HEAT Series Preview and Additional Round 1 Takeaways

evening in Miami. The vibes are high. They were high at practice yesterday, they're high this morning at shoot around. If you hear ambient noise on my end, some ball bouncing noise, perhaps I am in the backup house here at the arena. As the Sixers get their shoot around underway, the first of potentially many in this series, Matt and Devon and I are going to answer any questions that you guys have, so send us Send us those in our dms. You can also comment on the Sixers latest tweet.

We want to make sure that you guys get all the content you're looking for in the next thirty minutes or so, so, without further Ado I think I can welcome in my guest Matt Murphy, Devon Gibbons, Good morning. How are we feeling guys? Hey, guys, how's it going? Lauren? What's the vibe at shoot around? You're there, You're in the building. I believe media has concluded. So what is the latest being said by the Sixers group? Matt? The vibe is pretty similar to what it was yesterday and

we can get it. Get it right out there. Off the top, Joel Embiid not expected to be available for the seventy Sixers, dealing with that orbital fracture and mild concussion. So the Sixers are adopting as they have all season long. By the way, a next man up mentality. We heard George Ning talk about it yesterday at practice. This morning, Tyrese Maxie and Bball Paul addressed the media and gave similar thoughts. This is a team that's not counting itself out,

and all those players agree with one. James Harden, who also spoke yesterday and is very ready for an opportunity like this one. He's a top seventy five player on the NBA's Top seventy five list for a reason. He has excelled in big moments. He was wonderful for the Sixers in Game six. And this is a big opportunity for a guy like James Harden, one of the all time greats, to step up big. This is why you bring a guy like James Harden to the seventy sixers.

So this is a big, big time opportunity for the group as a whole, and they are not scared. This is not a group that's feeling like they can't get

the job done tonight in Miami. In game one, well, hey guys, good morning, Glad to always be with you, and very excited about tonight looking forward, especially after hearing at Lauren of how the team is feeling, how they're feeling they come together even in the absence of Joel and big tests in Miami against the number one see but this is why you make a deal like you do around the trade deadline for someone like James Harden, for him to step up he did in Game six,

and now with the unfortunate status of Joel Embid right now, James Harden to maybe flash back a little bit to that type of player that we saw in Houston as much as he can pull that out of his head for this team tonight and see everyone else step up in the moment as well. Let me be be some big five minutes available Terres Maxie to Bias Hairs had a tremendous series against the Raptors. Looking forward to see how it all now moves over to this round number two

against the Miami Heat. Before we get into questions and comments from the listeners, again, you can click on our icons and send us a d M. I feel like we owe the podcast audience a little more color on the Raptors series. We were here live on spaces, so if you're exclusively Twitter spaces listener, we covered a lot of the Raptors series and closing thoughts there over the weekend.

But I think we can go high level. Maybe in this space we usually talk about the box score from the Vias game and we're on after Sixers wins, but in this case, not coming off a game the day before, maybe we can audible and call this space a high level takeaway from the Toronto series, just so we cover that ground for the podcast listeners on the seventy Sixers

Insiders podcast. So maybe we can go around the horn with what we talked about on Saturday and talk about maybe our top takeaway or two from the Sixers beating the Raptors in the four five round one series before we get into questions about the Heat Series Heat Game one all of that. Where would you go with that, Lauren? Yep, no doubt about it. So listen. For those of you that are here as Spaces listeners for the first time, I had a couple first time listener dms, which we

really appreciate. If you have to jump off early, this will be available, as Matt mentioned, on the seventy Sixers Insiders podcast speeds, so make sure you're following that wherever you get your podcasts or if you joined us late. The beginning of this show will be available on the seventy six Ers Insiders podcast feed. Those are also presented

by Bett Parks. As we go along in this playoff runs, We're very much looking forward to having as many of you with us as possible on Spaces, on the podcast, or wherever we can meet you. Just let us know because we love to do this with you. Guys. I'm gonna go ahead and just give you some general stats from round one. Joel Embiad obviously was the team's leading scorer, leading rebounder in those first six games of this playoff series. Joel finished the series averaging twenty six point two points

