REHawksFan

Damn damn damn. Such a great half. But Philly is gonna turn up the intensity. Gotta keep our cool. Also, I need JC to make quick decisions. A few times he's been indecisive and it's gone all wrong.

JC needs to be decisive. Stop hesitating. That's what Randle did all last series.

It's crazy to say but Solo is WAY more impactful than Tony, even though Tony shot 50% from 3pt this year. He just doesn't seem to make an impact at all. I predict Solo will hit a big 3 at some point this series. Difference maker. And he hides in plain sight too.

Don't be given away Solo minutes now jbird. He's the secret weapon that no one EVER sees coming.

One thing I find interesting that I've read on a few series previews now for the Sixers, everyone just seems to think it's going to be really easy to exploit Trae on the defensive end which will then soften his impact offensively. The Athletic writers and the other Philly writer I read essentially say it's a given that it plays out that way. Am I crazy to think that Trae has played better defensively and with Nate's schemes and Clint playing a free safety role that it's not as simple and just exploiting Trae on every possession?? I guess I'll believe it when I see it. The writers all said the same thing with the Knicks and they weren't able to do it even though they tried.

Preview from the Sixer side of the Athletic... https://theathletic.com/2634545/2021/06/05/sixers-hawks-predictions-the-joel-embiid-factor-defending-trae-young/ By Rich Hofmann and Derek Bodner 3h ago 14 Prior to the postseason, falling short of the conference finals would have been considered a failure for the Sixers. Even then, there was always the health caveat. The combination of Joel Embiid’s availability being a question mark and an Atlanta Hawks team that seems to be peaking at the right time has the potential to make this second-round series less of a formality than expected when the bracket shook out. In some ways, this series feels reminiscent of the 2018 second-round series that the Sixers played against Boston. The difference is now that the roles are reversed: The Sixers are the experienced, playoff veterans dealing with significant injury issues, while Atlanta is the young up-and-comer coming off a triumphant playoff debut against an overmatched first-round opponent. The Sixers lost that series in five games, with Boston’s experience winning out in every close game. That doesn’t mean history is guaranteed to repeat itself. As mentioned, the major variable hanging over this series is the uncertainty surrounding Embiid. So it’s only right that before we get to anything else involved in this matchup, we will start with him. The uncertainty surrounding Embiid On Friday, Doc Rivers gave an update on Embiid’s day at practice. “He went through a lot of the stuff today,” Rivers said. “He didn’t do a lot of live stuff obviously, we’re not going to allow that yet. Nothing’s changed, he’s got to go through his treatment. But as far as the shooting and stuff like that, he looked great.” This was a continuation of Wednesday night’s Game 5. Embiid sat out, but he more or less went through his normal pregame shooting drills. And for some, it’s tough to reconcile the injury’s diagnosis (torn meniscus) with Embiid’s status (day-to-day). The medial and lateral meniscuses are cartilage in the knee that essentially act as shock absorbers and give the knee stability. Embiid’s tear in his lateral meniscus is described as small by the Sixers. A meniscus tear in the knee is not always something that people know they have until they look at an MRI, depending on the size and location of the tear. This could include Embiid. “Many people are probably walking around with tears and don’t know they have a tear. And they’re going to be OK because the tear is very small and in an inconspicuous spot. Possibly the tear is in a location where it’s just not impacted as much with the forces coming down on it. For Joel’s situation, obviously his medical team feels strongly that this is not as big of a deal and something that Joel could possibly recover from without undergoing any big interventions,” Dr. Steve Yoon said. Yoon is the Director of Clinical Regenerative Medicine at the Cedars-Sinai Kerlan-Jobe Institute as well as a team physician for the Los Angeles Clippers. He has not seen any of Embiid’s medical records. The Sixers consulted with multiple orthopedic specialists and determined that surgery was not the best option moving forward. For Embiid, it turns into a situation where the level of pain and swelling in the knee will play a huge factor when he returns to the court. “At that point in time, it becomes a well-being, physical thing,” Yoon said. “So Joel obviously has to feel good and not feel pain. Objectively, you don’t want to see excessive swelling. You want to see him perform at a level that he was at before. A lot of times you can tell: If a player says that he feels good but performance-wise you watch his movements — and you can analyze biomechanics really well these days, there’s a lot of intricate