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Have you suffered a work injury? You need a lawyer? Call Stern and Cohen Workers Compensation Lawyers Sterncohenlaw dot com. The consultation is always free. They will ring the insurance company's bell, Go Sixers. Welcome in to Sixers in sixty Tuesday nights on ninety seven to five, the fanatic Matt Murphy and Nick Stauskis is back. The former Philadelphia seventy six er, the NBA veteran Nick Stauskis joins us again tonight. Lauren Rosen will be along with us as well in
the second segment. But welcome back, Nick. Excited to talk more seventy six ers basketball with you.
It's always a good day talking Sixers basketball with you. Matt. I appreciate you having me on again.
We have one of your old friends, one of your old teammates, Robert. He sat down with Lauren at the most recent practice to chat. That's coming up in just a moment. Any player interviews from this show that fans want to listen to available at the seventy six Ers Insiders podcast. In addition to Robert Covington, we have our fanatic basketball insider tonight, Connor Thomas. Be sure to follow
everybody on the various social media platforms. You're more of an Instagram guy, Nick, Nick saskis eleven on Instagram.
I'm an Instagram guy, but I'm I gotta activate my Twitter again, so you know, maybe I'll get active on Twitter, start interacting with the fans again. It's been a while. It's been a couple of years for me, so it'd be nice to get back on.
Are you a threads guy?
Yet?
I don't even know what threads is? Unfortunately? Does that mean I'm old if I don't know what?
It's like Twitter? But it's Instagram's version, so it's like a news feed. And I have a question from someone on there that for you, from someone on there, that we'll do in a second. But the latest with the seventy six Ers is that they've been off for a couple of days, and we were saying it's you were saying it's kind of like the All Star break as a result of the n season Tournament, a rare four
days off in the NBA. They're looking to bounce back when they return to action in DC on Wednesday night from two losses last week in New Orleans and in Boston, but then four days off.
Yeah, it's nice, you know, this is I guess one of the positives of not making the Ncason Tournament. Gives you a chance to rest, get your guys back in the lineup. Obviously, you know Tyrese and Joelle, you know out with the illness. You know, I'd like to see them back on the court. But it's a nice little reset button kind of at the quarter way mark of
the season. And I'm sure a lot of teams are really trying to use this week as as positively as possible, just trying to get their guys healthy again.
So no Embiid in either of those games, the Pelicans or the Celtics. No Embiid or Maxi Orbitoom or House and the list went on and on against Boston. But get this about the month of November, for the duo of Embiid and Maxie, they had This is from Justin
kobatco from statitudes. In the month of November, Embiid and Maxi each scored at least twenty five points in the same game eight times, which was a franchise broke a franchise record which was seven in a month shared by Wilt and Hal Greer in nineteen sixty six and Billy Cunningham and Archie Clark in nineteen sixty nine. So like, you cannot understate how important it is to have them in the lineup, and still they almost beat Boston, which
we will talk about a lot throughout tonight's show. The question that was posed to you from Threads came from an account called bme Podcast. They said, what do you think Embiid and Maxie would say has been the key to the early success with a new coach. So I don't want you to speak for them, and we'll try to ask that question to them. But new coach and Nick Nurse, and they're off to a start where the month of November saw them score twenty five plus each in eight games together.
Well, I think I think the offense that they're running, it's it's pretty pretty free flowing. Everyone's been touching the ball. There's been a lot of ball movement, player movement, and as we talked about last week, there is specifically the two man game between MB and MAXI has been super effective and they've just kind of had this chemistry that
you can't help but notice when you watch them. And obviously it doesn't hurt that two of them are are some of the more talented players that this league has right now, so.
You know, it's been good to see.
It's been good to see that work very early on with the coach, and to be honest, that's probably one of my biggest surprises of the years with all the changes with the coach and with hardened out is how seamlessly this offense has kind of just come together. And I believe they're second in the league and offensive raiding behind the Pacers, who are just on fire right now. But that's something that I felt would maybe come a little bit later in the season as they played more
games together. So that's been a huge surprised for me, is just how comfortable everyone's looked.
And you were hoping for them to get that defensive rating number up because the offense being second, But you're curious, I know you've said you're curious to see where that defensive rating number will land or stay throughout the season.
Yeah, I mean yeah, especially these last two games. I would say the defense without Joel looks significantly different because there's not that paint protection. You know, I noticed that a lot against specifically the Pelicans, you know, with Zion and Valentoun is kind of getting whatever they wanted at
the rim. But you know, once you get them back in the lineup and you know, everyone starts playing together a little bit more, you get Kelly back in the lineup, those are things that you know, maybe this team can work work out some of the kinks and kind of lock up on the defensive end, because if they become a top ten defensive team and then you're scoring at the rate that they are, they actually have a chance. That's my opinion. They actually have a chance in the East.
