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Good morning everybody, Welcome back to another post Sixers win reaction. I'm Lauren Rosen, Matt Murphy's here. We are live on Twitter spaces. We will also be on the seventy six Ers Insiders podcast feed, So if you come late or if you leave early, you can always catch the show on seventy six Ers Insiders if you're not already subscribed there. Matt Murphy, good morning. How are you?
Lauren Rosen? Good morning, how are you. I'm doing well. Ninety six eighty four win for the Sixers against the Brooklyn Nets a two to zero series lead in this Eastern Conference first round series. The keyword has been trust around the Sixers, particularly with Game two, and how they're trusting one another to make the right plays, make the right passes. They overcame a deficit in this one, down as many as ten points late in the first half,
down five at halftime, but they rallied. They made it six straight playoff wins over Brooklyn dating back historically, and also they went four to zero in the regular season, so the Sixers have had the nets number for a while now, and they were able to mount a comeback, primarily with the help of Tyrese Maxi, who went off for a game high thirty three.
Tyrese Maxi was the man of the hour. Tobias Harris was great last night. Joel Embiid nineteen rebounds on a quiet night. Two quiet nights for Joel Embiid in games one and two, and he's been absolutely awesome. Nevertheless, let's get into the box score now. Guys, if you look at the bottom right hand corner of the space, you can add a question or a comment in that using that left or rather bottom right hand corner purple icon.
You can also send Matt or myself a DM and we will try to get to as many of them as we possibly can throughout the next twenty to thirty minutes or so. But with out for their due, I'm going to go through the box score. If anyone inspires a question or a comment, please drop it below or send it in a DM. We'll run through last night's key contributors, starting with Matt mentioned it. Tyrese Maxy a team high thirty three points for Young Tyrese in forty minutes.
That was a team high as well. He also grabbed three rebounds. He had a block. He finished at a team high plus seventeen, shooting thirteen for twenty three from the field, six for thirteen from three point range. That is his new playoff career high in threes for Tyrese Maxy. Joel Andbid and Tobias Harris had twenty points a piece. Joelle finishes with a massive twenty point nineteen rebound double
double plus seven assists, a steal and three blocks. He shot six for eleven from the floor, eight for eight from the free throw line, and finished at plus fourteen and thirty seven minutes to Bias twelve or twelve rebounds to add to his twenty points plus two assists a steal finishes plus nine eight for fourteen from the field
thirty three minutes of play. He becomes the only sixer to or besides Joel rather the second sixer to score twenty plus in both games one and to James Harden finished with eight points, five rebounds, seven assists, and a team high four steals. A quieter shooting night from James, but able to get his teammates involved when it mattered down the stretch. D Anthony Melton finished with a bench high nine points. Two for five from three to twenty
one minutes marked a not a bench high. Jalen McDaniels twenty two minutes marked a bench high in minutes. PJ. Tucker had eight rebounds and three assists in his twenty two minutes of play. Matt what stood out most to you this one was an absolute It was tough for the Sixers to get it done. They did not like how they played in the first half, but understanding how much they didn't like their play, to be able to pull a win out in the playoffs nevertheless a very impressive thing to do.
You and I have been talking a lot about how this Sixers team all year. There were some games that they came back in and they've shown that they can win in different ways. And how important is that for the NBA postseason, where it's just a different type of basketball.
It's so much fun to watch. I'm sure it's intense to be out there, obviously based on what we see and what we hear from the players, but to prove you can win in different ways, when there's adjustments made each and every single game around the best player in the world in Joel Embiid, arguably the best player, likely the MVP. I feel comfortable saying that, but knock on
wood of course Sixers fans. But when he's drawing so much attention, I already see some questions and comments about Joel's rebounding and assist totals coming in he was able to get his teammates involved. The team can win in different ways, and it's what good teams do is win a game like Game two against Brooklyn. My box score takeaway, it's the five offensive rebounds for Tobias Harris on a twelve rebound night, because yet again, second chance points were
a big factor. How about this eighteen to zero in favor of the Sixers for second chance points?
Big time, absolutely, big time. A couple of those in between games one and two. Sorry, Matt, was that the end of the thought? You got more?
