular season. Nicks made sixteen threes to the six Ers twelve in Game one, and that in some ways was the difference.
Yep, yep, for sure.
And so you look at the Sixers and they they have a lot of players that are capable, you know, seeing that all throughout the season, guys with playoff experience, and so I think it's important for the Sixers to not panic or get away from what they've been doing, because I think in a sense it has been working. It just has maybe been a little bit of bad luck. But yeah, I think they're gonna I think they're gonna
be okay. I think me personally, I would I would like to think that they're going to win these two games at home and we're going to go back to New York for a best of three series. I think this is a seven game series, right, I'm thinking.
I mean people have been saying that leading up to the series, right, And and the fact that again both both of these games, the margins were so thin. You just hope that they continue to to sort of the variance to use a word that Daryl Morey uses a lot, but the variance ends up on the Sixer side in these next couple because they're they're playing hard. Like you said, Nick, obviously you're going to need some more production from the
non embiid non Maxie guys. But what we've seen from Embad and Maxie are, in my opinion, pretty clearly the two best players in the series so far. They're both on your team, right, So get the rest of your guys going get back to some of the things that you were doing super well down the stretch in that nine game.
Winning streak and see what happens.
I still feel very optimistic about what's coming in the rest of this series.
It's the best of seven. It's hard to or i should say, it's easy to forget that sometimes in the immediate aftermath of a specific game in the series. So, as we wrap up, I wanted your reaction to this post. I saw that said, remember, when you lose a playoff game, it feels like you're never going to win again, And when you win a playoff game, it feels like you are never going to lose again. It's the playoffs wild times.
We've lived it in different capacities as reporters, broadcasters, a player in your case, Nick, So, how how do you feel about that statement? That does feel like when you lose a playoff game, it it feels like you're never going to win again, and when you win, it feels like you're never going to lose again.
Yeah, it's I mean, it's like I said earlier, it's so crazy how the narrative of a series can change within seconds, Like you know, you could go from the Sixers being favored to also and the Sixers are down to oh in thirty seconds, and so I think it's just important to always take that step back and just look at the bigger picture. But it's hard because of all the outside noise in the world we live in, with everyone like ourselves, having opinions and you know, pointing
out different stats and the rest. There's there's so much that you can talk about. And I think it's just important to fall back on the work and your values. And I think I think the Sixers have that in a you know, a great coaching staff, a good group of guys who believe in themselves. And I think that's important. That belief in yourself can never waiver, you know, bad loss, when doesn't matter, you need to continue to trust your work. And I think that's what the Sixers will do here.
Can't get too high, can't get too low.
And the most optimistic locker room that I've ever been able to walk into in a situation where you are down in a playoff series, right, you go into that locker room after a really really brutal ending dwell Embiid says worse than Game seven in Toronto when Kawhi made that sort of act of god shot.
To go into that.
Room and feel that it's a group of people that really feels like they're going to still win this series was special and so I'm going to hold onto that feeling as we head into Games.
Three and four.
That two month journey that Nick Nurse did in Toronto, that year you did with Boston just a couple of years ago, what sticks with you from an NBA Finals run.
There was a lot of highs and lows, you know, a lot of feelings like, oh, our season's over, Oh we're going all the way on there. We were down three to two in Milwaukee going into Game six and so our season on the line, you know, on the road, and just felt like we didn't have it. Just felt like we didn't we weren't going to win the game. And then all of a sudden, we win that game and it was like that was Eastern Conference semifinals, so we're you know, we still got to go back home
and win Game seven. But immediately my mind was like, oh, we're going to the NBA Finals now, like and it was just that one road win that kept our season alive. That was like life changing for us. It gave us that new life. And so I think for the Sixers, just being back home and having you know, that home crowd, maybe we should make a rule if you're wearing a Knicks jersey not allowed into Wells Fargo Center.
Can we like can we.
With all the blue even at the garden like I was at Game one, And it's hard to differentiate who's who. But when you walk past, when a Sixers fan walks past on the concourse, they just immediately get booed by all the Knicks fans. So it was Sixers fans. The challenge is on to do it in as respectful of a way as as possible because some of the mbat stuff was a little outlandish from yeah man, but the Sixers fans do need to be up to the task coming up in this series for sure.
So yeah, well, I think I just think for the Sixers, I think, you know, it'll be it'll it'll change the whole narrative. Coming back home, getting a good win in Game three and just getting that, just being in the win column again brings back that feeling of like, oh, we're back on the right track. We're you know, we're doing everything that we can to to win this series.
It's a shame though, because that win that you just spoke about from your personal experience literally could have been the Sixers on Monday Night. They could have captured that type of road win that energizes you so much in game two of the playoffs.
No. Well, and you know, to the other point, we did have.
We did have a loss that series that year in the NBA Finals to Golden State at home in Game four, which on the on the flip side, we lost Game four to have the series tied to to instead of being up three to one. And I can promise you we went back to a locker room and I could tell we weren't going to win that series anymore. Like it was just that loss was the one where the vibes changed.
And it's just important.
For this team, for the Sixers team, to not let any of the outside noise or just even that loss, the refing anything to dictate what happens moving forward, because I think we can all see that they are very much capable of beating this next team in this seven game.
Series, and heartening perhaps on the heels of that story that you just told. To circle back to the story, I just told about the fact that going into that locker room, it did not feel.
Like a group that felt that they had lost the series. It did not feel that way at all.
So very much looking forward to these next couple of days.
Home teams have been dominant in the NBA playoffs. I'm sure in a future episode we'll talk about what's developing outside of the Sixers series. I leave you both with this that Nick stascus your basketball reference page might be one of the most trafficked pages during the playoffs because if you type in for Jokic nik your basketball reference page comes up right away. So you're probably getting a lot of hits during this time. People trying to look up Jokic's numbers as well.
So's there's very few numbers on my page, so they'll be.
Listen, I've never seen the two of you in the same room at the same time.
So you got you got a game to play tomorrow.
Yeah, but he's I mean, he's only got a couple He's got like maybe like seven inches on me, maybe a couple extra zeros in his bank account, some MVP trophies, NBA ring, he's got a couple of things.
To go to your page to verify that you don't have. Yeah, no, I mean it's a fun basketball reference page. Don't tell yourself short.
Yeah yeah, it's.
Long NBA careers longer than most.
It's I mean, there's more teams listed than most. I'll tell you that. I'll tell you that for sure.
I love it. So we'll let you get back to watching TJ McConnell in the playoffs too, when you're not focused on the.
Second just picking up Dame full Court yesterday. It's a tough task.
It's a good game. That was a fun one. The first road team to win a playoff game, or the Indiana Pacers, they.
Got a chance to win that series. They have a chance.
There's some good stuff going on around the league. I love the playoffs.
I love basketball.
Go Sixers.
I love basketball, and I love you too.
Love you guys.
What a beautiful note to end this on. I guess now I have to say love you too.
Love you, guys.
Thanks for listening to the seventy six Ers Insiders podcast.