and eleven point three rebounds per game. But there were other really big time contributors from whom we have seen bigger contributions this season when Joel has been unavailable. So let's look at the top three contributors outside of Joel Embiid in that first series. And as I go through these, if you guys have questions, thoughts, anything to add, remember to keep sending us those dms in those comments. Appreciate the ones that we have. We're going to get to

a few of them in just a second. But Tyrese Maxie was the second leading scorer in Round one. He played, He played and started in all six games, twenty one point three points per game, four point seven rebounds per game, four point eight assists per game. That's the second highest assisting total on the team, second only to James Harden, who led the team in assists in Round one with

ten point two assists per game. He averaged nineteen point ten assist double double in that first series, but also averaged five rebounds and one point two blocks, plus a steel per game. Tobias Harris, who Doc Rivers following Game six said might have been the MVP of that first round series due to how solid and consistent he was across all six performances to Bias average seventeen point eight points per game. He averaged nine point five rebounds per game.

A sneaky good rebounding series from Tobias Harris in Round one two point eight assists per game, point seven steals per game, and one point two blocks per games. So between the three of them, a lot of productivity. They each had huge nights on different nights as well, so more opportunities for the three of them of course. And then Nat I know, we'll dive into the bench as well, but George Niang showed some great run, Danny Green was phenomenal in the starting lineup in Round one. Expect to

see a lot more Matisse Thybal in this series. Expect to continue seeing guys like Shake Milton, and then of course we haven't even talked about Beball Paul yet, and that's going to be a huge area of focus for this team as they dive into that backup center availability the bigs that have stayed ready, that's a topic that we actually haven't touched yet, and I'll touch really quickly.

DeAndre Jordan addressed media. Paul Reid has addressed media. We haven't heard from Paul Millsap for Charles Bassie lately, but both of them also expected to be available in this series, and Doc Rivers said it's all about just making sure we can put all the minutes together, give Miami as many different looks as possible, and be creative with that group. DeAndre talked about the fact that this is why you stay ready in the NBA. He didn't see much run, he hardly saw any in Round one, but he's the

ultimate pro. He's been ready, He's stayed ready, as has Paul Millsap, and Doc Rivers credited all four of them. Charles Bassie of course coming back from an injury, but Doc credited all four of them for their ability to stay ready and the different looks that they can offer against a team like the Miami Heat. You cannot replace an MVP candidate, but those guys are going to do their best to try so. I think I just ran through the entirety of the rotation and if I missed anybody,

if I missed anybody, it's an accident. But Matt, when I run through all of that, what jumps off immediately to you? And then and then devon what will you be looking at sort of reflecting on what happened in round one and moving forward into round two. Well, you finished with the bench and rewinding back to Game six and when we gathered for Sixers spaces after the Game

six win to advance to this Miami series. Honest sent in a note on Friday saying Danny Green was immense all Caps in the first half of Game six, so I wanted to circle back to that one. And I did get a question from Kevin about Paul Reid's time with the Bluecoats, which I would like to touch on in a few minutes as we fully shift gears into this Miami Heat series. I think my top takeaway from the Raptor series would be how well the Sixers shot

the ball. They finished the series two hundred and twenty nine for four hundred and sixty nine, better known as about forty nine percent, a little less than forty nine percent over the course of the series, fifty percent or greater in four of the six games. And individuals that you spoke about and Bead shot it over fifty percent, as you would expect, but Tobias Harris was fifty two percent from the field in the series and Tyrese Maxie was fifty one percent from the field, and they both

shot it really well from three point range two. So I think it would just be the quality of looks and the amount that they knocked down to build that momentum heading into round two. What about you, Devon, what

are you thinking? I'll stay with go with the individual and talk about Tobias Harris with his overall solid production with the point total Eddie average in the rebounds as well, were second on a team behind him beat and rebounding because he was so key in helping out on the glass and not only because of how he showed in what he did, but then also we talked about in previous spaces was his defensive play and the effort that he gave on that end and arguably his best defensive