That was the end of the thought?
But it was like I didn't want to cut you off. Yeah, I mean, and Matt absorbing the turnover problems as well, that they had more in the first half, but also in the second half and figuring out ways to get it done if you're cool with it. I'd love to hear from Tyrese Maxi, who was the leading scorer last night.
Yeah, you mentioned turnovers, and Jock Vaughan, the Nets coach, postgame, talked about how they did so many things better than they did in Game one, like that they won the turnover battle this time, for example, being one of those things. And yet the Sixers win by double digits. So I think that says a lot because they corrected things and then the Sixers did other things well. Again the sign of a strong contender. But go ahead, let's hear from Tyree's.
I think first of all, we shot.
We didn't shoot great from the field, but we were able to get stops time. We stopped when we needed him, contecutive stops in the road which led too fast rate, which led to easy buckets, and uh us being able to set our defense.
You know, they made some adjustments as far as how they were trapping and how they were playing def uh defense and defending guys.
You know, it kind of comes by surprise in the first half, and then we went in and made adjustment to the second half and think.
We were good.
What was the message at halftime with you guys and and why did you need that time out?
And then it in to kind of get that sparkle on for the second half. Yeah, So defensively we were doing really good.
I mean, I think we would have 'em to under fifty points in the first in the first half, but our offense wasn't. Uh, it was a match of our same level of defense, and uh we had to find ways to get guys in space, get guys in the right spot to 'em, you know. In Joe, Well, we had to be in Joelle's vision for when they trapped him to help him out, and I think we did that.
Jen what he struggled again tonight. Is there any sort of specific points of emphasis that you have when you're guarding him. I just try to pressure him.
He's like three point inches taller than me, so if I can get under him and try to pressure him and uh try to force me to shoot the mid twos over me.
I mean, that's that's that's what I try to do. There's no really no special secret to it. I'm just trying to play defense.
So just wadn't seen you show emotion the way that you did after that and one in the third quarter in a pretty long time. Can you take us through sort of what led to that exhale of emotion?
Yeah, man, I I just wanna win.
Man, It's like, and uh, we knew this was an important game, you know, Tuck said it as soon as we won game one that game two is gonna be the hardest game, and we wanted to go make sure that we protected home court. I mean we started off slow, like we talked about, Uh, but we went to the half only down five. As bad as we played offensively,
we only down five points. And we knew that, uh, if we can catch if we get our offense to catch up to our defense and continue to be stating you on defense, and we knew we had a shot.
She might you got a lot of threes. He all though, free program and handle adults. Is that sort of what the message does? He's interesting.
That was Tyrese Maxi from last night, Matt. I think we might still be having connectivity issues, but I'm not sure if you had somewhere you wanted to head next.
While I check that out, Mary had a comment about Tyrese Maxi's defense, said Tyresee was terrific. Offensively, but also his defense on Dinwittie was remarkable. So I think back to when his teammates were calling him two way Tyressee shouting out his defensive improvements in year three at different points in the regular season, and that's of course important
in the playoffs as well. And that's another thing. I keep going back to the Nets postgame and kind of like what they're saying about this series and to have Joel Embiid draw so much attention. It's not to say the Nets sounded surprise that Tyrese Maxey had a thirty plus point game, but he's done it so much that when they say things like, oh, credit to Tyrese Maxey for showing up and making shots, it's like, he's not a guy you can you can just leave open in
certain situations. And he was making some different types of threes and things like that. But that's a great sign for the Sixers that when you're trying to take everything else away and that's giving prime opportunities to a player as skilled as Tyrese Maxey on the offensive end, and that's the player that they're saying afterwards, credit to him. He's going to make you pay more times than not, so that was a huge takeaway for me for the
rest of this series. Him and Tobias Harris were crucial to the game to win.
