As series twists to Brooklyn, Brown doesn’t want to shout
CAMDEN, N.J. >> The 76ers were a game and a half into a franchise-defining postseason when Brett Brown finally went to his profession’s trickiest play. He yelled. He yelled about defense, and how the Sixers were not playing it to his satisfaction. He yelled about a game plan that was not being followed. He yelled at his players. Then he yelled some more.
And when a 51-point third quarter led to a 145-123 victory over the Brooklyn Nets that could have saved everything from the series to the coach’s job, it invited the possibility that the Sixers need the occasional halftime scolding.
But trick plays aren’t trick plays when they are used too often.
“I think it’s one of the great myths of coaching, to think that’s what coaches do,” Brown was saying Wednesday, after a less-than-exhausting practice. “You’ve got about so many bullets a year. And people that have been around NBA basketball understand that simply. It’s true. You pick and you choose your moments. And it wasn’t anything in my view that was that dramatic. It was just highlighting the truth.”
Embarrassed, or at least exposed in a Game 1 loss in which his team switched liberally only to be caught in unfortunate matchup situations and fall behind in the series, Brown ordered more aggressive defense in Game 2. And while the Sixers were physical throughout, it wasn’t until his intermission film session and corresponding raised voice reminded them that they were not doing that successfully enough to win. That’s when the Sixers responded, taking a one-point halftime lead and winning by 22.
For that, they will enter Barclay’s Center for an 8 o’clock game Thursday night having drawn even in the best-of-seven series.
“He was frustrated,” J.J. Redick said. “And it was kind of good to see him in that mode.”
Through two games, that has been the series’ theme: One team or the other has been frustrated. Aware weeks earlier that the Nets were a potential first-round nightmare for their ability to spread the floor, work themselves into favorable one-on-one matchups and then attack with multiple gifted wing scorers, the Sixers adjusted in Game 2. And even though Brown nearly smiled when acknowledging that nothing he nor Brooklyn coach Kenny Atkinson will spring at this point will be revolutionary, the Nets will have the next move. More, they will have it at home, where a capacity crowd chanting, “Brooklynnnnnn,” in an almost haunting way will provide a challenging atmosphere.
“Each game is different,” Redick said. “Brooklyn is a very good team. I think we are a really good team. They are going to make adjustments every game. They are going to have some semblance of what their game plan was. We’re going to have some semblance of what our game plan was. That’s just how it is going to work.”
This time, Brown knows, shouting will not necessarily work.
“If you have to do it, you have to do it,” he said. “The one thing I like about this group is they let me coach them. There is a togetherness and a locker-room respect for one another that I appreciate. So when you have to do it from time to time, you do it. But by and large, these guys are governed well internally. And I think the game plan we have is clear. It’s not like we are throwing curveballs at them at the last minute. It is what it is. Everybody from time to time needs some help.”
For the Sixers, it is a bit of a problem, their fee for dropping Game 1, and thus, the home-court advantage in the series. Eventually, they will need to win a game in Brooklyn. And in keeping with a situation that has challenged them for weeks, they will do so without having a fully conditioned Joel Embiid. Continuing to recover from a sore knee, Embiid did not practice fully Wednesday, and likely will require his usual pre-game warmup before being cleared to start.
The Sixers’ most pressing Game 3 challenge will be to maintain the defensive intensity and that willingness to wrestle through screens that made the difference later in Game 2. That they are three-point road favorites suggest that as likelihood. The question: Which Sixers team will surface in New York? The one that lagged in Game 1? Or the one that reacted positively to their coach’s locker-room outburst in Game 2?
“If people can find this and bottle it, everybody would be really rich,” Brown said. “This is the challenge. We are human beings. How can you not get content? How can you go to New York City not content? We played well. But it’s still going to be an incredible fight to get through this series. We get the firepower that they have. And herein lays the real intrigue of the NBA playoffs: How do you not get comfortable? There is an appropriate fear that you have to have. How do we replicate what we did in Game 2 vs. what we did in Game 1? Without getting into too much coach-speak, we think we know how to do that.”
They have to shoot better than they did in Game 1. They have to be as aggressive as they were in Game 2. They need to challenge shooters. They need patience when Brooklyn goes to a zone. They need Embiid healthy. And they have to hope that they don’t put themselves in a spot where Brown has to do much more yelling. For that doesn’t work forever.
“We weren’t getting it done, and that’s the bottom line,” Brown said. “But to think that’s the way you do it every game would be really naive.”