Playoff Pod: Episode 4 - Game 2 Rewind

Game three on Thursday night. Wow one, five, one twenty three all seventy Sixers. Huge third quarter, monstrous second half, the Sixers setting a franchise record for points scored in the game, and they also tied an NBA record for points scored in a postseason quarter with fifty one of them in the third. I thought there were some great signs to start the game. Ben Simmons all fired up, taking his energy to another level. Joel and be looking more and more comfortable as the first half went on.

But that third quarter, if you want to snapshot of what the seventy Sixers can be, the defense, the way it came out in the first two minutes of the third quarter forced three turnovers and four Brooklyn Nets misses, which allowed the offense to build the foundations for that game changing twenty one to two run that stretched a one point lead at the half into a very comfortable place as the Sixers went through the rest of the second Stanza. Just a great night all around from the Sixers.

As we stand by and wait for seventy Sixers head coach Brett Brown at the postgame press conference podium, shall we run through the checklist of awesome things you saw from the seventy six Ers tonight? All right, we'll go, And I kind of think this is in order. This is just kind of how it came to me, and I jotted it down. The dub the first and foremost, seventy Sixers got the needed win. Offense off the charts

most points ever in a playoff game. Ben Simmons responding in many ways, especially in the first let's say, five minutes of the game, attacking the rack on the very first possession. No, he didn't score, but it helps set the tone for what he would later do after that in the first quarter, rest the first half, and for the remainder of the evening. So Ben Simmons' second career playoff triple double, eighteen points, ten rebounds and twelve assists. Joel Embiid he as the game went on. I don't

know what you thought, if you watched or listened. I thought it was clear that as the game went along, he was more confident, more explosive, more assertive going to the basket. He went to the basket, didn't take a single three in tonight's game. And this is not to get him to talk about should shouldn't Joel Ebie'd be taking three pointers, but he went to the paint, got down on the block, and he was dominant there. Plus twenty six in under twenty one minutes. Twenty three points,

ten rebounds for Joel Embiid. As we move along, our checklist of very encouraging signs, JJ, Toby Mike Scott get their strokes back. Reddick finished with seventeen two or five shooting from three. Seven twelve were all Tobias Harris nineteen points five to twelve shooting two or four from three. Mike Scott fifteen points three to five from outside the arc. So you do the quick math, and those three players, Reddick, Harris Scott a combined seven of fourteen from behind the

three point line. That's a winning statistic for the seventy Sixers. Boban Marnyanovitch, the man off the bench, sixteen points, eight rebounds and eighteen minutes spelled Joel Embiid for extensive stretches and Marnyanovitch was awesome the bench. Sixty one points. Defense lockdown. Let's go to the third quarter, when the seventy Sixers outscored the nets fifty one to twenty three. Brooklyn did not hit it three pointer on six attempts in that period.

The seventy Sixers held Brooklyn to under forty percent shooting in the third while the offense went to work. That was when the defense was at its best. Seventy Sixers dominate the glass. They were plus seventeen overall, plus three on the offensive boards. They got to the three I bigger parton they got to the free throw line, and they crushed on turnovers, outscoring Brooklyn twenty nine two nine on points off turnovers, missing anything. Do you want anything else?

That was pretty darn good by the Sixers. Owned by the way, Maybe someone say, oh well, Brooklyn scored thirty six points in the fourth quarter. The starters were all gone with ten minutes ago in regulation. So the seventy sixers, this was an encouraging step. I would be surprised if you did not hear Brett Brown say something maybe the effect of like you're never as bad as your worst or as good as your best, probably somewhere in between.

Probably somewhere in between. That might be good enough for the seventy sixers. They were clicking on all cylinders tonight. Are really great, welcomed, exactly what you need type of game against the Brooklyn Nets to even this thing up at one game apiece heading towards game number three on Thursday at Barclay Center, We're gonna take a break. We're gonna talk to Tom mc guinness when we come back, and also hopefully here from Brett Brown, maybe a few

players as well. It is the postgame show. It is a victorious postgame show. It is a victorious head coach. Let's go to Brett Brown right now. Kevin from Crossing Broad Yep, you can talk about the adjustment to leave TJ out of the rotation and Jonathan and go with Green James, and it played Jimmy as a point guard

or point guard by committee. There, Yeah, I mean that's at first it's a difficult decision because TJ has been a part of sort of our bloodline for a while and the energy that he injects is contagious and we all get and even if you study this stat line from the game that we lost, I think he was

