The seventy six ers find themselves in an O one hole to start their opening round series, but the vibes around the team are confident and forward looking. The higher level, big pitches stuff is the areas that can be fixed so easily. There's lots to be excited about. After finishing with just twenty eight wins last year, how did the Brooklyn Nets manage to orchestrate such a ragmatic turnaround this season? We asked a guy who's pretty close to the club.
There have been times, even as a close up observer, that I've been very surprised in their resiliency and the idea that they would be overwhelmed by the moment or intimidated. I don't think that's going to be there. Game one takeaways and insights on the Nets from my an Eagle on this episode of the broadcast. It was no doubt
a tough one for sure on Saturday. Not the way anyone expected things to go, at least if you play for coach work for I'd think follow are a fan of the National Basketball Association franchise from the city of Philadelphia. I'm Brian Seltzer. We'll take a look at what happened in game one, what didn't happen with the seventy six we can do better on this edition of the podcast, and then we'll play an interview with Iron Eagle. If you don't know the name, I would bet you know
the voice. He does the NETS games on television and where you've probably heard or seen him before is the NBA on TNT, NCAA tournament broadcasts on CBS, the NFL on CBS, and he's been doing NETS games for years. So we'll speak with Ian who is certainly someone who has his finger on the pulse of Brooklyn and how they've managed to put a team together that has given
the seventy sixers fits so far. All that coming up, but first we want to remind you that to subscribe to the podcast, if you are not yet a subscriber already, you can go to just about anyone if your favorite podcasting platforms. It could be Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stick, SoundCloud, tune in, pocketcasts, the list does go on. Just type in Sixers podcast network and that will take you to
our feed. I an Eagle with a lowdown on Brooklyn what triggered their turnaround in a few minutes, but wanted to start by going back to what we last saw from the seventy Sixers on Saturday in that one oh two lost, The Brooklyn Nets. Sixers shot in the game just forty and a half percent from the field, three of twenty five from outside the arc, they missed thirteen
and their forty two free throws. Brooklyn scored fourteen points off of these seventy six ers, thirteen turnovers and just a game in which things didn't quite seem in sync. Understandable at least. I think if you go back and look at the last couple of weeks, that the seventy sixers not have their full competent of players available for
the home stretch of the regular season. I don't think anyone of the Sixers expected to magically click their heels, come out Saturday and be a fluid, fine tuned, well oiled machine, and that board itself out as Brooklyn gave the Sixers trouble once again. They had eleven three pointers in the game. D'Angel Russell came on big in the
second half finish with twenty six. Carsel Vert was an X factor off the bench with twenty three, and I thought Ed Davis was huge in that game Brooklyn once again got nothing out of Jarrett Allen facing Joel Embiid and Ed Davis stepped in and gave Brooklyn twelve and sixteen. He was plus twenty eight and I thought helped get Brooklyn going late in the first quarter when the Nets
went on that first run. We know that the playoffs is a season of adjustments, a season four a psychological stability, maintaining an even keel, not getting too high or too low, winner, lose. Let's run you back a sound check in the past couple of days. First beginning with what the pulse and mood was like at practice on Sunday in Camden. Jimmy Butler keeping things in perspective every day, we're three food, we're have you. It could be about work. We could
be now pulling out, So in any worry about it. Man, we're going into the bad baby tomorrow. Maybe all right, that's a sentiment you can get behind, can't you. Let's go out there and win that big baby tomorrow or bad baby tomorrow, whatever was Butler said. Brett Brown. We know does a spectacular job of keeping his team focused no matter what, and right now in the playoffs, it's no different. Hey, Sixers. In fact, we're not alone in being the higher seed to lose at home on Saturday,
same fate suffered by Toronto and Denver too. Nobody accepts what happened yesterday, and interestingly, as I remind them, you know, you look around the league three scalps ahead by visiting teams, and it's just part of how do you win four games?