So you got to be able to get stops though.
And for anyone who doesn't know, rating just means points scored or points allowed per one hundred possession. So the Sixers are second in offensive rating as we speak here on December fifth, and part of the reason for that has been Robert Covington, who were about to hear from and he had eighteen points, though on the offensive end against the Celtics, made three threes. Four of his five steals were in the first half against the Celtics, and the Sixers as a team had a season high with
sixteen steals. And just checking the rankings for deflections, he's second Covington in the NBA deflections per thirty six right now, six point three behind another of your former teammates in Gary Payton, the second in Golden State with six point six.
Yeah, that's what makes cub so valuable.
You know, he can go out there and potentially not even shoot the ball well and still have an enormous impact on the game. Just disrupting things on the defensive end as something that he takes pride in and something that he's built his whole career off of. So you know, you're glad to see him being able to kind of
transfer that skull immediately into the lineup. You know, having not gone a training camp with the team, I'm sure a lot of this is, you know, new defensive terms, new defensive schemes being thrown.
At him, and he looks comfortable out there.
Matt Murphy and Nick Stauskis here on Sixers in sixty Lauren Rosen is joining us later on in the show, Connor Thomas joining us as our fanatic basketball insider. Before that. By the way, Paul Reid is tied for fifth in deflections per thirty six with four point seven. After practice today Tuesday, Covington said that he modeled some of his game after model some of his game after his favorite player growing up, Scottie Pippen, So you could see shades of that in his play on the defensive end, in
the way that he hustles. And then after he spoke to the media, he sat down with Sixers team reporter Lauren Rosen and here's their conversation.
Robert Covington back with us on Sixers in sixty and tonight we have one of our new co hosts with us, Nick Stauskis. I would love to hear what it was like to play with him years ago during the process.
Sauce sauce, sauce, Krispy Yo. Man, he's he's been. He's amazing.
You know.
I love playing with Nick, and then having him and TJ mcconnagell on the same team was a hilarious, hilarious encounter. I've seen many of We've had a lot of fun.
You know.
Like what one thing I can say is I love Nick's work at you know, I love nicks work at it. He put so much time into working out, you know, in the gym, doing the little things and just kind of being the best player he could be.
You know, he really took his job seriously.
He really had a lot a lot to his game. And I love watching Nick play. You know, you never knew what Nick had up his sleeve when he was you know, had the ball in his hands and.
Could shoot like lights out, lights out.
And we used to have a lot of battles, a lot of fun, a lot of battles. And one thing about you know, we made it very competitive, you know, and listen to them guys like off the court, they had a lot of fun. They had a lot of fun, and I love being around them.
We just saw TJ McConnell a couple of weeks back, but not just Nick, not just TJ. What's it like to to have memories from your youth in the NBA and then share that today with guys that are doing broadcasting, that are still playing, that are playing overseas, Like you guys go in all these different directions. What's it like whenever you do cross paths?
Man, it's great.
You know, I've I've had many battles of them with a lot of people that you know, some are heavy sale, some still in the league thriving, you know, like like them guys have you know, made a great career out of you know, the time that they had and you know TJ, you know, still doing his thing. You know, Nick has always been a funny guy. He said that when time when whenever he was done, like he would
potentially you know, going to broadcasting. So you know, listen seeing that he's you know taking that transition, it's amazing.
Like you said, he always talked.
About like he was going to be a good a guy that could do that, and that's something that he was. He was passionate about, you know, outside of basketball. And one thing I could say, like I said, I keep in flying, Like I love Nick's work ethic, you know, on and off the court.
You know, so as much.
As he put into the basketball court and pretty sure he puts you know at his job eaching every day. So you know, seeing them guys, everyone take different transitions. Like everyone of course, you know, wants to have that long career, you know in NBA. But at the same time, we all go different paths, and you know, what can we we can we make the best of our situations, and you know that's the main thing, Like, no matter what, can we make the best of our situations.
Well, listen, he's done a great job with us so far. As he dips his toe into broadcasting, Nick Stauskiss has Robert Covington as we continue on six ers and sixty and look ahead. We've talked a lot about the n Season tournament and this week what it ended up meeting for you guys is four days off, which is super rare. So a couple off days and a couple of practice days and then a couple opponents that aren't necessarily at
the top of your respective bracket. Right, So what can you guys take advantage of when you're handed a week like this at it's part of.