ways to measure biomechanics and load on the joint. But if the measurements don’t add up and he’s not performing to what he was performing before, there is something wrong.” The pain Embiid is feeling his knee is not a small factor. He’s no stranger to returning to regular-season games after injury scares that looked much worse than the fall he took on Monday in Washington. For him to miss most of two playoff games gives you an indication of what he’s going through. But the level of play that Embiid returns to is also a huge consideration when assessing the Sixers’ playoff fortunes. In Game 3 in Washington, prior to getting injured, Embiid looked to be at the absolute peak of his powers. Can he return to that level of play right away against Atlanta? If Embiid can play at a high level, his presence alone could very well swing the series in the Sixers’ favor by itself. Without him, they go from massive betting favorites to more of a toss-up series. One important thing to note is that meniscus tears can worsen. That is now on the radar for Embiid. “Obviously there’s no guarantee that it won’t become worse but you also play the odds,” Yoon said. “There’s a lot of data out on meniscus injuries and you can assess the probability of someone like Joel making his situation worse. This must be a situation where everyone feels at least initially the non-surgical route is definitely the way to go.” There are two-day gaps in between Games 2 and 3 and Games 3 and 4 in this series. Rivers said that it’s too early to know if Embiid can play in Game 1, but could the extra rest play a factor? We will start to get some answers this week. Hawks season at a glance After replacing former Sixers assistant Lloyd Pierce with Nate McMillan, the Hawks went on to win 27 of their final 38 games, finishing with a 41-31 record which was good for fifth best in the Eastern Conference. Atlanta’s 27 wins since March 1 were tied for the third-best record in the league over that span, and the exact same number that the 76ers won during the stretch. Atlanta improved on both sides of the ball under McMillan, with their offense going from a 112.7 offensive rating under Pierce to 115.9 under McMillan, and their defense from 112.9 to 111.3. The Hawks had some pretty impressive wins over that stretch, too, including victories over the Heat (twice), Warriors (twice), Wizards (twice), Lakers, Pacers, Bucks and Suns. Some caveats apply for some of those wins, but that’s true for every team during this past regular season. And, of course, the Hawks dispatched the Knicks with ease in the first round, winning four games to one with Trae Young dropping nearly 30 per night. Young is where any conversation starts with the Hawks, and rightfully so. The third-year guard averaged 25.3 points and 9.4 assists per game in the regular season, launching 6.3 3s per contest and getting to the free-throw line 8.7 times each night. That last part is an underrated part of the Trae Young experience, and something which gets overshadowed by his seemingly unlimited range and dazzling playmaking ability. There are some similarities between the Hawks and the Washington team the Sixers just took care of in five games, namely that they’re offensive-oriented teams who struggle to compete on the other end of the court. But the Wizards weren’t actually a good offensive team, coming in at just 17th in the league with a 110.7 offensive rating during the regular season. Bradley Beal was dangerous, but the Wizards as a team were mediocre. That’s not the case with the Hawks, who averaged nearly four points per 100 possessions more than the Wizards did. Unlike Beal, Young is an elite passer as well as an unstoppable scorer, able to make virtually every pass in the book despite his listed 6-foot-1 height. When you combine unlimited range on his jump shot, with creativity and court vision, along with really good roll targets like Clint Capela and John Collins, all mixed in with good off-ball shooters like Bogdan Bogdanovic and Kevin Huerter, and you have an offensive identity that’s far more established, and dangerous, than Washington’s subpar half-court offense was. Reviewing the season series Looking back at the regular season, Rivers said that “you could make the case this is maybe the first time we played each other.” And to differing degrees, you might be able to throw all three of those games in the trash. While the Sixers were 2-1 against Atlanta, all three games involved shorthanded teams. In the Sixers’ first game of the season with Atlanta, back in January, they played on the road without almost their entire team. This was in the week following Seth Curry’s positive COVID-19 test, with many other Sixers in the league’s health and safety protocols. At one point in that game, the super shorthanded Sixers humorously played Dwight Howard and Joel Embiid in the frontcourt at the same time. It did not work. Rivers had a quick hook for Embiid in the third quarter of the Sixers’ 112-94 loss that night, a result that didn’t seem to bother him all that much considering the circumstances. After