And so much of it for me over the years is how do you have that psychological stability where you don't overreact, where you know you're at peace in some place within yourself where you solid and steady and you're not up and down all the time, and the playoffs can trick you. You You have to ignore the noise. You really have to live in a place that is not distracting. Where can the seventy six ers improved for Game two? Perhaps one of the top things they can tweak as
much as anything else is demeanor. I think we gotta be similar physical. Hopefully I'll feel better and you know, gained a couple of mom my athletic abilities so I can be more dominant on the block. That's got to start. That just be physical, starting with me. Jimmy did a good job attack on Monday. We got to do a better job. Joel Embiid is questionable for Monday's game. His fellow All Star Ben Simmons knows he needs to do better. Four for nine from the field, nine point seven boards,
three assists, three turnovers versus Brooklyn on Saturday. I think you're trying to run the teams in Western terms of that, you know, getting guys at ball and putting guys in certain positions. I think some take up on myself as staying aggressive. That's tacking downhill and making them, you know, make tough plays. Part of the attitude that collectively, you'd have to think the seventy sixers would want to adopt across the board for Game two and quickly put Game
one in the rear view. I an Eagle broadcaster for the Brooklyn Nets. A conversation with him after I tell you about this. We know it is the playoffs. We know that at the Center in South Philadelphia, it is a tough ticket to get to be in the building for one of the postseason games. What could be your ticket? How about eight playoff sweet rental sweets for seventy sixers. Playoff games are the perfect way to entertain clients, family and friends. They're now available to all Round one playoff
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very good. For more info, or to speak with a seventy six Ers sales associate and representative called two and five three three nine seven to six seven six, or email tickets at seventy six ers dot com for more info bound playoff suite rentals for all Round one games. The Brooklyn Nets definitely one of the more impressive stories from the NBA and the twenty eighteen nineteen regular season
twenty eight wins a season ago. Yeah, they had a core of young talent that they started to put in play, springing Danzel Russell in a trade with the LA Lakers. But I'm not sure if anyone really expected the Nets to take this much of a leap, and in particular be a thorn in the seventy six ers side too.
Up until this point, they've been so far well, that could be everyone except for the Brooklyn Nets themselves to give us some more stories about Brooklyn, how this season took shape, the development of some of their key players. We welcome in an Eagle broadcaster for the Net on the y S Network. You also, of course, I am sure have heard and seen him on the NBA on t NT, NBA TV, NFL, on CBS, NCWA tournament coverage. He is simply one of the best at what he does.
Ian Welcome, thanks so much for the time. On the seventy six er side, the theme is optimism, confidence, hope. Tell us what's the mood around the Brooklyn Nets right now after that Game one win? You know, I think validating a lot of what they felt about their season that yes, they are a surprise that people didn't expect this, but there was this feeling going into Game one that
they were not just happy to be there. They thought they could compete with this Philly team based on what we saw during the regular season and based on the improvements that they've made throughout the year. Very deep bench
that is legitimate strength. Kenny Atkinson has faith in going ten deep, which isn't always the norm come playoff time, and their guard play Russell and Dinwoody and Lavert when Dinwoody and Lavert have been healthy and they've been tough to stop one on one, and Russell's success has been evident an all Star season and at times he's carried
this team on his back. So I think, more than anything else, just confirmation that they could play with this team, compete with this team, and win games in this series not just be a nice story, but maybe shock the NBA world. You mentioned the words surprise and referencing the season that Brooklyn has had, when for people closest to the team, was it not a surprise anymore? Obviously there was the eight and eighteen start, but finishing at the clip that Brooklyn did thirty four and twenty two is
pretty darn impressive. Yeah, you know, Brian, I think after they got through that eight and eighteen stretch and started putting wins together, three game winning street, four streaks, seven game winning streak, that's when you realize that this team had a little something. The chemistry was always there, a very likable group. They like being around one another. There's a connectivity between the head coach, the coaching staff, the players, the front office, and I think the realization that the
things they were preaching were actually working. This team is, yes, a three point shooting team, but they drive to the rim, and they actually lead the NBA in scoring on drives to the rim. So there's perception that's developed over the last couple of years that, all right, they're just going with the modern way of looking at the NBA. Threes
are better than twos. That thought necessarily the case. They did go out and acquire talent that could help them from the perimeter, but they've taken a different perspective in how they go about their business, and I do think they're a bit more flexible than people may have viewed
them before this season started. I would say in the month of January there was this true realization that they were going to be able to be a part of this conversation throughout the year, and they weren't going read to be just a flash in the pan that showed progress. They thought they could be a playoff team, and with each month that passed, the rest of the NBA got the memo, especially in the games now five of them between the regular season the postseason against the seventy six ers.
What you mentioned about the attack mode of some of the guard play that has certainly been on full display, and that has definitely been something the Sixers have had problems with. If we look at d' angelo Russell and Spencer Dinwoodie, what were the developmental areas of focus for those two guys in particular that obviously had major seasons for the Nets. Yeah. First with Russell, I just think realization of taking quality shots, getting his teammates involved as well.