a plus twelve, which is pretty good. And so you started like looking at maybe the ripple effects of what can others do from a spatial standpoint, James's ability to you know, stretch the quart a little bit more, try to give Jimmy the ball as a legitimate, you know, back up point guard, a point guard when Ben wasn't on the court. Um influenced that decision. I thought TJ handled it as we all guessed he would. He's a

wonderful teammate. But it was driven for those reasons that I just said to to make that decision to take TJ out of the rotation. Coach Jason Blevins Philly Front office, was your sense that you guys were really pressuring, putting a lot of pressure on Brooklyn through that first half, but they were able to hang in, make some shots, continue to score. But did the damn break in the third quarter or did you make a change that just

sort of like hit them a second time. I think we did what we tried to do in the first half, just kind of like harder bet alonga type stuff. The we we didn't really change stuff schematically. We just did what we wanted to do better. And the margin for era when you're playing against DeAngelo and didn't when he as an example where they can create separation and find enough daylight to get a shot off, is marginal. But that fragility, that little tiny like half a second you

could have should have didn't environment is punishing. And I thought that in the third period we did a good better job of you know, taking away some space, getting to their feet, being six ten, six nine, whatever, showing our length, And I thought everything that we're talking about now was successfully as far as the wind goes to me,

was driven through our defense in the second half. A couple of insights and nuggets from the head coach after seventy six or one three win over the Brooklyn Nets that evens up this best of seven opening round series at one game apiece, We're gonna step aside a lot to talk about with Tom mc ginnis on the other side. Sixers tick a lot of boxes into night's win. So much good that was done. They'll try to build on

it moving ahead later this week. They always told Will he was too short to play basketball, but Will never listened. We'll let his work ethic do the talking for him. Always in the gym, always running drills. Will knew where there was a will, there was a way, and he was Will. But then after his second child was born, he realized the bros were all way better than him. So Will gave up and buried his high tops in

a cheerful ceremony. But one day he heard that Geico could save him money on car insurance, so he switched and saved a bunch which was awesome. Seventy sixers all over the Brooklyn nets behind a huge second half one five, one,

twenty three. The final score triple double for Ben Simmons, who came out with his hair on fire, double double for Joel beat Harris Reddick and Scott Combine to go seven to fourteen from outside the arc the bench with sixty one points all all, Tom McGinnis, A pretty dawn good night for a team that very much needed it. Where would you like to start? Without question? So great

start for the Sixers. I thought Ben was so aggressive and it paid off, and you know, I thought a really nice moment, particularly on the heels of the loss and the comments about the fans and the booing of the fans in the game on Saturday, when Ben scored a big basket, Brooklyn takes time and now he's running back to the Sixers bench and he extends his arms and literally having the crowd in your hands when they totally responded when he asked for it. A great standing

ovation and great sequence early in the game. But at halftime it was a one point game at sixty five sixty four, and you know, you're like, if you're Brooklyn, you gotta love the position you're in because it's Philadelphia has played so much better and you're down one. But it's a way. The Sixers started that third quarter scoring on eight consecutive possessions and beat had seven points in a row, and then kind of the floodgates open. There

was a big play. And again I mentioned this a couple of times, but the first time here in this format, I thought their coach Kenny Atkinson could have called a time out and kind of stopped the momentum. Sloated a little bit earlier than he did, because then they had that clear path foul where Tobias Harris cuts two free throws and the Sixers score out of that, and it

was another four point play. So a fifty one point quarter, I mean, a record number of points for the franchise, for a franchise that's been in the playoffs quite a bit over the years. Really an unbelievable game. And again you know now which team for the Sixers goes up to Brooklyn, the team that was this dominant and has the confidence back in, the swagger back, and you got

to play with that urgency and carry that. You can't feel too good about where you're at because and then the other thing is the Sixers reageing the home court advantage, which is huge as we have five potentially five games left in the series, but obviously swinging up north for the next two games starting Thursday at Berkeley Center, seventy sixers in a game they led by as many as thirty two points to feed the Brooklyn Nets by twenty two, one, five, one,

twenty three. Talking about it after the game with Tom McGinnis, is it as simple Tom to talk about spirit, energy, and just the way the Sixers came out, because it's funny, I thought in Game one in the third quarter when the Sixers got within two, the scoreboard said, hey, maybe they were coming back, but it just didn't really feel like they were going to get control of that game.