The season, rest and recovery. Like you said, it's rare that you get four days off. If I think last time what happened was maybe in maybe in La l last year, think that the most we had was three days off in between. But like I said, just rest,
you know, being being a veteran guy. You know that that time period, it's w It's never happened in the middle of the season and the ord the beginning of the season, So you know, having that is is really only you know, like I said, the best the best for us, Like you get guys trying to recover, reset and you know, just take care of your bodies and do a little thing, you know, kind of reset and everything for us. So like I said, of course we get we would love to be in the e s
En season tournament. But like you said, the the days, you know, it it a.
It adds up for us.
Like you said, you got guys that you know, took full advantage of the the couple days off, and like I said, we had a couple of days to you know, get up in down and kind of work on things that you know, we messed up on like in games.
The last few couple of games.
A couple of your teammates have called the last couple days of practice spirited, among other words, peel back the curtain a little bit for folks that don't get to see what it looks like when.
You guys practice.
How would you describe the vibes of a practice with this team.
Man, it's been a macclant like the competitiveness off the charts. You got so many different guys that you know, can really succeed at you know, playing playing really well and doing it. Didn't live things. So you know, the last few days, like I said, we got after it and you know it was that good look.
Reset that oh okay, let's get after you.
Like of course we battle with everybody else, but you know, getting after each other a little bit, you know, making it super competitive. We got everybody juices from. You know, it was well, it was. It was one of those practices where like I said, we had a lot going and we worked a lot, you know, tuned up for fine things and at the end of the day, like I said, it's just getting better and you know the little things you know, as a know, that's what makes the difference in games.
Robert Covington, thanks as always for joining us on six ers and sixty. Good luck this week.
I appreciate you.
Thank you.
Robert Covington, always eager to sit down and stay awhile even after the interview. And thanks to Lauren Rosen. We'll hear from her in just a little bit here on sixers and sixty and thanks to of course Robert Covington, Matt Murphy, Nick Stauskas, and we're joined by Connor Thomas back in the studio on sixers and sixty and Nick, you got to hear from your your old teammate there in Covington, and the next step will be getting you guys to talk to each other.
I thank for this show.
Yeah, we can definitely reminisce on a lot of good times. I appreciate all the love from cove He's a pros pro. You know, he was one of the guys that you know, pushed me to get better every day and practice, so you know, those those words mean a lot to me.
But he's you know, just from listening to him speed, he's he's a well spoken guy and clearly you know from the jump of his career he's taken things very seriously and he's put himself He's worked his way into this position now where you know he's a consistent role player on any team you put him on. So I'm super happy for him, and I'm sure he'll continue to prove people wrong.
Covington part of a Sixers team that, as we speak, is one game away from that twenty game mark at twelve and seven overall and trying to snap a two game losing streak from those road games that we've discussed, But as we bring Connor Thomas in, because it's that near quarter pole of the NBA season, I wanted to get everybody's biggest sixers surprise from the first quarter of the season. And it doesn't have to be anything any
player or something like that. It could really be anything. Mine, in fact, is not a player, but Connor, you're batting lead off here. Your biggest sixers surprise from the first twenty nineteen games of the season.
Yeah, you know what.
Honestly, when I looked at the James Harden move, and I know how the city feels about Harden now and how that all went down, and people were happy to see the trad happened. But the next step was how do you find someone to facilitate the offense? Like, whatever you say about Harden, he led the league and assists last year and he's a veteran at facilitating the ball
to where it needs to go. Sometimes he handles it a little too much, in my opinion, But the point is, I thought the turnovers were going to go up with a young player like Maxi, and Doc Rivers always told us max he's a good guard. He's not a true point guard in this league yet. And the Sixers to this point, they're eleventh in the NBA thirteen point six turnovers per game. Last year they finished eleventh in the NBA thirteen point five turnovers per game, so they're right
on that mark. And to have that without Harden and Maxi stepping in taking care of the basketball was something that honestly, it was a great surprise for the first.
Quarter of the year.
Next ascas your turn.
Yeah, just piggybacking off of that. For me.
As I mentioned earlier, I think the biggest surprise is just how seamlessly the offense has transitioned with a new coach and a new player in Maxi taking over the reins.
You know, obviously Maxi was a part of the.
Team before, but it's just a big responsibility, like you said to you know, be given the ball and say hey, you're going to run our team now. And he's looked very comfortable doing that. The whole offense in general, obviously they're super efficient, so I didn't expect that to click as early on in the season, and that's probably been the biggest surprise for me.