that game ended, Rivers seemed more concerned with catching up on the college football national championship game. But the Sixers’ two blowout wins against Atlanta in late April also didn’t provide the teams with a particularly useful measuring stick. The Hawks’ guard depth was quite depleted at that time. Young didn’t play in the first game, while Huerter, De’Andre Hunter and Bogdanovic were out for both games of the two-game “series.” We are going out on a limb here but don’t expect the Sixers to win Games 1 and 2 by a combined 66 points with those players back in the lineup. Still, Rivers thought that the two-game series provided the coaches with at least some tactical and philosophical preview. “I’m sure Nate (McMillan) just like I, we looked at the back-to-back,” Rivers said. “That’s the great thing about back-to-backs, because if you do play that team in the playoffs, you can see some of their thinking on the second game like they can see some of ours, some of our adjustments.” Defending Trae Young The Sixers were tasked with slowing down another All-NBA level guard in Beal last series. Beal’s efficiency numbers weren’t all that impressive — he averaged his normal 30 points on below-average 54 percent true shooting — but some of that is due to a rough 3-point shooting series from him. Ben Simmons and Matisse Thybulle made Beal work enough to allow the Sixers’ other advantages to overwhelm Washington, but there were stretches when Beal was in a scoring groove. Young is a different type of player. While Beal’s 30 points feel like they can happen almost regardless of team context, Young is the conductor of Atlanta’s entire offense. And he does that via the pick-and-roll. Along with Luka Doncic and Damian Lillard, Young is one of the league’s three highest-usage pick-and-roll guards. Including assists, he used 1,640 possessions in the pick-and-roll this season and averaged an excellent 1.085 points per possession out of it according to Synergy Sports. And like Young and Doncic, Young is well-rounded out of the pick-and-roll. If you play drop coverage and don’t get around the screen quickly enough, he can rain deep 3s and floaters in with equal skill. For a smaller guard, that floater is a key weapon: 34 percent of Young’s shots come from floater range and he makes 47 percent of those shots, per Cleaning The Glass. The Sixers used a lot of aggressive pick-and-roll coverage to get the ball out of Beal’s hands. With Young, he is more adept at every read and pass you can think of. He can hit the big man on the short roll if you trap just as well as firing a cross-court bullet for a corner 3 if the help defender tags the roller. It also helps that Atlanta has more 3-point threats than Washington. The Hawks shot 37.3 percent from beyond the arc on a slightly below-average number of attempts, a shot profile not dissimilar from the Sixers. And if the big man gets caught in no-man’s land, Young will throw the lob to Capela, Collins or even rookie Onyeka Okongwu. The third matchup of the season, which the Sixers won 126-104, was the only time we saw Simmons and Young on the same court. The Sixers didn’t play Simmons on Young that night, preferring to use him as a roamer against Solomon Hill. Thybulle didn’t see a lot of Young either, instead playing against Danilo Gallinari as the Sixers second-unit had shifted to more of a small-ball approach. Instead, Danny Green got the bulk of the assignment as Young had an efficient 32-point night. Hill isn’t in the starting lineup anymore, while Huerter and Bogdanovic especially aren’t players you can afford to leave. And with Embiid questionable, how the Sixers defend the Young pick-and-roll is a major subplot of the series. Do they have the personnel to defend it conventionally with a small-ball unit? Might Howard have to play even more minutes? Can they handle an elite rebounder in Capela on the offensive glass if they decide to play small? Sixers defensive coordinator Dan Burke has his work cut out this week. That said, there is another way to help slow Young down. Exploiting Trae Young Standing 6-foot-1, with a 6-foot-2 wingspan, slender frame and a massive offensive workload, it’s no surprise that Young is a bad defender. But Young isn’t just bad, he’s terrible: 538’s RAPTOR had him rated as the second-worst defender among qualifying players. While the woeful Knicks offense wasn’t able to exploit Young all that much in their first-round series, the Sixers should have no such trouble, especially if their big perimeter scorers like Tobias Harris and Simmons actively seek out the mismatches to exploit. Even Curry showed what he can do when he has a rare size mismatch, as he lit up Raul Neto in Game 5 of their series against the Wizards. Young played two games against the Sixers this season, and one of them came when the Sixers were without all of Harris, Simmons and Curry. In the one remaining game, Rivers and the Sixers allowed the Hawks to stick Young on Green for most of the game, limiting the impact of his defensive shortcomings. But the Sixers won that game