In this one tonight halftime, at one point game you didn't feel great because Brooklyn wasn't going away, but you still felt like it was the Sixers dictating the way this game. Yeah, no doubt about it, because you could see that JJ and Ben were I don't want to say more engaged, simply more effective. Simmons was definitely more engaged, like how he was driving the ball and was kind of unstoppable. And then again through the first ten minutes of the game, you well didn't have any field goals,

he had a free or two. So to be in that position with your star player not contributed at a large rate, and then in the end for him to play twenty one minutes and have another double double, that was really good. Jimmy Butler not the scoring night obviously that he had in Game one, but he had seven assists.

And then you get to Bobon and Mike Scott off the bench, and I thought Bobon was terrific, huge and he just said he joined his post game, but they're playing way off him and and he's kind of he could tell that he was listened to the crowd, like shoot and he makes his first six field goals in the game. And as I said, they're not jumper as a guy doesn't have to jump. He's so big and he's so open. He's basically shooting like a one hand set shot. And I honestly I think that's in particularly

how he shot it in the first game. That's something that Brooklyn's got a got a contented seth Well, you can't let him shoot. He had, you know in Monster Night shooting the ball in the first two games, so really good performances. I think little things. You got James Ennis back in the mix. He showed that he's he's got energy. Hopefully with a couple of days to to rest and rehab and get ready for game four, he'll

be another presence. He gives you a lot of energy the wing defender and the ability to get inside creep in there for offensive rebounds and all told just to you know, kind of good were You know, I think that everybody was a little shock with how Game one ended up. And still the Sixers didn't shoot lights out from three. But you know they have more talent than Brooklyn and they showed it here tonight in a big way.

Sixers top of the nets level of the series one forty five, one twenty three, tied at one going to Brooklyn on Thursday. And from the Nets side of the box score time, you know, Danzel Russell six of sixteen, sixteen points, Spencer Dinwood, he had a decent game, but really, even a guy like some of the guys who had X factor type games in Game one, I'm thinking of casselver, Ed Davis and Joe Harris, they were not the players

we saw them in the game on Saturday. No. I thought JJ did a really good job on Joe Harris. I think the Sixers made a tactical change. I mean they didn't sech where JJ was staying connected. He was in lock and trail off screens on Joe Harris, fighting over the tops of screens and staying connected to him, and did a pretty good job. And then you know, it sounds like we just heard a very little brief snippet of a question posed to Kenny Atkinson sounds like

Ed Davis might be dinged up a little bit. He played just five minutes, did not come back. He had three fouls, so but that wouldn't be the case in the second half. And you know, I think that one of the areas where the Sixers, if they have, certainly one of the strengths in their game is three point shooting. So that's certainly, you know, to them a plus. But the Sixers have a decided advantage at the five spot.

I mean, Jared Allen actually had some good moments in this game, certainly some good blocks, but within Bead and Marianovitch certainly different types of players. I don't think Brooklyn has an answer for the Sixers at that in that area of the court. And obviously Joel is a dominant player, and I think that's going to really prove to be, you know, quite to benefit. And they think a big

difference in this series for the Sixers. Ay, we will find out the answer, perhaps a Tom against his question, which version of the seventy Sixers will we see in Game three? In Game three Thursday night, Barclay Center in Brooklyn, Tim, see up there, Thank you, Brannan, Good night, Sixers. By twenty two, convincingly over the Brooklyn Nets one one twenty three, most points in a playoff game in franchise history, and the biggest quarter in NBA playoff history tied for it

fifty one points in the third quarter. The La Lakers back in nineteen sixty two with a fifty one point fourth quarter against the Detroit Pistons. So a great night. This was pretty much exactly what the seventy sixers needed. We'll get to a couple of highlights and we will wrap things up on the postgame show. Your home is important. That's why Geico helps make it easy to save on homeowners insurance. Because home is more than just a place.

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your if Philadelphia seventy six ers. We shall explain after we get through these highlights. Seventy sixers looking to bounce back after a tough game on loss on Saturday, in particular Ben Simmons aiming to get back on track, and very early on it was evident this was a different Ben Simmons tonight. Simmons, with Poler ahead of him, takes it right at Karen Allen puts it up an in and Brooklyn, you cannot stop Ben Simmons here so far in this game. Seven points for Simmons and he gets

the crown into it. And that's just telling us anything, and they respond. Could not agree with Tom Moore. Just the interplay between Ben and the crowd tonight as good as we saw from him on the court. Seventy six Ers let at thirty four to twenty eight after twelve minutes to play. Joel Embiad didn't get on the scoreboard until the final moments the first quarter on free throws, but then some field goals starting to fall from him.