And how much kind of Embiid's passing factoring into that when we talk about turnover numbers and stuff like that, because Embiid went from career average of three point six assists to six point six right now, and of course without Harden there were assists to be had, but I think it's still is impressive that he's able to make these passes because if there are assists to be had, you forget that he's seven foot tall and can still
execute it at this level. So his assists have skyrocketed under Nick Nurse.
Yeah, that's huge, and I think part of that is Nick Nurse was one of those coaches that always kind of had the secret key to defending EMBID and I thought coming into this season having Nick Nurse in house, now there might be a slight improvement to a Beads game because how much better could he get raining MVP led the league in scoring two years, but clearly it was creating opportunities for him to pass the ball, and he's done a great job of elevating his game in
that space. I mean, every year it seems like this guy adds something to his game that no one thought was coming. And this is just another asset that he can have.
Yeah, and I think we talked about it last week, the fact that Joelle just seems to be thinking the game at a different level.
Now.
You know, he's a physical presence to be dealt with, and he has the skill and whatnot. But I think this is the year where he's also added that intellectual part of it, where he's smart and he's calculated about his decisions, and he knows where the double team's going to come from, he knows where the weaksideh rotation is going to come from, and so now he's thinking about that play before it even happens, and he's able to make those reads that maybe he wouldn't make a year ago.
So that's been impressive to watch.
I have my pick for a Sixer surprise in just a second. Lauren will have hers later in the show. But while you're kind enough to join us ahead of Philly Sports tonight on the station later on until ten pm. Kelly oubres return is a big storyline as we speak for this Sixers team. So how are you feeling about him coming back into the fold?
I'll tell you what if he hadn't been injured, he would have been the surprise of the first quarter of the season because you bring him in and the average over twenty down to Charlotte last year. But it was Charlotte, Let's be honest. He had a lot of opportunity down there to create scoring chances, but we didn't know how he was going to transition to a team with a star and embiid a player in Maxi. He's been a revelation when he's been on the floor, so I'm really
excited to see what he brings back. And if he's starting lineup at a guy like Nick batoumb goes to the bench, but your bench unit gets better. So he just makes the whole engine run smoother when he's out there, and it's a great thing for the Sixers to finally have him back.
Also another guy who could just really shoot it, and he's the guy that can get hot quickly. I think of the twelve games he's played this year, five of them he's had at least three threes.
Two times he's been.
Five for six from Three's just another weapon out there that can space the floor, can create a shot on his own. And you talk about this offense being number two in the league, and you're missing a guy like that who can put up twenty thirty on any given night.
So the sky's the limit for this team offensively.
Sixteen point three points per game, thirty eight percent from three, and that actually dipped a little bit in his last few games before leaving the lineup, but beginning of November against Toronto and Phoenix, he had twenty plus points in both those games, five for six from three against Toronto, three of seven against Phoenix, But that boosted the three point percentage and it came down a little bit. But
an important player coming back for the Sixers. I believe they said he's expected to come off the bench right when he rejoins the team. But then who knows what the starting lineup the Sixers have options. And as we wind down with our first segment here on six Ers and sixty, am I saying the word tournament wrong when it comes to the NBA in season tournament because Covington, Lauren Rosen, you all apparently say tournament.
Yeah, Maddie, it's tournament. Now you're the guy running the show here Tonight's you can say it outever you like. Tournament will take off your lead. But I feel like that's just adding the extra syllable in there for no reason.
I'm a tournament.
What do they do in Canada.
It's definitely tournament and they would laugh at tournament in Canada they would be like, that's not real English.
So but the o's in there.
So if I feel like it makes sense phonetically, it's just no one says it that way.
It's more I feel like it's like a New York thing, like.
Maybe, yeah, I did go to college in New York.
That might have been it.
That could have factored in and got to the point. I've had to say it a lot this year, the first year the NBA in season tournament. Maybe I'll change it right now on the fly.
We got them to flip.
Nick, you gotta you gotta go on natur you gotta do whatever your whatever your mind and body's telling you, don't.
Don't change anything for us, Matt.
I'll spend some deep time in thought. But Connor Thomas, thank you so much for joining us.
Thanks for having me. Guys.