easily anyway, and that was during the regular season. Rivers and his staff will surely make a much more concerted effort to run Young through a plethora of screens, not only to force him to chase shooters like Curry through those screens (which he’s terrible at doing), but also to try to force him to switch onto players like Harris and Simmons, who he should have no chance of holding up against. For the most part, this is one area where the Sixers should be able to exploit with or without the services of Embiid. That being said, if the Sixers do have to spend some time without their star big man, and Rivers elects to get another defender in Thybulle on the floor, that would give Atlanta another place to hide Young defensively, forcing Rivers to get even more creative to get the mismatch he wants to attack. Capela’s Impact The Hawks actually had a positive plus-minus against the 76ers in the three meetings between the two teams when Capela was on the court — and that includes a 44-point thrashing the Sixers put on them back in April in a game that Young didn’t play in*. *To be fair, Atlanta’s one win during the season series was when the Sixers were missing Harris, Simmons and Curry. It was a weird regular season. Regardless of whether Embiid is or is not available, Capela will be a key for the Hawks in the series. Offensively, he forms a dynamic pick-and-roll partnership with Young. In fact, Capela scored the fifth-most points as a roll man during the regular season, and two of the players he was behind (Rudy Gobert and Nikola Jokic) played significantly more minutes on the season than Capela did. Defensively, Capela is one of the better defenders left in the conference to bang against Embiid inside. In fact, Embiid shot just 13-of-33 in the three games against the Hawks when Capela was on the floor. I’m not sure that’s necessarily representative of what to expect going forward, and I don’t expect Capela to stop Embiid if Joel is healthy and able to play anywhere near his best, but he’s less overmatched than many of the other defenders Embiid could square off against in the playoffs. But if Embiid does miss time, Capela’s impact could grow even more. That is, in part, because Embiid wouldn’t be there to potentially put Capela into foul trouble. Capela is a key for Atlanta on both ends of the court, and Embiid being able to get Capela into foul trouble, and thus off the floor, will be something to watch out for if Embiid is able to play. But it’s also because if Capela isn’t tasked with slowing Embiid down, McMillan might put him on Simmons. We saw this a little bit in the previous series, where Daniel Gafford checked Simmons at times after Embiid went down, with Gafford giving Simmons a ton of space on the perimeter to cut off driving lanes when Simmons had the ball, while being able to help off of Simmons when he’s off-ball. Capela has many of the same characteristics as Gafford, but he’s bigger, stronger and more experienced. Predictions I don’t even know where to begin with this one. How many games does Embiid play in? How does he look when he’s on the floor? Does he take a game or two off at the beginning, then come back for the rest of the series? Or is he on-again, off-again the entire time, impacting how the Sixers prepare on a game-in, game-out basis? If Embiid were available for all seven games, and still playing at an MVP level, he would be the difference maker that dominates the game on both ends, and I think the Sixers win this in a “competitive five,” that could stretch to six if a few balls bounce the Hawks’ way. If Embiid doesn’t play at all, I think the series is pretty close to a toss-up, with Atlanta being the better offensive team and the Sixers the more well-rounded, and experienced, one. I suppose for a prediction I’ll split the difference, and say Sixers in six. In truth, I have absolutely no idea. — Derek Bodner The uncertainty surrounding Embiid makes this such a difficult pick. If he were healthy and scheduled to play in every game, this one would be easy: Sixers in five, albeit a more competitive series than we saw against Washington. Embiid would overwhelm Atlanta because he overwhelms almost everyone. But he’s not certain to play in every game, which makes the Hawks a likelier upset pick. Teams typically don’t lose MVP finalists and pick up right where they left off in the second round of the playoffs. After thinking about it for a few days, I still feel like the Sixers are going to get through here. They have more experience than Atlanta and we have seen that pay off when facing a team that reaches a new stage for the first time. And throughout the year, they have continually gotten better at adapting on the fly and holding the fort down without a key player. Regardless of Embiid’s availability and effectiveness, I think Rivers is going to put Young through the wringer on the defensive end defending Harris ball screens. So I’ll add one more loss from last series and say the Sixers win in six games. But again, Embiid’s health is an unknown, massive variable. — Rich Hofmann