He ended up the year at over twenty one points per game, seven assists per game, and a gifted passer. He makes things look very easy and very casual in many ways, and I think that actually hurt him. His first few years in the NBA. There was this perception that he was nonchalant, and maybe at times he was, but this year that turned into a different focus, a steely concentration to do the right thing, to make the
right plays. And I also think he was challenged by this coaching staff because they knew how talented he was, and maybe he had not received that kind of back and forth in his previous stint in LA where they wanted to see him be better. Just because you take a bad shot and make it doesn't mean it was the right shot. And for a while that was the way D'Angelo occupied his time in the NBA. Not really
the case anymore. He take some shots where you think to yourself, well that that's not going to go in, there's no possible way, and he finds a way. It's pretty amazing his development at maturity off the court. Brian, more than anything else, I just think we tend to forget how young these guys are and how inexperienced they may be in life with so much that is put on their plate. He's just come a long way on
the personal side as well. From my perspective, Spencer Dinwoodie always an older soul, a real mature guy, and I think a chip on his shoulder based on the fact that he was not really a factor in the NBA second round pick because he was injured his last year
at Colorado, Detroit didn't really get a fair shake. Goes to Chicago as part of their G League team, tries to resurrect his career and signs a minimum deal with the Nets just to get into the league and have a contract, and then surpasses his deal in the last couple of years, and if anything, what was building behind the scenes was the fact that he thought he deserved a long term deal at big money, and the question was whether or not the Nets were going to give
it to him. They did, and he earned it. This three year, thirty four million dollar extension, I think put his mind at ease, obviously on the financial side, but even deeper than that. It just allowed him to know that he was a legitimate NBA player. All the things that he believed finally were out there in a public setting that he belongs. And sometimes that mental part of it is just as important as the physical part. With Dinwoodie,
he's got this extra year. He has this ability to blow by defenders because he's so long, maybe deceptively long. He's six six two hundred, and his ability to get to the rim to draw contact keeps you honest with
that three point shot. There's a real fire inside of him, and I think we've just seen that on display more and more this year, and a lot of that was often directed to officials and two opponents, and I think he's been much better at parsing out when to use it, when to harness it, and the numbers back it up. He's been behind Lou Williams, the best bench guy in the NBA this year. Everyone knows you file the league on a national level as well. What didn't trigued you
about the seventy six ers going to the playoffs? What were your expectations? Yeah, my curiosity, I think, like everybody else, Brian, was just how quickly this team could mesh in a pressure situation Ten games together as a starting unit. That certainly draws some question marks. And you know, a lot of that was based on the fact that Tobias Harris was acquired before the deadline and Joel emb just wasn't healthy.
But the question that most people around the league had and now it's still out there, maybe more than ever, is when facing adversity, how would this team handle it? Would it be fragile or would they ban together? And the first question that pops up is how do you handle a game one loss? And boo birds and distractions,
cell phones and questioning of fans. All of those things now are part of the equation and they can use it to motivate them even more or it could become a major theme and what turns out to be an underwhelming postseason. There's a lot of overreaction after one game in the NBA playoffs, Anyone that's been around this league knows that many conclusions are drawn after just one game. One of those people that just jumps in feet first and Okay, this is how the series is going to go, right.
It's the great part about the playoffs is that you do get the chess match. You do get the coaching staffs dueling on how to adjust, and the intrigue for me is to see how Philly handles it. I think Embiid will get more paint touches he should, and obviously JJ Reddick and Tobias Harris have to be more of a factor in this series, not just in Game two, but to win this series. The Nets, though they don't
go away, they fight. That has been a theme throughout the season for this Brooklyn squad, and there are have been times, even as a close up observer, that I've been very surprised in their resiliency and how they handle their business game and a game out, even against some really good opponents. So the idea that they would be overwhelmed by the moment or intimidated, I don't think that that's going to be there. Philadelphia is going to have to earn this thing in the first round. If they're
going to advance. I just don't get the same vibe that I got a year ago when everybody around the Sixers knew they were better than the Miami Heat and they would find a way to beat the Miami Heat, which they did in five games. This just has a different feel to it compared to twenty eighteen. I an Eagle broadcaster for the Brooklyn Nets. Thank you so much for a few minutes. Really appreciate it. Enjoy the rest
of the series. Yeah, looking forward to it. Good to talk to you, brook I an eagle with some insights and perspective on the Brooklyn Nets and how they managed to reverse their fortunes in a very significant way this past season under third year head coach Kenny Atkinson. And also a guy who Brett Brown knows very well, Sean Marks. He played a bit for the San Antonio Spurs and
he's the general manager of Brooklyn. All right, Well, the hope is this that some of the tough juju was gotten out of the way with in Game one and the seventy Sixers can bounce back on Monday for Game two. After the game, be on the lookout and your pod feeds for a rewind episode of the podcast, and then we'll probably have at least one episode more ahead of Thursday's Game three, when the series shifts to Barkley's Center in Brooklyn. Talk to you next time here the broadcast see