There were moments and some flashes in game one, you're the lad of bad Man show Joe with a thrown out. You're spending on a drive by one match. Damn jam bet Sevens goes right, dobate and slams it, but ultimately not enough. As the seventy Sixers bound in defeat, Leonard on the drive bumped by Harris puts it up. Remain good. Of course it's good. He's got forty five. Did not see this one coming here in game one. We talk what else adjustments and catch up with James Ennis the
third on this episode of the broadcast. How are you out there in seventy Sixers podcast Land. I'm Brian Seltzer. Always great to have you along to listen to the show, and hey, here's the good news. After game once in the postseason, there are always game twos, a whole lot of series left be played. Saturday night obviously did not go the seventy Sixers way in there one away ninety
five loss to the Toronto Raptors. Butts, there were good vibes at practice on Sunday afternoon, and the Sixers seem to have a pretty sound idea of where they can improve tighten things up, and now the question becomes a matter of whether or not they can go out and do it. We'll talk about what some of those adjustments might be put Game one to bed. Here from James, and it's the third on this edition of the podcast.
But first, before we get started, per usual, I want to give you a few reminders that to subscribe to the podcast, you can do a couple of things. You can go to any one of your favorite podcasting platforms and type in Sixers Podcast Network and that'll take you to our feed Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, tune in, Stitcher, SoundCloud, pocketcasts, really just about anywhere spreaker. Again, type in Sixers Podcast Network.
That will take you to our pages, and please do sign up if you have not yet done so already to get fresh new podcasts just about every day during these seventy six ers postseason run. All right, coming up, insights from James Ennis the third. He's got a history with two of the top stars on the Raptors, Marcus sol and Kawhi Leonard will get into that. I thought he had a really nice game on Saturday coming off
the bench. But first, what to make of Game one Saturday at Scotia Bank Arena Kawhi Leonard truly, what can you say? The man's stat line was pretty magnificent. Forty five points, sixteen to twenty three from the field, three three pointers, ten for eleven the free throw line, eleven boards, two dimes, two steals, a monstrous block shot, plus twenty six in thirty eight minutes of play for the seventy six ers. I don't think it was for lack of effort.
You go back and watch the game, and they contested Kawai shots. ESPN said seventeen of Kawhi leonards twenty three field goal attempts were contested. NBA dot Com had the number at seven. Leonard simply is one bad, bad man, emotionless, expressionless. Leonard's origin store you probably know well San Diego State,
fifteenth overall pick in two eleven. It was originally drafted by the Indiana Pacers, who then traded him to the Spurs later that night, and in the war room that evening for the Spurs as an assistant coach Brett Brown,
each year Leonard has gotten better. Brett Brown worked with him for the first two years of his career in the NBA and then came to the seventy six Ers, and naturally he's kept close tabs on how Leonard has grown and the force that he's now becomes come along leaps and bounds, you know, incrementally, just every year gets
more dominant, you know. And even when I came to Philadelphia those years that I was in Philadelphia looking in the review mirror of him evolving under Pap and in the San Antonio Spurs system, that you could just see like, did this things trending in an incredible way? And too sort of fast board that can look at his skill package tonight in the variety of ways that he's scored and could get his shot off on some pretty good
defensive players of big athletes, was incredibly impressive. I really do think that if you haven't gone back and checked out either the highlights to watch portions of the game a second time around, you'll come away thinking that Leonard was even more impressive after just watching how the Sixers tried on him and Leonard, whether it was drives to the rack, turnaround shots, jumpers, he was just that much more impressive, I thought, at least for me watching a
second time around. JJ Raddick, who led the seventy sixers with seventeen points in Saturday's game. It's been pretty consistent with his thoughts and stances on Leonard. Here were some of his takeaways. He's a spectacular player, and he had a spectacular night. And he back to their shots and said this morning, he's a superstar. I mean, he's as good as there is in the NBA, generating his own shot and then making tough shots. Sometimes you just have
to tip your hat to him. We can execute our game playing a little better, but clearly we need to figure out, you know, what we're doing with him in seat him. Yes, Pascal Siak him twenty five years old, twenty seventh pick in two thou sixteen. He was fantastic too. And then there was Marcus Ault. Nothing flashy about the veteran big man's game, but he was impactful defensively, as we saw Joel Embiid held to an uncharacteristic five to eighteen shooting. He only got to the line six times
and grabbed eight boards. Shot above the simage. So I'm better ball, know Joust. And there you have it. We've arrived, once again at the operative word of any postseason series involving multiple games, adjust adjusting adjustments. What do the seventy sixers have in mind? Where do they focus their attention