performance that we've seen in the Sixers uniform. Doc Rivers spoke about how this is probably the best two way play that he's seen from Harris, even dating back to his Clipper days. So it's very encouraging because of what we're about to walk into tonight with the Miami Heat beginning this second round series with multiple players again who are versatile, who can do a lot of different things, and Tobias Harris has to dig in as that defender

on the perimeter and continue to do that. He also has to help out on the glass with the absence of Joel Embiid and scoring. So all three facets of the game that we saw of his game that we saw in that Raptor series will now have to translate again, not only because of the confidence level that he has, but now out of necessity with Joel Embiid absent and knowing that he can score the ball, rebound the ball,

and showing us that he can defend. The other part of it was as we talked about it on Saturday after they clinched these series, which was James Harden setting that tone the way that he did with the ten points and five assistant the first quarter, and as a result, now again in the absence of Joel Embiid, he has to take his game to a different level just a little bit, still be a facilitator, but now he has to score the ball again, and he was very aggressive.

His only miss was a layup that we typically see James harden Meek, So that game also not only close out that series, but it gave us a little bit of a template of what we could see from those players in particular heading into this series. In this game tonight, 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 six ers games for special Parks Casino offers for fans. Watch all the action on the big screens in the Liberty Bell, Gastro Pop or the Beer Garden and come seeing me live with comedians from all across the country in three to sixty and Parks Casino. He's at Parks Casino dot com for tickets. Mustn't be only want to Overham to Popapo. I think with that we

can go ahead and start jumping into our questions. We've gotten some great ones this morning and they are very much appreciated. As always, if you want to send a question, you can send a DM to either myself, Matt or Devon. You can also comment on the Sixers latest tweet. But there has been a lot of great questions so far,

and I think maybe we should actually start here. John asks, even though all of the ESPN analysts say Miami is going to win the series, what are your thoughts and what do you think the Sixers have to do to get it done. It's a great question, and I'm just going to go ahead and take a page out of their book. This is not a team that feels that they can't win this series. This is a confident team that has shown by the way that they can beat

this Miami team even when shorthanded. We'll talk about that in a second, but this is a team that knows that different guys have been able to step up on different nights all season long. They played a healthy stretch without Joel embid Well when Joel was not healthy earlier in the season, but still was able to cobble together wins. And that was pre James Harden. That was before this team had jelled to the extent that they now. So to me, I'll take a page out of their book.

I'll ride their confidence as long as we need to. And look, the series doesn't start until the away team steals a game, right, That's that's something you hear over and over and over again during the playoffs. Danny Green said it last series after Game three. So when you look at the opportunity that the Sixers have tonight Monday in Miami and Wednesday in Miami as well, get one of those, maybe get both of them. And this is an entirely different series from what you're reading on the internet.

And of course I'm biased. I love this team, I cover this team. I believe in this team. But from what I've seen, there's lots of reason to believe in this team and what they're able to do. So very much looking forward to seeing who among that group, like we've talked about to Bias, Harris, Tyrese, Maxe, James Harden, one, if not all of them are going to have to emerge in order to get a win on the road in the playoffs. But I have heavy faith that either or any of those guys could do it, perhaps on

the same night. So to me, I have the confidence in one of that group emerging either tonight or Wednesday or both. And if you get great performances out of all three of them, this is a team that's going to be tough to be independently of what's going on in that backup center rotation. So those are the reasons why I feel some confidence and some reason to be

excited about what's to come for this team. But that sort of high level Matt Devona, I'm not sure if you guys want to dive little nitty gritty or if you guys disagree with me, let me know now I agree, And I think that's been the focus of so many people's conversations, is stealing one on the road, And I think the question then becomes what is the most important thing in the effort to do that right Devon, So like,

how can they get this done? And if people aren't listening to this on time, then Game one might already be in the books if you're not live with us on Twitter. But we know that the Heat aren't perfectly healthy themselves. Their injury report is a lot longer now, a lot of those guys have played in recent games, but we do know heading into Game one that Kyle