Yeah, underestimating Tyrese Maxey not a smart thing to do in the playoffs, as he has proven now three years running. And good to see him, of course, after a quieter Game one, come out in game two and show what he's able to do, especially on nights when other sixers perhaps are a little bit quieter. But someone who hasn't
been quiet, Matt, you mentioned Tobias Harris. Let's go through his playoff run thus far, and of course it's only been two games, but they have been too nearly identical, not identical out on the floor, but very similar performances for Tobias Harris in his first two games. Game one on Saturday, Tobias in his twenty nine minutes had twenty one points, four assists, and a block. He shot nine for fourteen from the field, and I said identical, Sorry,
I mean shooting numbers, of course. Is rebounding got much better in game two, a twenty point twelve rebound double double plus two assists and a steal in Game two, but eight for fourteen from the field, so shooting sixty four percent on Night one, fifty seven percent on Night two. Tobias Harris has been absolutely solid for this team. Doc Rivers give him credit once again for the defensive work,
drawing tough defensive assignments in this series so far. But Matt, what have you seen from Tobias Harris that's excited you.
I thought his aggressive start to the second game in this series was huge because the big question there's been some questions during spaces here that have come in live about the Nets defensive approach on embiid and would they go back to those double teams early and often? And the answer was that they did. And there was an and one for Tobias Harris right away where he looked into the crowd and did the count it symbol and or gesture rather. And I thought his aggressive start, that's
the type of Tobias Harris that you need. And then he played a big role in that third quarter stretch twenty to five run in the third quarter. Again they trailed by five at halftime and by ten just before that in the second quarter. How much fun was the arena like during that time? It was amazing. That run for the Sixers the first home night game of this postseason run. And to to come back and have Embiid passing out of these double teams, some critical offensive rebounds
for PJ. Tucker too, to keep possessions alive. He didn't he didn't make the threes that he made in Game one, but again timely rebounds to set up some Maxi threes, set up the Harris three, set up a big, hardened three during that stretch and that third quarter run, the building came alive.
Yeah, that third quarter was a lot of fun the building, of course, not as thrilled at halftime or when the Sixers fell fell by double digits in the first half, and then to see them sort of come around and be that loud, raucous, energetic crowd that the team was waiting for two and earned in the third quarter was a lot of fun. Drew said, Toby is the key. If he keeps playing like this on both ends of the court, we have a real shot at the finals.
And Matt, you and I talked about it before the series. Teams are gonna game plan prior priority, priority wise for Joelle Embiid first. Then they're gonna look at James Harden and if they do a good guarding those two guys, that means the Sixers are are going to be in a position where they need to prioritize guys like Tyrese Maxey,
like Tobias Harris. And if those guys can have big nights on nights when Joel or James is quieter or it's well defended, well game planned by their opponent, If Tobias and Tyrese can make defensive defenses pay for the attention they're giving to James and Joel, the Sixers might be set for a long run. It's been awesome to watch them thus far, watch them make the adjustments that they needed to make.
Harris was in the dunker spot for a lot of the night and he did say after that that was a new thing for him and just different types of offensive plays where he was down there by the block and making sometimes the extra pass to the opposite corner. These guys were lethal from the corners, Harris and Maxi, and Tucker's going to have his nights on this night in particular, Tucker and Paul Reid and Harris crashing the
offensive glass. That was kind of the leading trio for offensive rebounds, so on the few threes that you're not always going to hit twenty one threes like Game one, but it is a very strong shooting team, the highest five percentage from three point range in the regular season, so it is dangerous for opposing teams as these sixers
continue hitting their stride in the playoffs. They were able to heat up in a hurry in the second half, and it was encouraging now that they head on the road to Brooklyn and Embiid thought came in from champ and I pose it to you. How do you feel about Embiid making up for lack of points with the nineteen rebounds and the seven assists. Joelle likes when he can get that assist count up.
