Well that was exciting.

With nothing to play for, the Sixers rolled out a depleted lineup in Dwyane Wade’s home finale, losing by 23 points in pretty sad fashion. It means they can finish no better than 51-31 with a win tonight, which would be one game worse than how they finished last season.

It doesn’t mean anything in the big picture, not without context, but down the road we’ll look at this team and wonder why they didn’t win more games, because all three versions of this squad were arguably more talented than the group that ripped off 16 in a row in 2018 to finish 52-30. We will have to explain to our kids that the starting lineup only played ten games together down the stretch and that everybody had a severe case of looking ahead to the playoffs-itis.

So here we are, with one more meaningless game separating us from the weekend and the first round of the postseason. Last night was a straight-up joke, so I’ll just go straight to the bullet points:

  • I wouldn’t have played played Ben Simmons, Tobias Harris, or Jimmy Butler. Jimmy played about two seconds of defense and scored 4 points in 16 minutes. Harris went 3-16 from the floor and Ben at least gave half a shit at the start of the game.
  • Are we concerned about Harris’ shooting? Or does he “flick the switch” this weekend? He’s been struggling from the floor.
  • Nice to see Furkan out there. Alaa Abdelnaby is right; he did look a little bigger  due to hitting the weight room while rehabbing his knee. He went 1-3 last night, and even if he can give you some scoring off the bench in round one, I’m not sure he provides enough defensively in the postseason. He picked up a flagrant for shoving Hassan Whiteside from behind, though I did love the Covington-esque swipe on that 1st quarter pick and roll, leading to the run out and layup at the other end.
  • I enjoy Boban’s offensive game. It’s a shame that he’s going to be unplayable in the second round because of his defensive mobility, or lack thereof.
  • Whiteside had 4 blocks and 15 points last night. Feels like he always plays like a slug against the Sixers, but of course he looked good with Embiid on the bench.
  • The starters shot 1-13 from three last night. That’s 7.6%. The entire team was 0-12 from three in the first half.
  • Zhaire Smith had a 4-8 shooting night. He looks like he’s going to be a solid defender next season, that two-way backcourt player the Sixers really need. The lack of experience is glaring, however, and I don’t know if I see a ton of separation from Jonathon Simmons, but I guess you have to go with Smith right now if you need a 9th or 10th guy off the bench in the playoffs. I don’t really know what other options you have. Simmons was okay last night, but Brett Brown basically said Smith is ahead of him in the rotation.
  • Jonah Bolden left the game with knee soreness. He was questionable with the same issue coming into this one.
  • Amir Johnson and Greg Monroe started the second half. Monroe had 18 points in 19 minutes to lead the team in scoring. He actually looked… pretty good out there. The Sixers’ depth situation behind Embiid is riddled with holes.
  • I laughed hard when Haywood Highsmith denied Wade a self-alley oop off the backboard.

Here’s the video clip:

“Highsmith not cooperating.”

Yeah? Good. Good for him. He did the right thing, FYI. Don’t give anyone any easy shit, ever.

Dwyane Wade’s career highlight reel will be more than fine. Highsmith is on a two-way contract and the guy barely gets a game. Of course you want to get back and work hard and play defense and put forth some effort.

Heat fans, however, could not get over themselves for the “disrespect” Highsmith showed Wade. They were commenting on his Instagram, calling him a “whole hoe” and whatnot:

That’s about it. We’ll see how Miami comes out tonight against Brooklyn. The Heat were eliminated from the playoffs with Detroit’s win last night, so I don’t know what the motivation level looks like.

If the Nets lose and Orlando wins, it’s Sixers/Magic in round one. If the Nets or both teams win, it’s Philly/Brooklyn.

Happy hump day:

Uh ohh… guess what day it is?