We'll have Lauren Rosen, Sixers team reporter joining us on the other side and more with former Sixer Nick Stauskas. I'm Matt Murphy and this is Sixers and sixty Welcome back to U Sixers in sixty Tuesday nights live on ninety seven to five The Fanatic. I'm Matt Murphy along with NBA veteran Nick Stauskis, former Process seventy sixer, and
we will be joined by Lauren Rosen. Sixers team reporter Lauren Rosen as the team heads out on another for another road game in the nation's capital on Wednesday night, the sixth. As we're chatting on this week's edition, the schedule does look pretty favorable for these Philadelphia seventy six ers coming off these four days off. We'll get into the upcoming schedule. We'll go around the NBA talk more in season tournament. There's some silver linings that both you
and Lauren want want to discuss. We'll talk to her a little bit more about Kelly Oubre's return and just do our normal road check in as well. But before we do that, I wanted to get my surprise of
the first twenty games in here about rebounding. This is the six team that's looked pretty good on the glass so far, and it's a it's a give and a take with transition defense, and Nick Nurse spoke about that at practice this week about how they're pleased with the rebounding, but about that give and take with transition defense.
You know, we start to look at some of that stuff a little bit more in depth, and see, you know, we had some discussions on on are rebounding today, right, it's obviously been a huge positive. We've had some discussion on a transition defense, right, right, that's that that's been a little bit, you know, something.
We could improve on.
And then you know, you got to be weighing that stuff out right. You know, the are the rebounds, are the offensive rebounds and the opportunities we're getting from that out weighing well some of the defensive transition stuff.
We're giving up, right, And that's not that easy to do sometimes because it feels really awful once somebody leaks out and they throw one on zero and lay it in and then you look down and say, oh, my goodness, we've got twenty six points on offensive remouse tonight.
Yeah, twenty six is more than two, right.
Even if he feels really bad right in the moment, feeling really bad, So you gotta be careful I analyze some of the stuff, so we've didn't go through some of that yet.
The seventy six Ers are number six, number six in rebounding percentage rebound rate, however, you want to refer to it number five in offensive rebounding rate after being number nineteen overall last season, Nick, what are your thoughts on what coach Neurs had to say about rebounding versus getting back in the point disparity and how you'll take the points you get from crashing the glass.
Yeah, I mean I think you always want to have at least at least one or two guys, you know, kind of when that shot goes up on the offensive end, you want to have at least you know, whether it's Maxi or Melting or whoever, kind of making their way back as protection. But you know, especially with the Sixers lineup right now, you know you have guys like Marcus Morris, you you know, Robert Covington, Batoom, all guys that have
length and can can hit the offensive glass. I mean, it kind of makes sense that you're gonna want to send as many guys as you can to try to get some of those extra points. And yeah, sometimes it might lead to easy, fast break points. But clearly they've shown that at this point they can they can rebound on the offensive end at a high level, and if that's going to lead to extra points, you know, maybe that has something to do with with them having such a good rating on the offensive end.
Matt Murphy and Nick stauskis so pleased to be joined on sixers and sixty by Lauren Rosen for a road check in again from d C where Kelly Oubre is expected to return to the lineup and at practice. Lauren, you had the chance to ask Kelly on Monday about Tyrese Maxi mentioning him follow showing his fifty point game this season.
Yeah, what's going on?
Matt?
I love the road check in, Happy to be with you and Nick, and yes, you're right talking to Kelly Ubra the first time he's addressed media since he went
out with that fractured rib a few weeks back. And the day after, of course, was Tyree Snaxy's fifty point career high performance against the Indiana Pacers, and immediately following the game, he told Karen Hatcher of NBCSP that he did it for Kelly Ubray, that it was all for Kelly, and I asked Kelly what it felt like to be watching that from home, and he got a little vulnerable with us. He let us know that it was a
really special moment. He was obviously emotional about what had happened in his own life and was expressed that he had a lot of gratitude that he was able to walk away from that situation and that his injuries weren't worse of course than hearing Tyree's dedicate that game to Kelly certainly made him emotional. He said he went up stares away from his family so he could shed a quick tear and field gratitude for that moment in terms
of his health and being part of Tyrese's journey. So cool to know that he was watching that night and that that shout out from Tyree's meant a lottomen.
Great stuff for sure. And Lauren, what is your surprise or biggest takeaway from the first quarter of the NBA season when it comes to these sixers?
Yeah, I think Listen, I've gotten into a little bit of trouble in some chat columns or whatever comment sections that I'm not supposed to read about the idea that people have doubted Tyrese MAXI in the past, right, I'm not talking about sixess fands, so let's make that very clear. Sixers fans have been with Tyreese from the beginning, but around the league, on national programming, in national columns, people have asked questions about what Tyreese is going to be
able to do every year. His first year when, of course, he fell to twenty one, probably because that he didn't play in the tournament. I was lit name for the previous segment, and I agree his lack of opportunity to play in the tournament is probably why he was able to fall to twenty one and become a seventy sixer. But ever since, people wondered if he was going to be able to shoot. People wondered if he was going to be able to be a primary option alongside Joel Ebid.