He was cooking on the boards though early on in the night, getting up to fifteen I believe at halftime and seeing again. Joel has talked about it sort of time and time again, figuring out ways to impact the game even if a defense is stifling one of his skills. And it's not that they've been stifling his scoring necessarily, but when they're bringing doubles and triples as frequently as the Brooklyn Nuts have been bringing them to Joel embiid. He needs to sort of dial into those other skills,
and he's shown that he can do it. You mentioned PJ Tucker briefly. PJ obviously has been super super vocal out on the floor. We've seen it, and then in the locker room, the guys have talked about it. I'm calling back to game one. He had a strongly worded conversation. He told us with Paul Reid at halftime he didn't like the energy he was bringing in the first half, not playing with enough confidence, not being disruptive enough, and had some strong words for Paul at halftime, and then
of course Paul comes out and responds immediately. And then I liked what Tyrese Maxey said following the game last night. He said that PJ. Tucker had sort of gathered the guys together after game one and said, here's the quote. PJ Tucker said, as soon as we won game one that game two was going to be the hardest game. Tyree's talked about the emotion that he showed last night.
He said he just wants to win, and p J Tucker has proven time and time again on a variety of teams that he just wants to win as well. So really cool to see to see PJ sort of putting the team on his back out on the floor, creating those extra opportunities, like you said, Matt, but then clearly bringing them together off the floor in the moments that we can't hear as fans.
We've gotten a good amount of engagement today from Sixers fans kind of taking their analysis a step further, asking about strategy and things like that, and they're into this. They're into this postseason, as you might expect. So I'm going to read some of those in a second, Lauren, and you can kind of take it in whatever direction you would like. But one more thing on PJ. Tucker is that my favorite play of the game was Surprise Surprise,
and Beid was double teamed. This was third quarter and Tucker set a screen in front of the Nets bench for Maxie in the corner. He missed the three, and then PJ. Tucker got the offensive rebound, threw it back to Tyrese Maxie and of course he made the second one. That was my favorite play of this twelve point victory for the Sixers. But I'm looking at some replies, Sophie said Bravo to MAXI, of course, but Tobias is my game MVP by an easy margin. That combination of aggression
and cool assuredness is something to see. Great thought there, Mara asked you, Lauren, how will the team maintain intensity in every game they're locked in?
Right now?
Locked in? Indeed? And again, I like what PJ and Tyree said about the fact that game two can, of course be oftentimes the most pivotal game in a series, and of course you can say that about any game. Now, going up three to zero becomes the most important game in the series, then the opportunity for a sweep becomes the most important game in the series. But the threat of ending up at a one to one situation where the series is even and becomes the best of five,
it changes everything. Being up two to oh is where you want to be at this point. Again, I'm saying, obviously things these are cliches, but the messaging that they're giving one another about the importance of each game I think is really important. And then being able to see them go out there and back up that messaging with their performance has been just a thrill, honestly, Matt to watch in these first couple of games, so how will
they keep it going? I don't know, but I like the leadership that's being shown across the board and the way that the guys are answering the call that those leaders are giving out.
Couple more that I'm going to read, and then I want you to share whatever's on your mind on the way out with the last word, Baba two tweets saying Tyresee's defense picked up the past couple months. I like what I'm seeing from him. I think James needs to see some layups go in and some fouls actually called and he'll be fine. Baba also said Tobias has been very good. I need him to maintain this play for
the remainder of the playoffs. Jamie asked well Brooklyn changed their defense going forward regarding embids, saw that after a while, Joel was dealing with the double teams pretty easily. Catch twenty two. There was a play towards the very end of the game. I'll try to find the clip on Twitter, but it may be too late by the time we're done live here. Anyway, you could see it in the highlights. I'm sure if you watch the full game highlights on the at six Ers Twitter. But when the double teams
did not come. There was one where Joel hit an easy He made a very difficult shot look easy on like a fade away jumper, and he did that all season long in this campaign where he's yet again the scoring leader and he just cannot have an inch of space or else at his size, He's somehow gonna make these fifteen plus foot jumpers, and as soon as the Nets played off of them, he made them pay. So I think they're in a really difficult spot because they kind of have to keep the double teams coming. At
least through two games. They said we're going to go back to the double and triple teams and hope that the Sixers miss shots, and Tyrese Maxi made more shots than he did in Game one and they were able to complete the comeback. So it's a really difficult spot for the Nets and any team. The Sixers face.