in terms of tightening things up Sunday at practice. We'll get to that a little bit later on, but first I wanted to bring on a guy who I thought did as well as he could Saturday in Game one, and that's James and as the third the Sixers bench was thin, Mike Scott injured and as came in gave the six or eleven points on four or five shooting and nice and one in the first quarter, three pointer in the game as well, got to the line for a few free throws, and specifically he gave the Sixers
what they were missing in terms of their sixth man off the bench, Scott, a shooter and a defender as the third a spark in Game one, and we discussed that more Sunday after practice. James. It was obviously a different round, definitely a different opponent. But you guys fell behind oh one against Brooklyn. What's the focus that you guys come back with the next day after a tough
Game one loss? After this practice, paying warzons in details and I want to get into schemes and just be more physical, I think, and have have fun playing together like we did in Brooklyn against Brooklyn the games we had one. Do you think from that Brooklyn series you demonstrate that you guys are a resilient group. Would that be a fair trade to say that you guys have Yeah, definitely. You know, this is an unbelievable team. We got elite
players on this team, and we have high hope. We have high hopes, and um, we just gotta continue to believe. That's that's what kind oftan. We just believe that we can, you know, achieve something really big. Tough to not have Mike Scott out there for game one, it seemed like you came out there with a really purposeful mindset. What was your approach going into the first game of the series against the Raptors. You know, Mike's a big key key of this team. You know, it just sucks that
is injury that happened before the you know this series. Um, but my mindset always is be a spark, being energy player. Um, just come in with high energy defend and that's that's why I sent coming in and then whatever happens after that happens. You are familiar with a couple of their star players. Tell me about Marca Saul. What were some of the interactions you had with him during your time
in Memphis? Mark, You know, he's a great, great guy. Um, I learned a lot from just you know, just being more professional, you know, on off the court and taking care of my body stuff like that, because I came over there like my second my second year, so you know, it was good. Good seeing Mark happy in a place. You know that that I know he wanted to stay in Memphis. You know, everybody doesn't like to get traded. But he's doing he's doing well here and he's helping
helping Toronto. Then with Kawhi, I mean, he made some tough shots. You guys can tested him a lot. What's the next step and do you look to adjust on that front? Just you know, like he said, Kauhire is an elite scorer five player in NBA. UM plays both ends. He made some tough shots, you know. Um, we watched
the film. A lot of contested contested shots he had made, hand in his face still made you know, we just gotta be more physical, and you know because once he gets to a spot, you know, that's what he works on every day getting to a spot and raising. So we just gotta be more physical at him, and UM, just show him, show them more crowds. I feel like, um, there's not a lot of crowds. He didn't see a lot of crowds. He's seeing a lot of gaps and so UM, moving forward, we just gotta show him, show more,
show more bodies. Last thing you're on a ride like this came to this team at the trade deadline. How much fun are you having? How much do you enjoy this time of year? You know, UM, are having a lot of fun. Before I kind of struggle, you know, just just adapting to the to the situation. But over time, you know, I'm happy I'm here. You know, great group
of guys, coaching style, training staff. Um, you know this is the best team I played on, I've been on, and you know we have we could do big things and I truly believe that, and and I want to do that with this team. You know, you don't get you don't get a team like this all the time, so I might always take advantage of it. Amen. Thanks James. Good stuff from James. And it's the third A guy who's traveled a long long ways and worked so hard
to get to where he is today. If you're not familiar with his story when he had to sixs dot com, or do a Google search for Lauren Rosen's great article called Hustle, Hurdles and the Roadless Traveled. Lauren's been a great part of our department this season and did a terrific profile in James and it's the third all the different places he's been, how he's gotten to the NBA, and who he's doing it for and his motivations. Good stuff. Again the title the articles Hustle, Hurdles and the Roadless
travel Look it up and give it a read. Look at the team to adjustments in a moment. But first I want to talk to you about how, and this hopefully will benefit you because we try to get back here on the old podcast. How you can get in to one of these upcoming second round home games at the Center. One of the best ways to do it a playoff sweet rental. It's the perfect way to entertain client's family and friends, and Sweet rentals are now available
for all seventy sixers round to playoff home games. Here's what Sweet rentals come with tickets, naturally parking and a gourmet catering package. Not sure if you've ever had a sweet experience at the Center before, but they are terrific. Called two and five, three, three nine seven to six seven six or email tickets at seventy six ers dot
com for more information. And of course, these seventy sixers would love to head back to Philadelphia on Monday night with a split of the first two games in Toronto in hand, heading into home games on Thursday night and then Sunday afternoon for that to happen. What's got to happen. After a tough way to start the series with Saturday's game when lost, the seventy six ers they got right back to work on Sunday afternoon practicing at Scotia Bank Arena, and when the gym opened up you could feel it.