In his second year when the team was without Ben Simmons, then how would he work with James Harden? And this year how would he work without James Harden. He silenced doubters. I'm not surprised at all to see him succeeding in this way. He's in the NBA right now, twenty seven points per game, is good for thirteenth, the thirteenth highest scoring player in the NBA right now, fourteenth among all assisters in the NBA, averaging six point seven assists per
game and turning the ball over remarkably little. But my surprise is not is his leadership, the way that he's grown as a vocal sort of force for this team. And he's in his fourth season and just three years ago Joelle Lead was his VET Tobias Harris with his vet. These are guys that he has looked up to, that he has respected, and Nick Nurse came in at the beginning of the season and asked him to let me oversimplify what happened, but asking to boss them around. Right,
we've all been a new jobs. We've all been on teams where there are people you look up to, and to flip the script and how those people you look up to be the people that you're telling what to do is not an easy thing to do. And it's been really cool to watch the way that he's sort
of embraced that challenge. Starting in practice, there were some practices where Nick explained that he was stepping back and purposefully being silent in order to encourage Tyree's to run the gym, and then watching that translate on the court, watching the way that Tobias and Joel have embraced Tyree's as their leader to the script is flipping for Tyres, but it's also flipping for the veterans, and they've embraced
it in turns. So his voice, his communication, his ability to quarterback the gym, to quote one of Niksdauskiss's old coaches, has been really really cool to watch it, and I can only imagine that he's going to continue to.
Grow in that area very well put. But if you're using the word surprise and MAXI with his leadership, does that mean you or I'll pose this to Nick, does that mean Lauren was doubting Tyrese Maxie, she's surprised by his leadership.
Wow, that's a good point.
Not surprised, not surprised, impressed, and maybe surprised by how quickly he's developed into that role. That I will say, because I think that was that was a tall ask for a young player, especially in the situation, this specific situation, asking him to be that focal leader. Watching Nick make that ask and then watching Tyrre's embrace it, I did find it a little surprising in a very impressive way.
Fair and with him out of the lineup in Boston the last game before this show, when they fought very hard, it revealed some of more of the depth of this seventy six ers team, including Pat bev Patrick Beverly, who is a veteran with Maxi on this Sixers team and a mentor to him, one of the vets that that Maxie can look towards try to emulate when it comes
to that leadership. But with these depth revelations, in a game that they really thought, Nick Beverly went for game highs in the main categories twenty six points, eight rebounds, seven assists. He really stepped up against the Celtics, even though they fell six points short, they were without five rotation players, including Mbat and Maxi.
Yeah this I mean, first of all, that's a game that I felt like they played well enough to win, which is that's a tough environment. You know, on the road in Boston, a lot of your best guys are down. It's you know, to even have a chance to win that game says a lot about the guys who showed up and were healthy.
But the silver lining of those games.
In my opinion is that it gives the chance for these role players, you know, to go out and play more freely, and not only that, but show your coaching staff what you're capable of doing on a night to night basis when you're given those opportunities. And so Patrick pat Bev as we call him, you know, he he completely took a of those. And look, he's a vet in this league. He's been around on numerous teams. He's
played with a lot of really great players. So there's no doubt in my mind that if you take away some of that scoring in Maxi and embiid and you give him those opportunities, like he's no scrub.
This guy can score.
At an elite level, and you know, to see him do it on the road and that kind of environment is good. It's a confidence booster for these guys. And even you go down the you go down the sheet and you look at Paul Reid and you know Mobomba, you know all guys that received a little bit more minutes, a little bit more opportunity, and they made their presence felt in that game and moving forward, that's something that they can build off of as a confidence booster.
Speaking of confidence boosters, Beverly before the Lakers game was saying, it's something as simple as Nick Nurse, And he said another coach came up to him in the practice gym and said, we need you to start taking more threes and making more threes. And then he went out against the Lakers and since then he's had a good stretch. But just a coach saying that helped him.
You never want to be out there second guessing, Oh, do they want me to shoot this?
Do they not? You know what am I supposed to do?
Having your coaches kind of reiterate, hey, when you're open, we want.
You shooting this shot. It gives you that confidence that they believe in you.
And just from a basketball perspective, when you're open, as any player, you have to shoot the ball.
Otherwise defenses won't respect you.
