76ers’ head-scratching moves and bold series comments
It’s only one game into this Heat-76ers series, but already headscratching things are happening. Among them:
76ers forward Paul Reed providing Heat bulletin board material after Game 1 with this remark:
“Honestly, I think we can definitely beat this team. We go out there, be more physical than them and play more aggressive. Keep them on their heels, they’re going to fold. We see that happen in the second quarter and a little bit in the first.
That’s one thing we realized facing this team. … We can really beat this team. The whole team knew it.
“We have the offense. That’s not the problem. The only thing we have to worry about is locking them down every possession and getting out in transition. Once we do that, they can’t stop us.”
James Harden giving short shrift to P.J. Tucker, his former Houston teammate who forced him into three turnovers as Harden’s primary defender on Monday.
“P.J. is P.J.,” Harden said. “Plays hard. That’s not something I’m worried about.”
76ers coach Doc Rivers insisting he will continue to start center DeAndre Jordan, whose team was outscored by 22 points in his 17 minutes.
The 76ers allowed
159.4 points per 100 possessions in the 17 minutes he played on Monday. Philadelphia permitted 119.6 points per 100 possessions with Jordan on the court during the regular season.
For perspective, the NBA’s worst defensive team this season, the Houston Rockets, relinquished 116.4 points per 100 possessions.
“We’re gonna keep starting him whether you like it or not,” Rivers said. “That’s what we’re gonna do because our guys believe in him. At halftime, we asked our key guys … and to a man, that’s where they wanted to go. We love Paul Millsap, but … I don’t love the matchup with Paul and Bam Adebayo.”
Harden taking just 13 shots even with MVP candidate Joel Embiid back in Philadelphia with an orbital fracture.
Harden, 32, led the NBA in shot attempts just two years ago (22.3 per game) and averaged 16 shots per game with the Nets before his trade to the 76ers in February.
But he averaged just 13.6 field-goal attempts per game in 21 regularseason games with Philadelphia and took just 13 in Game 1, producing as many field goals (five) as turnovers on a 16-point night.
So with MVP Embiid out, does Harden need to shoot more?
“I’m not stuck on the numbers,” Rivers said. “If he had taken 13 shots and done more things, I would have been happy with that. … We’ve got to help him, too. We didn’t
handle their pressure very well. I thought we should have, but we just didn’t. That’s an adjustment we can make. If we do that, I think James will end up taking more shots.”
Even Harden admitted: “I can be a little bit more aggressive. They did a really good job of crowding the ball.”
76ers forward Georges Niang asked Tuesday: “How can we make things easier for James? We have to get our spacing down right where he can drive by their defenders and make kick-out passes to us. If we’re all bunched up, that makes it easier on them. That’s on us as players to figure out.”
Per ESPN, 12 of Harden’s 13 field-goal attempts were contested, the Heat double-teamed him on nine possessions, and the average closest
defender on Harden’s shot attempts was 3.7 feet away, which was the third-smallest amount of separation in a game for Harden this season.
One thing is clear: Harden isn’t close to the same player who averaged 30.4, 36.1 and 34.3 points in the seasons ending 2018 through 2020.
And it was surprising
● that Rivers admitted this on Tuesday: “We spent our time trying to pick on certain defenders on their team way too much and it paralyzes your offense. We spent a whole game trying to pick who we wanted to play against instead of running our stuff.”
Max Strus and Tyler Herro appeared to be two players targeted defensively by the 76ers. Harden shot 1 for 5 against Strus.
One news note, on
●
Embiid, who is out Tuesday but could return at some point in this series: “I know he did something [Monday] but not much,” Rivers said. “I know he’s feeling a lot better. I don’t want to give false hope either.”
CHATTER
According to multiple
● sources, Dolphins free agent addition Connor Williams has split time between left guard and center in the team’s offseason program and has emerged as a candidate to be the starting center. Michael Deiter is the other starting center option on the roster.
Williams was Dallas’ starting left guard for much of the past four years but took center snaps in training camp the past two years.
Look for offensive
● tackle and former fourstar recruit Issiah Walker to leave the UM program. Walker transferred to UM months after signing with Florida in 2020 but never challenged for playing time. He missed spring practice and former UM offensive line coach Garin Justice said after the season that he was dealing with a personal issue.
Here’s where UM’s
●
undrafted players ended up: Charleston Rambo
(Carolina); Bubba Bolden (Seattle); D’Eriq King (New England);
Mike Harley Jr. (Cleveland); Deandre Johnson
(Dolphins); Zach McCloud (Minnesota); and Jarrid Williams
(Philadelphia). Amari Carter (Bears) and Navaughn Donaldson
(Giants) got minicamp invites. Cam’Ron Harris
remains unsigned.
The Marlins gave
●
thought to having Max Meyer — MLB.com’s
No. 33 overall prospect — help their big-league bullpen as a reliever but decided to keep him as a starter. He has made five starts at Triple A Jacksonville this season, going 2-0 with a 1.71 ERA, with 21 base-runners allowed and 33 strikeouts in 26 1⁄3
innings. He has told people he’s ready for the big leagues.
He could replace Elieser Hernandez in the rotation if Hernandez doesn’t improve; Hernandez has a 5.75 ERA in four starts, and his six home runs allowed in just 20 innings are the most in baseball.