They were good, upbeat, positive vibes, and Tobias Harris spoke about a couple of ingredients that were needed going into Monday's game too. My said, you know, first office to stay positive, make an adjustment, go back to the drawing board, and get ready for game two. I mean it's a quick turnover and we got to be able to have short term memory by at the same time, see a couple of things that we can if we can enhance so we can get better at on the floor offensively
and defensively end. Just get ready and focus for the next game. Harris picked up his third career postseason double double in Saturday's loss with fourteen points fifteen rebounds. Also had six assists. Thought his rebounding, particularly in the first half of Saturday's game, was key to helping the Sixers stay within striking distance of the Raptors. Sixers. They are unquestionably going up against a different caliber of opponent right now than what was the case in the first round.
But it's not like the Sixers have not faced an O one deficit to start a series before, and of course happened just last round two weeks ago against Brooklyn. Obviously, you want to win, but it's only one. You go back to the draw. Warys figure it out, you know, come practice, Markom in conversasion, we'll talk about what we're going to do. But the series is over. That was Jimmy Butler Game one. He started off defending Kawhi Leonard. Ben Simmons finished the game as the primary defender on
the three time All Star. How the Sixers guard Leonard and also Pascal Siakam very obvious but imperative adjustment from game number one going into at game number two, Harris will likely continue to be a part of the group that defends both fus off. Just improving our physicality and
versed them and then sean more of a crowd. I thought last night we just kind of let them get to their spots on of course, give them credit to they hit tough shots, even say in the film were all contested and whatnot, but getting more up in their space and show them more of a krowd presented, more of a krowd, making other guys make plays, don't be a big things. We got the Leonard Siakan thing as
key adjustment number one. As for what's number two on the list, A couple of the guys on the Sixers spoke about this a practice on Sunday, the need for more effective ball moving. If you look at some of the numbers, the Sixers weren't passing any less than they typically do on a per game basis on Saturday, and their assist percentage numbers were relatively similar compared to what they put up in the regular season. But the ball
just didn't go ultimately where it needed to. So the effectiveness of the seventy Sixers passing was on the seventy Sixers mind and obviously something that Ben Simmons is thinking about. Defensively, they're great team guarding at first two ball moving players and then after that it's a lot tough. So for us, we've got to move the ball, and we just played the way we played. Um there we so glimpses that,
but we didn't do it at all. I think the Sixers, even their talent, the way they responded and adjusted and more than anything else, were resilient in the opening round against Brooklyn. You've got to think that they will come out with a stronger performance in game two Monday night. Joel Embiid, Of course, he's right up there in terms of areas where the Sixers are looking to change things
from the first game to the second. Can they get him going in more space, Can they plant him more firmly on the block, get him in closer to the basket. These are all big things the Sixers are going to have on their minds and try to put together to knock off Toronto and game two on Monday night. You know, also I think we know the way this works, right, We've seen it before Game ones. It's tough not to have an immediate reaction and also tough not to overreact.
It's the first indicator of a series of the next round against the new opponents. But it really comes down to the time right now. Who can adjust, who can adapt, who can make the correct tweaks to things around and get on track. Really, I feel that game twos are where series begin seventy six Ers and the Raptors. You can find the game on television on TNT eight o'clock
Monday nights. You can, of course, hear the game on radio with Tom McGinnis on ninety seven five to the Fanatic in Philadelphia and all the other affiliates on the Sixers Radio network. We're gonna have a rewind podcast after Game one that should be in your feed by the very latest on Tuesday morning. You might even be able to get it later on Monday night, and then we'll have some more coverage on the pod between games two and Games three as the series shifts to South Philadelphia
and picks back up again on Thursday. Enjoy the game later on Monday night. Talked to you next time here on the broadcast t