Lowry is out with a left hamstring strains. So everyone's talking about stealing a game on the road out of the first two, Devon, But the question really is what's the most important thing for them, the Sixers to do that. For me, number one thing is to value the basketball. They cannot turn the basketball over at a higher rate and allow Miami to get out in the open floor and get easy buckets, or to have ten to twelve

more field goal attempts than they do. So valuing the basketball is important, as we know, we've seen it over the course of the season. We saw then in Toronto rapped season. That's one thing they have to do. Defending and transition. They have two against. Slow down the Miami

heat and transition. While they're not a big transition team, you don't want to give them those opportunities and closing out on the three point line because they have some really really good guys, especially coming off the bench with Duncan Robinson and Tyler Hero arguably the six May of the year. You have to make sure that you defensively locate those shooters and not allow them to get loose

behind the three point line. And hey, when we're talking about the Sixers, we also have to include gay Vincent. For whatever reason, gay Vincent turns into Kyle Lowry when he pleas the seventy sixers, and you have to focus on him as well, so valuing the basketball and defensively doing their part and closing out on those shooters and limiting their transition opportunities, and then on the other and you just have to simply execute. Doc Rivers talks about

it all the time. They have to execute their plays, their sets that they run, and make sure that they get a quality shot with their looks, especially knowing that the coaching staff has to change things a bit because Joel Embid is not going to be there, so curiously see how they do it, how they decided to run the offense. It was encouraging also to see them beat Miami in the last game in March, so something for them to go off of the with Kyle Lowry out who was in that game. He bamed out of Bio

Jimmy Butler all scoring twenty plus in that game. They found something too in attacking Tyler. Hero you find him again, search him, find him, exploit that matchup and get those buckets. The other thing about a panel of experts all picking against you is that sometimes that can a service bulletin board material. But after the fact, if the series goes the way the Sixers want it to, go. Some funny posts can come out of that on social media as well.

We've seen that time and time before, when all of the analysts are picking against a certain team and the other team's logo is up there or the other team's name is up there across the board. That's not always a good thing. So just something for everyone to keep in the back of their mind. Not the players, They've got plenty to focus on, but as a fan base, when it's nineteen nothing on a certain site in favor

of the heat, that's something that won't go. Oh wait, it won't be erased from the internet as the series progresses, But I know we want to keep the questions rolling. Is it beball Paul time yet? Lauren? I would say so, Matt Murphy, thank you so much for that segue. Chris says, Chris, by the way, whose handle is at Phillyball? I like that. That's almost as good as the handle of the question he asks about at Beeball Paul. Chris says, do you think Paul Reid is ready to step up? Also? Could

Charles Bassie get playing time in this series? Do you think it's a great question? Doc Rivers has indicated, Like I said, earlier that there's a chance at all four of the of the bigs in that backup rotation could get some time, and that of course includes Paul Reid, who played the primary backup role in Round one, but plus DeAndre Jordan, Paul Millsap, and Charles Bassie who has been recovering and returning from injury over these last a few days. But Matt Murphy is sort of our resident

Beeball Paul expert. He's been with Beeball Paul from day one and nobody knows his game quite like Matt does. So, Matt, what do you like about about this opportunity for Paul, A the challenge ahead for Paul b and then sort of how he could match up with the bigs on the other end of the floor in this one. Well, a couple of things we know about Paul. Well, the top thing is that he has a supreme confidence and he is not going to be afraid of the moment.

And he's not a rookie, so he's had some time to kind of feel out the professional game and get some reps under his belt. He didn't come into the league as the perfect player ready to fill Joel Embiid's shoes in a situation like this, no one could could

do that, and that's not what they're asking. But I think the way that he believes in himself is important because the stage might not be too big for him, and his minutes are in all likelihood going to go up again if we're if you're getting us after game one, we'll know a lot more about how Paul's impact might go in this series, how many minutes he played, and all of that. But recording this prior to game one, I think the confidence is the first thing. I think

the shooting is another. If you exclusively have watched Paul Reid play on the Sixers, he hasn't taken as many threes or made as many threes in less minutes. On the Blue Coats, he was taking about four a game. And this is over the course of two seasons in the G League, not a full season in year two, but he was the MVP in year one. He played a good amount of games this past season in the

G League with the Delaware Blue Coats. He took about four attempts per game from three in both seasons, and he shot forty four percent from three in both seasons.

