Epic collapse has Sixers on verge of elimination
Process in tatters after epic collapse has Sixers on brink of elimination
PHILADELPHIA » Joel Embiid was a finalist for MVP. Didn’t win.
Ben Simmons was a finalist for Defensive Player of the Year. Didn’t win.
Tobias Harris should have been an AllStar. Wasn’t.
Doc Rivers should have been in the conversation for Coach of the Year. Silence.
Then Embiid was left off the All-NBA team, which was quite explainable by the archaic election rules. It was plenty, though, to generate some push-back.
“I feel like guys should feel pretty upset,” Dwight Howard said after a morning walkthrough, a few hours before Game 5 of the NBA Eastern Conference semifinal series against Atlanta Wednesday. “Tobias, Joel, Ben. I feel as if a lot of things that happened this year as far as All-Star, MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, first team, second team. They should be offended.”
With Draymond Green, Simmons was a Defensive Player of the Year finalist, but lost out to Rudy Gobert, who had a 40-piece dropped on him by Embiid in the regular season.
Embiid was a strong candidate for MVP, but Nikola Jokic was equally qualified and also played in every regular-season game.
Harris desperately wanted to be an All-Star, but was disappointed. Rivers was barely mentioned as Coach of the Year despite guiding the Sixers to the top of the Eastern Conference.
To have any All-League team without all three of the finalists for MVP is odd, but the voting still follows rules begun in 1956 and allows for one center, two forwards and two guards. Somebody missed the text that pro basketball has become a positionless endeavor.
In that format, Jokic, Luka Doncic, Steph Curry, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kawhi Leonard made the first team.
“Ben should have been Defensive Player of the Year, Joel should have been MVP and Tobias should have been an All-Star,” Howard said. “I would be ticked off if I was Joel. I would tell everybody, ‘I wasn’t MVP, but I am going to be MVP tonight.’ Ben could say he wasn’t Defensive Player of the Year, but would be the Defensive Player of the year tonight and for the rest of the series.
“We have to come out with that attitude: Hey, don’t forget about the 76ers.”
In what had become a close series, there was nothing wrong with fishing for an added source of motivation. Rivers, though, was concerned with more complex designs.
“I’m biased for sure,” he said. “But sometimes you have to do it to get it the next year, if you know what I am saying. I am not too worried or concerned. Listen, we do have three guys on the All-Defensive teams, which is pretty impressive.”
Simmons was on the All-Defensive first team. Embiid and Matisse Thybulle were on the second unit.
“I think that’s amazing,” Howard said. “I am so happy for Matisse, Ben and Jo. To be on first, second or any defensive team is great. But hopefully they are not satisfied. That was the regular season. Now we need that defensive intensity to raise, because it is about winning the trophy.
“The job is not complete yet. And we’ve got to lock in.”
The Sixers are making a strong push for Embiid to win the NBA Community Assist Award. To vote, fans can tweet with the hashtags #NBACommunityAssist and #JoelEmbiid before the June 19 deadline.
The award goes to the player “who demonstrates the greatest commitment to giving back on and off the court.”
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Rivers was particularly pleased that Thybulle was the first player to make an NBA AllDefensive team despite averaging less than 20 minutes a game.
“I said earlier in the year it’s like having Rollie Fingers, a relief pitcher to come in and shut the other team’s starting lineup and their big hitters down,” he said. “And that’s what Matisse does for us.”
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Though Embiid technically was listed as
“questionable” on the early-evening injury report, he was back in the starting lineup with Simmons, Harris, Seth Curry and Furkan Korkmaz.
In Game 4, Korkmaz filled in acceptably for Danny Green, who remains unavailable with a right calf strain.
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The Sixers were down by three with 6.6 seconds left and the ball in Game 4. Naturally, Rivers replaced Thybulle with Shake Milton and Simmons with Curry.
Two days later, though, he was asked why Simmons wasn’t on the floor with Milton, Embiid, Korkmaz and Harris.
“We needed a three,” he said. “I don’t think it was that hard. I wanted all five guys who could make that shot on the floor.”
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Game 6 will be in Atlanta Friday night at 7:30. A Game 7, if necessary, would be at the Wells Fargo Center Sunday night at 8.