Sixers vs. Nets playoff series storylines and thoughts
12 thoughts and tidbits on Sixers' first-round matchup with Nets originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The Sixers’ sixth consecutive postseason is almost here.
With Game 1 of the team’s first-round playoff series against the Nets tipping off Saturday afternoon, here are 12 thoughts and tidbits on the matchup:
1. Since the Sixers dropped to 12-12 with a Dec. 5 double-overtime loss to the Rockets in James Harden’s return from a right foot tendon strain, they went an NBA-best 42-16 the rest of the season. Over that 58-game stretch, the Sixers ranked No. 2 in offensive rating and No. 2 in net rating. Beyond anything specific to the Nets, there’s a large chunk of evidence that the Sixers should be quite confident entering Round 1.
2. With Philadelphia native and Villanova product Mikal Bridges on board, Brooklyn finished the regular season 12-15. Two of those losses were to the Sixers, a tight defeat in Bridges’ debut and a final-day game in which almost every rotation player for both teams sat. While neither the Nets’ post-trade deadline roster nor that 12-15 record suggest Brooklyn is an elite team, those 12 wins include a comeback from 28 points down to beat the Celtics and a road victory over the top-seeded Nuggets.
Bridges has averaged 26.1 points as a Net and exceeded 40 three times. When the Sixers talk about their respect for him and Brooklyn, it’s not just trying to say the right things about an opponent they know they’ll easily beat.
“He has more volume, more confidence, more plays run for him with the offense kind of flowing through him,” Tyrese Maxey said of Bridges on Tuesday. “So hats off to him. He’s going to be tough for us to stop. We’re going to have to play him not just 1-on-1, but a five-man defense. He’s got to see a crowd every single time that he catches the ball.”
3. Some aspects of the Sixers’ preparation for last year’s first-round meeting with the Raptors should be applicable. Brooklyn’s starters are extremely long; Spencer Dinwiddie has the smallest wingspan of the group (6-8.25 at the draft combine). Dorian Finney-Smith’s wingspan is a hair under 7 feet, while Bridges and center Nic Claxton are both over that mark. Like Toronto, the Nets will aim to switch, double team, and scramble in a way that troubles the Sixers’ offense. Their length and defensive versatility will pose significant challenges.
4. Brooklyn actually hasn’t been great at translating those traits into transition offense. Post-Bridges debut, the Nets have added just 1.1 transition points per 100 possessions, according to Cleaning the Glass, which ranks 27th in the NBA. Perhaps the Sixers’ vulnerabilities in transition defense won’t be tested too seriously here, although it certainly seems that Nets shooters like Joe Harris and Seth Curry are capable of turning Sixers giveaways into early-offense threes.
5. Remarkably, Curry and Harden will be the only two series participants involved in last February’s giant Sixers-Nets trade. Ben Simmons is out with a season-ending back injury, Andre Drummond is a Bull, and Paul Millsap is not on an NBA roster.
6. Health remains a significant topic with Harden, who said in late March that he did not expect his left Achilles soreness to “completely go away.” Head coach Doc Rivers did call the 10-time All-Star “healthy” Tuesday, and the Sixers would clearly be pleased if Harden is able to duplicate his excellent play from the regular season. Harden averaged 21.0 points and a league-best 10.7 assists while shooting 38.5 percent from three-point range, which was his highest mark since the 2011-12 season.
When he’s on, Harden’s adaptability and command of the offense have been very impressive this season. An off Harden game here or there in the postseason would be fine, but the Sixers need him to stay aggressive as a driver, put up wide-open catch-and-shoot threes, and work through in-game rough patches when he’s not getting foul calls and jumpers aren’t falling.
“To be able to be scoring champ and assists champ multiple times is kind of crazy,” P.J. Tucker said Wednesday of Harden. “I don’t how many players could actually do that. For him to evolve to be more of a playmaker now, to get everybody involved, to see the game ... I think he has one of the hardest jobs because he’s so used to having the ball so much. And now with (Joel Embiid), trying to figure that out every night, it’s crazy. To see him evolve all year, it’s been amazing.”
7. Spacing is always key around the Sixers’ stars, and it’ll be especially important against an opponent determined to scramble and prevent situations in which Embiid can deliberately pick apart the defense. After Tucker hit three threes down the stretch in a win last week over the Celtics, Rivers mentioned postgame that Harden had said the Sixers should shift the 37-year-old to the corner and put Tobias Harris in the dunker spot. Last Friday, Rivers indicated that is now the Sixers’ preference moving forward, although the team will be fine with either option.