This year was a little bit of a slower start at the G League level to see that three point percentage climb, but that's not the smallest of sample sizes, especially when you factor it out over the course of multiple years, and to be right on that forty four percent number, I think if he can make a couple early in the series, it's not going to change the way Miami plays. I don't think. I think they'll live with Paul taking as many threes as is necessary in

the way that their scheme sets up. But just know that he can knock them down and I think he'll shoot it with confidence. So that's where I would go with that. And the bottom line is, you know he's going to bring the energy, the confidence, maybe an underrated shooter, and he's going to bring the energy on both sides of the floor. A really good rebounder, especially on the offensive end. So I think that all those things coupled together,

but especially the energy. If the SHOT's following or not, there's no substitute for playing hard, and I think his energy can be infectious. So that's what I'm looking for from Paul Reid, and we'll see how many minutes he plays at the start of this series. Lots of questions about one James Harden. So I want to go ahead and kick this to you. Devon Maher asks, how do you think James Harden is going to play in this series? And Devon, I know that you've been a fan of

the game for a long time. You've watched James Harden's career as have I. I I grew up in Houston, Texas watching him in his MVP days and now seeing some flashes of how he looked them now, especially if you look at Game six. So to me, there's a lot to be excited about from James Harden, who's really focused right now. It really struck me in media availability yesterday, how seriously he's taking everything, how confident he is, but

also how meticulous he is in his preparation. Hearing George talk about the way that he prepares mentally and the way that he studies the game. I'm really looking forward to seeing what James Harden is able to do for honestly, perhaps the first time as a true primary option for this Sixers team. But Devon, what do you think? What do you think about about what we're going to see

from the Beard over these next few important days. That's The intriguing car of this whole thing is him kind of flashing back to being the primary option and the head coach already pointing it out that they're going to lean on him heavily in doing so, and I am also looking forward to seeing it, because what we have seen is we know that he's a facilitator and he can set up his teammates and get them some very

good looks. And he's done that as the point guard during his time twenty plus and the regular season the six games against the Raptors, averaging the ten assists, but he still did so about averaging eighteen or nineteen points a game twenty two during the regular season, and I don't see it. I don't see any reason why he can't do that again. Even with the defensive assignment that will probably be on him, which is Jimmy Butler or PJ. Tucker. I guess they would lean more towards Jimmy Butler in

this one. And how he's able to do it. He can figure out their defense, and I do believe, because it is high basketball IQ that he will be able to figure it out. So the point total I think will be there. I think he'll up it a little bit, and this is what many have wanted to see. I know you guys have seen it just on social media, here on the spaces and me doing the radio show that people want to see that type of games hard and flash back to those Houston days, Lauren that you

grew up watching. And I don't know that that's in there to get thirty plus or to even get high thirty there, but if he can consistently shoot at a high clip and make those good decisions not turn the basketball over while still being someone who can assist the basketball and manipulate the defense and helping his other teammates out that will need it. Matista, I will Danny Green, Paul Reid potentially in some of the other centers who

will be taking those five minutes. That's the part that I'm looking forward and seeing how the balance and how the balance will be for him and turning that switch on, if you will, of getting back to the score and balancing it again with the distributor that we know he has been with this team. As we get ready to wrap up, I want to go ahead and just sort of kick it back to you guys as we look

forward to Game one. This evening in Miami. I'll go ahead and actually go through the We haven't talked a ton about the Miami Heat, but I think it's worth going through their injury report because it's a little bit

more colorful than the seventy Sixers is. And of course you never know exactly how this is going to shake out by the time the ball goes up, but a lot of sort of optionality potentially for the Sixers to take advantage of tonight should anyone on this injury report that is listed as questionable currently ends up being out. So I'm going to go through the Miami Heat injury report. This is what I'm watching for tonight, and then i'd like to see Devon Matt what you guys are watching

for before we wrap this one up. The Sixers, of course, Joel Embiid is out due to that facial fracture and concussion. Charles Bassie though has been upgraded to questionable. That was right shoulder soreness. And now let's talk about the Miami Heat. Kyle Lowry is out, We've known that for a day or so at this point due to a left hamstring strain, and then the following players are all questionable Jimmy Butler, Tyler Hero, Caleb Martin, Mark Kief Morris, Max Strus, and PJ.

