‘Feed Joel’ now only part of multi-faceted winning plan

PHILADELPHIA » Part coaching style, part coaching wisdom, part ego-massaging and always heavily based in corporate policy, Brett Brown had an unbreakable plan for the 76ers late in any close game. Feed Joel Embiid.

Go to the “crown jewel.” Trust “The Process,” the All-Star center literally marketed as the embodiment of the endearing NBA charms of tanked seasons.

There was never much of an uproarious protest. Why would there be? Coaching doesn’t always need to be complicated. Showing faith in the most skilled player ever to wear a “Phila” uniform in the most important moments was reasonable. What? Was he supposed to free Ben Simmons for a triple?

That’s how it was. For a brief time, Jimmy Butler had other ideas, and with valid reason. But when he lugged them into coaches’ meetings on a regular basis, they became like robocalls, annoying, intrusive, arrogant.

So he was gone. And for a while it was crown-jewel time again.

Even if that is a streamlined version of history and runs past the occasional critical shot from JJ Redick or Marco Belinelli or Michael CarterWilliams or somebody else, the Go-to-Jo compulsion was brought to relevance Wednesday. That’s when coach Doc Rivers was comfortable running a game-winning play that would end with a midrange Tobias Harris jump shot good for a 107-106 victory over the Lakers in an NBA regular-season classic.

“It was a just a multiple option play,” Rivers said. “The first option was to pin down with Seth Curry for Joel. If he didn’t have a good look, throw it to Seth. If Seth is not there, Tobias slips into a pick and roll. They are switching. Whoever is on Tobias, then Tobias is at the nail. The spacing was great.”

Forgive the good Doc, bless him even, for being a little wordy amid the immediate satisfaction of a late-January triumph that validated the Sixers’ first-place standing in the East. Beats the alternative of a coach saying he had to look at the film. But that coach-speak mouthful could have been Cliffs-noted down to a few key phrases: Multiple options, look for Joel, adapt, be confident in Tobias.

For that, there won’t be nine seconds for the rest of the season better able to define why the Sixers are equipped to win the whole thing. Embiid is great, the best in the business this year. Yet quietly but surely, Harris is morphing into the star that his $180,000,000 contract demands.

Though Rivers was clear that Embiid was an early option, there was never a panic to throw the ball his way. Indeed, Embiid chose to camp about five feet away from the basket, as he’d often done in that situation throughout his career. Curry could have forced him the ball, but Embiid would have had to dribble, a challenge that in similar spots too often has ended in a turnover.

Only Curry knows how diligently he looked for Embiid, but it wasn’t exactly like he’d organized a search party. Instead, the Sixers carefully ran the play, fed Harris and waited for the Lakers to realize that they are going to have a problem should they meet the Sixers in the finals.

“It was a big moment,” Harris said. “That was a big game. I just wanted to win. We let them back in it and I was a little frustrated. I just wanted to be calm and relaxed in the moment. I wanted to get the shot off and live with the result.

“I was able to do that.” At long last, Harris is playing at the second-superstar pace required for any contender. That removes some pressure on Simmons to fill that role, allowing him to contribute defensively, on the boards and in transition, as he did with passion against L.A.

And Danny Green and Curry have been reliable shooters. With that, but only with Harris thriving as a confident dagger-shotmaker, Daryl Morey’s first plan can work.

“I’m happy for him,” Green said of Harris. “He made our night with that one.”

The question: Does Harris have the ability to make such shots on a regular basis, the Butler way, the LeBron James way, the Kevin Durant way?

If so, it would group him with some of the best ever to play the sport. That’s a lot to expect. As Rivers pointed out Wednesday, the Sixers tried to go to Harris in a similar spot at Memphis, but without success. It’s basketball. It happens. But with Harris as a supplement to Embiid, who is playing himself into that world-class company, the Sixers will be tough to defend late in games.

“We’re trying to get him to his spot,” Rivers said. “Get there. Elevate. Shoot. Keep the game simple. When he does that, he’s unbelievable.”

Harris has never been an All-Star, but going for 24 and seven and so calmly depositing the game-winner in a marquee TV victory over the Lakers will help.

“I want to be in those spots,” Harris said. “I visualize myself in those spots. If Joel isn’t open, just let me get to my spot.”

He’s getting to his spots, and that has helped the Sixers earn their spot in the standings. They built and rebuilt and arrived at a time and place where not only do they have lategame options beyond Embiid, but are confident enough to go in multiple directions.

There will be nights when the “crown jewel” makes the game-winning shot. But Tobias Harris is showing that it no longer has to be the company policy.