Early in the second it beat against Jared Allen, collision Joel with a finger roll around and good, but that is power and Finesse took a big hitt sidestep Jared Allen and then a finger roll add he nestles it in increase the seventy Sixers lead to forty four to thirty two. You felt at that point like the Sixers, this one is gonna have to be taken from them. In Brooklyn, they would make a comeback push down the stretch of the second quarter, Bobon Varyanovitch was great for

Joel Embiad in relief tonight Obama. The ball looks to hand off to Tobias Harris, but Spencer did what he denies Tobias, so Boban shoots it at Baranovitch is literally shooting the lights out. It's seven of ten for Bobon fourteen points. He leads the Sixers in scoring, get his first six shots to the night. The seventy Sixers lead was just a point sixty five sixty four at intermission, but the third quarter opening possession from Brooklyn turnover forced.

The Sixers got four stops forced two more turnovers as well. Joel Embiid was dominant during this stretch, scoring seven in a row and helping the seventy Sixers go on a big run. Harris down the fire sideline, Simmons of the vault, Simmons of the one on Jared Allen at the last moment of Joel and it B Dunson and B was

getting in the rebound position. Simmons turned and found him and seventh straight by Ebad and you blink in a few moments later, the seventy Sixers led by twenty because of this Russell as it taken away by Ben Simmons, Allan is there, then goes around him and he lays it up and in, and now Atkinson with a time out.

It's a twenty point game. Simmons steals it from Russell, breaks away, lays it up and in, and the Sixers got dear crowd on their feet and Ben Simmons making the Allen iverson ear to the hands of the ear gesture of the crowd. Just a great moment. As the Sixers led by twenty, they weren't done by any stretch. In the third quarter, Mike Scott capped it off. Reddick turns fires on dead Winny were no good ball, pop three. Mike Scott at the hornet ten and the Sixers punched

away a brilliant third quarter. Well the last second shot by Mike Scott played one sixteen eighty seven, and they wreck up fifty one points in the quarter, the most of any quarter this year and the most ever, tying a mark for the most ever an NBA playoff game in a quarter. Fifty one points. T J. McConnell and the reserves saw this one through to the finish. Connell

the line stops pop said, that's good. T J. McConnell on the run jump stop jumper from thirteen bucket one twenty five ninety four, seven forty and the seventy Sixers seven minutes forty seconds later would have this one in hand one forty five, one twenty three, evening the series at one game. Apiece six or shoot fifty six percent. The Nets held under forty eight percent Brooklyn fifteen to thirty six outside the arc. The seventy sixers a little bit better in terms of where they were in Game one.

They were nine for twenty three for thirty nine percent six ers eighty one percent from the free throw line. That was an improvement. Twenty six to thirty two Brooklyn twenty two of twenty nine to seventy sixers plus seventeen on the glass Sixers only two fewer turnovers than Brooklyn, but they outscored the Nets on turnovers. Get this twenty

nine to nine. That is awesome to see Ben Simmons second career postseason triple double eighteen ten and twelve, Joel mb twenty three and ten plus twenty six in less than twenty one minutes of action. JJ Reddick with seventeen on two of five shooting from three, Tobias Harris nineteen points, five rebounds on two of four shooting from three, seven to seven from the line, five to twelve overall sixteen for Bobon Marnyanovitch to go with eight rebounds and eighteen

minutes off the bench. Mike Scott getting back on track three to five from the perimeter for fifteen points from Mike Scott, as the seventy Sixers get seven from Jimmy Butler to go with seven assists and four rebounds. Jimmy was plus twenty seven in the game. Seventy six ers one hundred forty five points, the most ever in a playoff game, and now it's on the game number three

coming up on Thursday night. The seventy sixers will have an opportunity to rest recharge, get back in the gym over the next two days, and hey, we saw what happened when they got back into the gym yesterday. A great, great rebounding performance by the Sixers to write the wrong from Saturday afternoon. Thursday's game eight o'clock tip Barclay's Center, an all important game three seventy Sixers in Brooklyn from

Barclay Center Thursday night at eight o'clock. You've been listening to a playoff edition of seventy six Ers Rewind presented by Geico. Be sure not to miss new episodes following each game of the postseason