Tucker all questionable, and of course you expect some, if not most, if not all, of those players to end up playing, But not knowing exactly what you're preparing for is an interesting challenge for the seventy six ers this morning, who are still in their shoot around as we're having this conversation, and you never know what that's going to mean. For the defenders that you talked about, Devon, What's Danny

Green going to be tasked with? Where will Tobias Harris go after such an important defensive performance in round one? Who is he going to be assigned to as these days in round two progress? And then of course, what role is Michie Steibel going to play? Who are you going to stick him on? And for how long? A lot of interesting questions that will be answered by the time that the game gets underway tonight, but that's definitely something that I'm going to be looking at as we

get closer to tip off. Matt Devona'm gonna let you guys tell us what you're watching for before we wrap this one up. No, Kyle Lowry to start the series for Miami as you just said, So I'm looking at Tyrese Maxi. Can he build off Game six against Toronto? Can he build off the last regular season meeting against the Heat? Eighty five points for Tyrese in the four regular season meetings against Miami, again, not a whole lot that you can take from the regular season series, but

he did play in all those games. He did have the monster outing without Embid and Harden. So I'm looking at Tyrese Maxie, especially against the Miami Heat. The way that their injury report looks right now, I'm looking and leaning more towards Matisse Stable. He's available, He's going to be there for the games and the half court set that we know that Miami again likes to run a lot of split action stuff, the movement that they have, the veterans that they have on the floor, and then

the shooters. Tobias Harris as we talked about, he was great in that Round one series as a defender. Danny Green is a good team defender as well, has some good individual moments as a perimeter defender. But now you're gonna need Matisse Stable not only for those starters, but as we mentioned earlier Tyler Hero Duncan Robinson coming off the bench to sharp shooters that they are and how

they can score and bunches and score very quickly. Matisse stable is extremely important, So hopefully that he can get his feet back underneath him after seeing him following three games in the first round and be available for them this round because they're gonna need him defensively against the squad and mixing in whatever he can offensively cut him making himself backdoor available, hitting the middle of the pay and flashing for some easy looks and finishing and hopefully

knocking down a couple of outside shots as well, could go a long way for this series. And it's an interesting player to bring up because of how well Matisse was playing alongside James Harden early in James's days, the two of them sort of starting to develop a chemistry together, and then we talked about Paul Reid as well, watching the way that Paul Reid has played with James Harden

together offensively in that first round series. So very much looking forward to seeing, as we've talked about James as a more primary option in this series, how he continues to gel with those younger players. And figure out ways to make them better the way that we've seen him do for guys across this roster. That's without even mentioning the game that he's developing alongside Tyrese Maxie, the two of them developing a really cool mentor mentee relationship out

there on the court. So for me, it continues to be about James Harden, but it also continues to be about what he's able to bring out of his other players and teammates, and those guys have been really excited over the last couple months about James Harden has been able to bring out of them and ways that he can unlock different parts of their games. So Game one tips off tonight at seven thirty pm Eastern Time. This one will be on TNT or ninety seven five The

Fanatic if you want to listen along. Matt Devon and I will hope to be back with you guys tomorrow for a post sixers when Twitter Space also presented by bet Parks, But either way, we will be back with you before game to discuss all things Game two and the series ahead. Guys, we really appreciate all the questions that you have sent us. We have loved engaging with you all season long, and we don't intend to stop anytime soon. Round one begins tonight in Miami. Guys, really

appreciate you joining me. I'm Lauren Rosen. This has been a Sixers Twitter space in the playoffs, presented by bet Parks. We appreciate you all. Guys, I appreciate you, and we will talk to you next time. Thanks everyone, Thank you,