thelesterlee
The Philadelphia 76ers lost Game 1 to the 6-seeded Brooklyn Nets, at home, 111-102 in a game that wasn’t really competitive at any point.
Brooklyn punched Philly directly in the nose with a 12-0 run to end the first quarter and the Sixers pretended like they left something in their cars and then nervously sped out of the parking lot hoping no one would see them.
Wonderful adjustments made by head coach, Brett Brown.
Outside of the Golden State Warriors, the Philadelphia 76ers have the most talented team in the NBA. They are the first team in the history of the league to have all five starters averaging at least 17 points per game. Again, they lost Game 1 to the Nets.
Annnnd they just got teabagged by a team that wasn’t even supposed to make it into the playoffs. You can’t help but compare the massive coaching gap between Nets coach, Kenny Atkinson and Brett Brown’s confused ass.
The Nets guards located the mismatch of JJ Redick (the slow, aging white guy) on every play and completely dissected that poor old man. D’Angelo Russell scored 26 and Caris LeVert dropped 23 points of his own as the Sixers had no answer to the Nets back court isos.
ESPN’s @heydb shows @JoelEmbiid and @iamamirjohnson checking out a cell phone mid-game. “What is that thing doing out?… You’re down. That is a very bad look.” pic.twitter.com/oGt0Q03ItS
— Rob Tornoe (@RobTornoe) April 13, 2019
Not a greaaat look for Brett Brown having two of his players on the end of the bench looking at a cell phone as they’re losing to a team they should be beating fairly easily. Really shows the level of focus and seriousness this team has going into the postseason.
Philadelphia came into this series with the swagger of the defending champions. Where does Jimmy Butler get this heir of royalty from? He and I have the same amount of NBA Finals appearances.
This team has played too many games together for the excuses of lack of team chemistry and blah blah to continually be thrown around. When you have Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, Tobias Harris and Jimmy Butler, you figure that shit out.
Brett Brown often throws the weirdest lineups out there. Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid should have their minutes staggered as much as possible. When Embiid is working in the paint, he should be surrounded by 4 perimeter shooters. Not Ben Simmons standing awkwardly standing on the other block waiting for an alley-oop that Embiid will never throw.
There are long stretches when Ben Simmon is out there with Mike Scott, Embiid, and TJ McConnell with Redick on the bench. Redick should never be on the bench while Simmons is running point.
If you have a player who refuses to shoot around the perimeter, you should probably pair him with one of the greatest shooters in NBA history, maybe, probably, definitely.
The Brooklyn Nets are going to win this series unless the Sixers fire Brett Brown yesterday. Kenny Atkinson might literally dunk on Brett Brown at the end of Game 4 when the Nets sweep the 76ers in Brooklyn after Ben Simmons scores 2 points and Jimmy Butler signs with the Lakers in the third quarter.