“Well, we’ll do both,” Rivers said before the Sixers’ stunning win in Atlanta. “There’s times where just in your spacing organically, Tobias is in the corner and P.J. is in the dunker. But we just think Tobias is a better finisher around the rim. P.J. and Tobias are both good corner three shooters. So we would prefer it the other way, but we don’t mind either.”
Against a team like the Nets, spacing will be inherently fluid. It’s still absolutely worth having preferences, though. Brooklyn on Feb. 11 regularly double teamed off the entry passer on Embiid post-ups to create an immediate scramble, and the Sixers had the player on the weak-side wing make a slot cut, forcing the Nets into additional rotations. Ultimately, the notion that Tucker is slightly better suited to the corner than Harris makes sense to us. The veteran forwards had nearly identical performances this year on corner threes — Harris shot 55 for 135 (40.7 percent), Tucker 54 for 135 (40 percent) — but Harris is indeed the better finisher statistically. Per Cleaning the Glass, he shot 68.2 percent this year at the rim. Tucker went just 22 for 47, or 46.8 percent.
Tucker has grown accustomed to setting up in the corner and worked to provide value from that spot.
“It’s just spacing,” he said Wednesday. “Playing with really good players, they need space. You can make it hard on defenders to be able to help, and make ‘em pay. That’s all it is.
“I don’t love the corner, it’s just where the most space is to give people opportunity to work. Doing that has just evolved from working on it — always working on being a very good role (player) and a guy that guys want to have on their team.”
8. Claxton has thrived in his first season as a full-time starter. The 23-year-old has averaged 12.6 points on 70.5 percent shooting, 9.2 rebounds, and 2.5 blocks, which ranks second in the NBA.
“He’s great at the rim,” Rivers said Tuesday. “He’s also one of the few bigs that can switch on guards and keep guards in front. You’ve got to get a shoulder in his chest — all shot blockers, you have to do that. And then on offense, the rolls — he’s a great roller. We’ve got to try not to let him get behind our defense.”
Though Claxton converted his last seven free throws of the regular season, he still finished the year at just 54.1 percent. That may become a problem late in tight games, especially given the context of his last playoff outing featuring a 1-for-11 night at the foul line in the Nets’ Round 1, Game 4 loss last year to Boston.
9. If tension between Claxton and Embiid boils over, it wouldn’t be shocking. Both picked up early technical fouls in the Sixers’ Jan. 25 victory over Brooklyn, a game in which Claxton posted 25 efficient points and 11 rebounds and played well on both ends.
Afterwards, Embiid said, “(Claxton) said something he shouldn’t have. That’s why, when I walked up to his face, I told him to say it to my face again. That’s why he looked away and he didn’t say it again, because … he knows why. There’s not a lot of times where I get in those situations, but I’m not going to allow any sort of disrespect. That’s why he couldn’t say it to my face again.”
10. This matchup appears to be a good one for Paul Reed. One aspect of that is simply his comfort (and confidence) defending whoever’s in front of him as part of switch-heavy, bench-heavy, Harden-centric lineups.
“Just being able to switch one through five is a big advantage for us,” Reed said Sunday in Brooklyn. “For me, I’m a versatile player. That’s what I’ve been doing my whole career — just guarding dudes — so it’s really nothing.”
On the other side of the floor, Rivers has been emphasizing to Reed the importance of rolling quickly to the rim. The quirky big man explained how that’s a smoother task against teams that lean on switching.
“I just like being able to set the screen and get out fast,” Reed said. “I feel like I use that to my advantage most of the time; I set screens and roll faster. When they’re not switching, I’ve got to hold it and wait a little longer. But getting out fast, I feel like it throws their defense off balance and it just helps us score a little easier.”
11. Dinwiddie and Joe Harris are the two Nets set to play in both the 2019 and 2023 first-round series vs. the Sixers. Embiid, Tobias Harris and Furkan Korkmaz are the only three Sixers. Shake Milton was a Sixers rookie that season, but he wasn’t eligible for the playoffs as a two-way player.
12. At a time of year when teams tend to think constantly about gaining tiny edges, Rivers’ family ties are a unique variable.
After coaching Curry for a season and a half, he’ll be facing his son-in-law in the postseason.
“I’m going to see if I can get something out of him. But Seth rarely talks, so I’m pretty sure I’m not going to get anything out of him. But I’m going to ask my granddaughter,” Rivers joked. “Maybe she talks to him and she can tell me some stuff. You never know.”