I always did like Rich Eisen and never found him to be the shock jock kind of host that SAS and Bayless are. I'm as big a homer as there is for the Hawks, but trying to be objective for a second, I just don't see THAT much separation between Luka and Trae that would negate the opportunity to get another 1st round pick. Now I get that everyone will say, yeah but Cam hasn't amounted to anything. But that's not the point. Ignore Cam as a player for a second, is there really 1 lottery pick difference between Luka and Trae? I don't see it. So yeah, as a Hawks fan, I'd do that trade over again 100 times out of 100, knowing what we know now.

I thought Doc said he had not gotten any live practice in, just shots. I'm guessing even if minor tear he won't be the same dominant guy he's been all year.

Clippers man......one superstar, one all star, and a bunch of randos wearing nba jerseys.

I agree. The problem for Philly though is playing him could make it worse longterm. So it's not just a matter of pain tolerance. They have to at least consider the possibility that playing him could result in losing him for the rest of the playoffs.

To someone in particular.... No thanks on KCP. Never found him reliable as a shooter. And don't see him as a backup to Trae. Would much rather take a run at TJ or Rose.

I think Kevin has a place on this team.....at the right price. A team can never have too many shooters. I don't view him as a starter, but 3-D with a little bit of playmaking ability has a role. I don't know what the right price is, but if they can extend him on a team friendly deal before he really becomes high value to the rest of the league, I'm all for it.

I really HATE being "get off my lawn" guy, but I gotta draw the line here. Alcohol or not. Serious or not. Mad about the series or not. There's some things that are just not OK to even joke about. Shooting other people is tops on my list. Especially given all the recent fan behavior at arenas. The idea that multiple of these people are literally saying they would shoot Trae if they saw him and then giving the fake actions to illustrate it, is just NOT OK to me. It's all fun and games when they are drunk on the street (and presumably not serious), but what happens when one of those drunk guys shows up at the team hotel? I just don't like it. And if I was Trae or the Hawks, I would demand that the local authorities charge these dudes with the threats they are making.

I think I'm missing something. Everything you say (other than saying it's lucky) seems to point to the decisions Nate made being directly responsible for the turnaround. How is that luck? Are you saying Nate slowed everything down on accident? That he somehow lucked into slowing the pace? Why slow things down if he didn't suspect it would make a difference? Isn't that what coaches do? They try things when what they've been doing isn't working. You seem to paint a very clear picture that Nate is ultimately responsible for the drastic team improvement but then discount it by saying it's lucky. I don't follow that.

Given the CAP restraints going forward and the guys that will need an extension / new contract this offseason (JC in FA, Trae and Kev with rookie extensions), do you think it's more likely that the growth and improvement will come internally through the plethora of young players continuing to get better OR do you think Schlenk tries to use the young talent to trade for a star player and add to the team this way? I still maintain we don't actually know what the ceiling of *this* team is, but we can all agree they are so young that nearly all of them are still in the development stage of their careers. Assuming they don't win a title this season, how would you go about getting better to advance further in the playoffs in the future? Internally or Externally??? Or Both? I have a bad habit of getting attached to players on the team (especially this team that has been so much fun to watch) so I have a hard time coming up with players I'm willing to trade away. Therefore, my preference would be to sign JC, extend Trae and Kev and run it back as is with continued focus this offseason on internal growth of the young players AND adding pieces around the edges to solidify the backup PG spot and lengthen the bench.

What you get when you mix trashy new yorkers and alcohol. Reprehensible.