Was listening to the game one Space and says that they love or she rather says that she loves the way that playoff p and playoff p PJ and Paul have been playing over the first couple of games. So look again for Doc. Rivers has sort of called those guys the energy guys on this team, so he's credited PJ. Tucker of course, but then that bench unit that has d Anthony Melton, Jalen McDaniels, George Niang definitely an energy guy as we've seen every night throughout this season, and
Paul Reid of course and energy guys well. Doc has loved the way that they have showed up, and of course in the playoffs their minutes get limited, perhaps compared to the regular season. Daniel House Junior another great example, but continuing to bring the energy, keep the intensity up. So as the series shifts to Brooklyn Thursday.
In Brooklyn, you said this that it's the night games are at seven thirty to start the series, at least the ones that we knew the times coming in, and then the day games, which will be Game four again the Saturdays are at one, but first it's Game three, Sixers looking to go up three to zero in the series seven thirty pm Eastern Time, TNT and NBC Sports Philadelphia on the television side, and then ninety seven to five the fanatic of course, the radio call on the
Sixers radio network. One other thing is that the Kings have kind of been stacked up. Lauren and it's fun to watch the playoffs as a whole. The Kings have been stacked up with the Sixers, so they were able to go up two oh against Golden State after the Sixers went up two oh on Brooklyn. That's been a fun little wrinkle to kind of have those as doubleheaders.
Yeah. Absolutely, Well, looking around the league, Matt has been a thrill over these last few days.
They're a huge playoff person. You love the NBA playoffs. Not that I don't, but I can't. Even Lauren comes up to me all day every day talking about the NBA Playoffs, and I don't think you've missed a game. You've watched all of them for various amounts of time.
I have. I have I fall asleep during the during the last game of the night, distantly, like that ten thirty start on Sunday was absolutely not kind to me. But the rest of the slate on Sunday I loved. Last night. As other games were getting underway while we were in the arena, I was sort of taking a look, Yeah, I'm locked in right now. And I think it's worth noting that this has been an exciting first round. It was an exciting play in tournament. There's a lot of
goods still to come. The Sixers have obviously started as perfectly as they possibly can, but looking around the league and wondering who's going to come out of this whole thing, Matt has been a.
Lot of fun, Yes, it has. Indeed, That's all I've got for today. Well, my last word could be, while you're watching that Embiid fade away highlight that I mentioned, watch the pass he had to Maxie two around that time. One of Maxi's three's little less than I want to say, one fifty five left in the fourth Maxi corner three from an EMBD double team pass go up eleven. There was a huge smile on Joel Embiid's face running back
down the floor. They've got the trust right now. They've got this energy that Tobias Harris talks about emanating from Joel Embiid wanting to get his teammates involved because that's what the game plan calls for, and the shooters making shots. Most recently it was Maxi and the big smile from Embiid. Things are good in Sixers Land right now, heading to Brooklyn with a two to zero series lead. But thank you Lauren Rosen Thanks to the listeners, anything else you want to get in on the way out.
The door, just looking to keep it rolling, Matt, thanks as always for listening. Thanks for bearing with our technical difficulties today. Usually these don't happen, hoping, hoping rather that
it's a fluke as we move forward. But if you're not already listening on the seventy six Ers Insiders podcast, you can find some one on one interviews with some of your favorite sixers, some of whom have played extremely well over the last couple of days, but you want to get to know these guys a little bit better off the court for perhaps today, if you're listening on Tuesday and off day tomorrow at travel day ahead of Thursday's return to action, get to know those guys a
little bit better. On the seventy six or the Insiders podcast, if you scroll down by about two episodes, you'll see that one on one interview series that we recorded just a couple of weeks ago with about half the roster. So I hope you guys enjoyed those. Matt, Thanks for shouldering the difficulties this morning. Appreciate you and we will talk to you guys.
Yeah, I've got one more. I've got one more. Hopefully let us off shout out Winona. We didn't get our shout out in for Winona earlier and says, oh, you got to earlier on in the show. The basketball gods are on my side. Flight delayed, so that meant Winona was able to be here with us.
So I'm sorry to hear that you got delayed, but i am so glad you were able to join us. One of the most one of the most faithful to our to our podcast, so we appreciate you. We appreciate all of you guys in here today.
Yes, let's go. Thanks everybody.
Bye da