And so it's important that even if you're missing shots, you continue to take the right opportunities when they're there, because otherwise the defense sky reports will clue into that and then all of a sudden they're helping off you more, you know, maybe doubling Joel or Tyree. So it's important for him not only to take those but if you're starting to make them like that.
Obviously that's a bonus.
And then when all those guys are out of the lineup, it just becomes more obvious that he really has to take those NBA vet Nick Stauskas, Matt Murphy, and Lauren Roseen here on sixers in sixty and the guys were out against Boston, Lauren, but they they really showed what this year's seventy six ers are all about by fighting in that game.
It was not just Pat.
Yeah, and of course Matt. When you know you're going to be without the MVP, the reigning and current NBA scoring leader, people are going to have to step up. And then when you find out that you're also going to be without your point guard, a top fifteen score in the NBA, that can be debilitating for a team. And understandably so, right that's about sixty almost exactly sixty points a night that you're going to have to overcome against one of the if not the best teams in
the league right now. And so to see the way that this team took the floor that night, all of the double figure performers, including Tobias Harris, Marcus Morris, Senior, Paul Reed, Patrick Beverley, the Anthony Melton, Robert Covington, Mobamba, those aren't guys that are traditionally relied upon for scoring as such a high clip. But to see all of them show up and rally, not to be corny, that it all goes back to what Nick Nurse asks for that they expect to win every game, regardless of where
they are, who they're with, who they're playing against. And to see them come out with the expectation that they could win and watch them believe it all the way through the end of the game, of course, just shy of what would have been a huge upset victory. Matt it was. It was cool to see and it's certainly heartening if you're a Sixers fan to understand the depths of the team that they're going to continue down this stretch.
With Beverly tied a career high with the twenty six. He actually split a pair of free throws down the
stretch that would have given him a career high. The last time he scored twenty six was April second, twenty seventeen with the Houston Rockets in Phoenix against the Suns, and Lauren, you're joining us from Washington d C, where the Wizards are next on the schedule, and the upcoming schedule for the Sixers including that game, is Washington on December sixth, then Atlanta, then home against Washington, then a home and home against the Detroit Pistons, and it goes
on from there pretty much all the way until the Minnesota Timberwolves come to town on December twentieth. But teams on paper that the seventy six Ers have either already beaten or should be when you look at the standings, and it begins with the first of two upcoming games against the Wizards, you have.
Two of the next three games against the currently three and sixteen Washington Wizards, who have been struggling quite mightily early in the season. And Matt nick Nurse talked about it the night that the team was likely eliminated at the time from the inn season tournament. This was something that they wanted to be a part of. They all expressed that they wanted to be in Vegas this week, but nick Nurse said that if they weren't going to be,
they were going to find some silver lining. He wasn't sure what they were at the time, but they were going to find some silver lining within this week, well, four days off Matt, two off days, two practice dates, especially when you're dealing with above going around the crew, huge silver lining, right. You guys mentioned it at the top. I think Nick said it at the top. But then a second one, obviously, is that you're going to end up with some opponents that aren't necessarily the other teams
that are excelling the most. Right the teams that are moving on, they get two of them advanced last night, two more will advance tonight. Are some of the best and hottest teams in the NBA right now. Well, the Sixers don't have to play any of those teams this week, and they should if they can use that to their advantage. So that's the second silver lining that this team is going to be able to embrace this week, not quite having made it to their goal of getting to face.
Two games added to the schedule. Nick that weren't on there until very recently in the Wizard's game and the Hawks game. It's a great point from Lauren. I wasn't even thinking about the in season tournament like that, with how it's eight teams that qualified and those are eight of the best teams in the NBA how they're playing in their current form and you can't possibly match up
with them. So the Sixers kind of as like, maybe they underachieved in those tournament games, but they are among the best teams who did not qualify for the quarterfinals.
Exactly, and like Lawrence said, it's a really good opportunity for them to, you know, take advantage of this schedule and look, if you can string together four or five wins in a row against teams that you should beat. Now with the way the East is now, you're putting yourself back in that position where you're fighting for the
number one spot. And I have a feeling that the East is going to be pretty tight all the way through this year, and so you're going to need every win you can get for, you know, for home court advantage come playoff time. So I think it's important to not overlook any any opponents at this point of the year.
You still want to respect everyone, but at the same time, you got to if you're the Sixers, you look at the schedule and you say, these are games that we are going to win, and we must win them in order to establish ourselves as one of the elite teams in this.
League, Lauren Rosen, Why do you hate the Indiana Pacers is t court?