Sounds like LP was a guy who could see the immense potential in Trae, Cam, and Hunter and was trying to ride them until they unlocked it. Unfortunately, not everyone responds well to that kind of "coaching". Some do and use it to drive them to success while others just get pissed off and push back. Seems like Hunter was the former, Cam the latter. Trae was somewhere in between. A good coach is not only able to see the potential in their players, but is also able to understand each player's personality and then can figure out how to pull all that potential out in a way that suits each player individually. Coaching is as much about psychology and relational aspects with players as it is about the X's and O's. That's my take from all this anyway. At the end of the day, Nate has figured out how to maximize the elite talent of Trae and all of the supporting cast and has turned a train wreck into a damn freight train barreling through the playoffs.

Agree with this. But my point is that I don't think that type of play is a recurring thing for him in the playoffs. I think he was wanting to make a statement in a game that was 100% under his control and he got sloppy. I'm not concerned in the least that that is becoming a pattern for him. In regards to the rolling the ball, I get why he does it, but just pick it up when the defender gets close. No need to involve JC, imo.

Like I said, if they lose and he's playing a certain way, then we can talk. But until then, it's a lot of noise about things that aren't a big deal, imo. Trae has been in complete control all series. He's led the team offensively and been solid defensively. I don't think he all of a sudden went rogue with his play in games 4 and 5. The team was never in jeopardy of losing either game. Yes, he took more 3's in both, but he was always in control of the game and neither were in doubt. And last night, he only took 4 3's in the first half and 3 in the 3rd quarter. Then, with the game out of reach, he took 4 in the 4th. I thought he was hunting that killer blow but the game wasn't in doubt. The point is, he had such complete control of the game, that even when he was missing 3's, he never put the team in jeopardy of losing or even really getting down. Lastly, I have no doubt there will be a time of re-focus going into the next series. From everything we've seen from Trae and the whole team, they understand the task at hand and the magnitude of it. They sure don't seem like they are going to go into Philly thinking the wins vs NYK are going to carry them. New series. New foe. New challenge. I think Trae will be ready to control each game as well. Can he do it vs a better team? We'll see. But one thing's for sure, Trae is going to do everything he can to make sure the Hawks win. IF that means being a primary facilitator, he'll do that. If it means being a primary scorer, he'll do that.

Maybe it's just me, but I've never cared about shooting % in the playoffs. You go out and score 36 pts, facilitate for 9-10 assists AND close out a team on the road? That's a great game, imo. And apparently in all of the media's opinions as well. Seems like there's only a few folks on here that aren't satisfied with it. And further, I just think you are making (have made) a way too big of a deal about the trash talk and theatrics of Trae. This is still a game and he's putting on a show. Let the kid have fun. Now, if he starts doing that and they are losing, we can have a discussion. But Trae is roundly considered the 3rd or 4th best individual performance in these playoffs behind Luka and Dame. And no one has elevated his status more than Trae. Let him and the team enjoy it.

Meh. He's having fun and playing to the crowd. It ain't like he's going in interviews saying he's a hall of famer cuz they won a series. I got no problem with it. It's still just a game. Too many stuffy people gettin all up tight over a little trash talking and entertaining. My guess is the Philly fans will be equally involved with Trae so he'll play it up as well. If they leave him alone, he'd probably leave them alone.

What are all the kids saying now..... Stop playin with yo food!!! Put them away.

Talk about demoralizing....Hawks are 2-15 from 3pt and lead by 2. Good grief.

I'd feel better if Trae hit a couple of those 3s. Don't need a 1-9 type night from him. But honestly, doesn't it just feel like it's only a matter of time before the dam breaks on the Knicks?

It's not worth an argument, but I'm not convinced that we were guaranteed a playoff birth with LP at the help. They lost too many winnable games and had too many collapses in the 4th quarter under LP to believe he was all of a sudden going to turn it around. And no, I don't attribute all of that to injuries. LP had Bogie as a catch and shoot guy rather than a secondary playmaker. Nate changed Bogie's role while also unlocked Trae to trust his teammates more. Everything changed once Nate took over. It's really not worth an argument though. We are in a better place now and LP will be fine. So it's a win win. My original post was not meant to slander him at all, because I think he's the type of dude that will continue to get opportunities because his energy is infectious and he's a likeable guy. He also works really hard.