When it mattered, Sixers had no survival instinct
PHILADELPHIA » The 76ers already were down to about four useful players and a longshot championship ticket by the time Danny Green retreated to the locker room Thursday night, not likely to return. By then, they were also down to one plan.
For one night of desperation, the players who were healthy, close to healthy or not of minor-league quality would have to give it what they could. They would have to defend. Rebound. Run. They would have to compete.
“Just go out and play your game if you’re out on the floor,” Doc Rivers would advise. “No hero basketball. Just play. That’s all you can do. And that’s what I expect.”
In the end, the Sixers couldn’t even do that, standing around on defense, refusing to sprint rim to rim, settling for horrid shots and making the defensive rebound an option, not an obligation. For that, they were chased out of the second round of the playoffs, as usual, with a 99-90 loss to the Miami Heat that emptied the building early.
“The second half turnovers and sloppy play just killed us,” Rivers said. “But I thought it was all game. I just didn’t like how we played.”
So outworked, overmatched, slow, uninspired and inaccurate with their shooting were the Sixers that unlike the last time they were rolled from the playoffs, they couldn’t even blame the whole thing on a decision by one player not to attempt a lategame dunk.
“I know what Miami has,” Rivers said. “I get that. You can see that. They are athletic and big. I just thought we had more. I really did.”
The Sixers expected plenty this season, and so did their fans. They had a good team, remade it at the trade deadline, and seemed to have a better team. But as the Heat won the final two games of the series by a combined 44 points, it was vivid that the Sixers did not have the team they thought they had assembled.
How it reached the point where Rivers barely had enough championship-ready players to compete is a pro-sports riddle for the ages. The franchise spends money, regularly acquires star-level players, has been willing to change personnel executives, pays their coach $8 million a year and — don’t you know? — once made a fiveyear investment in lousy basketball in order to some day play the championship-level kind.
Yet somehow, they proved to be severely understaffed, less than healthy and in too many places inexperienced.
Joel Embiid, whose MVP candidacy and physical stress is eternal, was having difficulty catching the ball because of an unhinged thumb. And while he was shooting, he clearly was bothered by a protective face mask in place to protect his cracked orbital bone. With a chance to prove why he was so valuable, Embiid made just seven of 24 shots, spent the night being shoved around the lane and had a close look at why Bam Adebayo is making a strong bid to pass him on the list of top NBA centers.
James Harden, 32, was neither what he once was nor what the Sixers were expecting when they acquired him from the Nets at the trade deadline, contributing 11 points and then griping that the ball didn’t come his way often enough.
Tobias Harris — he of the $180,000,000 contract — proved only capable of adding one more exhibit of evidence that he is ridiculously overpaid. Tyrese Maxey, a developing All-Star, was willing but not quite ready at age 21 to tilt a playoff series against the top-seeded team in the Eastern Conference. From there?
Nothing.
Matisse Thybulle, a splendid
defender, wasn’t ready to score at a championship level before he injured his foot. Afterward, he was useless at the offensive end, Thursday filling in for Green for most of the night and providing four points.
The Sixers tried to fool people all year with Georges Niang, a stand-still defender. Shake Milton played well Thursday, but has had enough chances to develop as a top-seven-in-the-rotation player and typically plays ordinary basketball.
Green can shoot, but left after four minutes with a knee injury.
And here’s an idea: Come back again with Furkan Korkmaz next year and see how that turns out.
“We tried to build a championship
contending team so fast,” Harden said, insulting the institutional knowledge of a fan base that has been waiting for one since 1983. “I still think we are just missing a few pieces. But we kind of went for it right away and just came up a little short.”
No, they didn’t have the talent to win. But they had the payroll to play hard on a night they were facing elimination. That was a reasonable demand.
“I’m confident in this team,” Rivers said before the game. “I like this team. But we have to go out and do it.”
Trust the process.