I don't know what it is not? And no disrespect, because in general I've loved the court and I like that you said is to avoid the word tournament. But it's fine moving forwards. I like what they did with the court. I really like the Sixers court. I know that the Sixers court was one of the ones that people weren't too sure about universally. I've loved how it's looked. But every time I've watched the Pacers on that court, my eyes just have a hard time adjusting to it.
I don't know if I'm getting old or what's happening, but when I look at that court, I struggle to find the players on it. It might just be the colors, it might be my eyes. I think it's a cool look objectively, but I find it extremely hard to watch basketball on that court. I might be all alone. I might be because I liked the courts in general, but I didn't like that one.
Nick and I were discussing that it hasn't forced the Pacers to adjust their They're playing great on it, even if the fans have to adjust a little. I'm just I'm in favor of all the courts. Sports are fun. Give me all these crazy looking courts. I as a viewer, it's not so bad to the point where I'm like, I can't watch this game. And you watched this game and it didn't you didn't turn it off because of the court.
It was.
It was a great game to begin with. I I throw enjoyed that.
And I think Loki Adam Silver, I think, you know, he's got to be excited about just the fact that we're sitting here talking about it, Like the color of the court is engaging conversation, and you know, people are tuning into the game saying, oh wait.
What's going on here? Why is the court this color?
And it's it's engaging fans in a way that they maybe were not engaged before.
So for him, that's a win.
And just overall last night, seeing the atmosphere of the of that Pacer Celtics game, it did have a playoff feel and the Pacers players were hyped, Like when they pulled away at the very end, players are running on the court, bumping chest, screaming, and you're starting to see it it means something to them and they're playing with that intensity that you would maybe only see in April
or May or June. So I think if you're Adam Silver, You're you're you're pretty excited that your plans for this first year is tier are going.
Uh, you know, they're going.
Up five hundred K per player to the win team, two hundred K for the runner up, one hundred each, and then fifty each for quarter finalists. That's the monetary breakdown. I feel like it's important to add that in sometimes when we're having this discussion, because the players on the end of the bench were really celebrating hard on the pacers when they were in the clear against Boston the
game we're referencing, the Indiana Boston quarterfinal ist game. I do somewhat disagree with the premise of these games mattering more to younger teams that don't have that playoff experience yet, because I think they all equally want no matter if you were in the playoffs last year or not, and competing for Indiana thinks they can compete for an NBA championship this year. They also want this trophy and the money.
I don't think it's there's an extra advantage to being a young team without playoff experience trying to get it here.
Yeah, I don't think it's an advantage, but you know, I saw a stat on Instagram saying the Pacers have ten players this year that are making under three million dollars per year year, and so you look at it that way and you're like, man, five hundred, they're one went away from, you know, playing in that championship game, and so that means a lot to those guys like that's not just you know, I'm sure with guys like Lebron Steph Curry, you know, half a million dollars doesn't
it really mean the world to them at this point of their careers, with with how much wealth they've am masked. But for some of these young guys, like this is life changing money. And to see that excitement on their faces yesterday when when they pulled away in that game, it's cool to see, and you know, I'm happy for them. Pacers are balling, by the way. They're a fun team to watch.
Yeah, they're so fun when they're not playing on that one course, I watch them on theak top all the time. I just can't look at the bright yellow and the bright blue. It's doing something to me.
I love it. Well, we agree to disagree, Lauren, thank you for joining us. Sixers Wizards coming up and then the Hawks is the next home game for the Sixers. Thanks for chiming in and giving us one of another one of your road check.
Thank you so much for having me, guys. This is such a thrill. By the way, to have Nason so regularly. I know you guys, if you're listening and you're not already following this trio, please do so that you can engage with us and let us know what you want to hear more of, because there's more. Nick Stauski's coming your way, and that's a promise.
Lauren.
I appreciate you. And by the way, check out the restaurant Philamina in DC.
I bet she already knows about it. I guarantee.
Oh, I've heard it.
Best Italian, best Italian that I've had. I highly recommend if you can, if you can squeeze into a reservation there.
Wow.
Well we're coming back in not too too long, so on one of these trips I'll try it out. Thank you for the wreck. I trust your take.
I got you awesome. Thank you both so much. Thanks everybody for listening up. Next on the radio side Philly Sports Tonight with Connor Thomas, Sixers and sixty Tuesday Nights Live on ninety seven to five The Fanatic available on the seventy six Ers Insiders podcast. Thanks to producer Tom Alboard for Lauren Rosen and Nick Stawski. Matt Murphy, thanks for listening.