“Oh you didn’t know? Your ass better call somebody!”

Had to go with the Degeneration X introduction this morning in honor of Joel Embiid, who ran the floor in transition just before halftime, got the ball from Ben Simmons, took two steps, and went up and under for a tough basket, and-1!

Then, while laying on the ground, he thrust his hips into the air and gave us the circa-90s crotch chop, an homage to Hunter Hearst Helmsley and “The Heartbreak Kid,” Shawn Michaels.

“It’s fun. I missed the crowd,” Embiid said after the Sixers’ 25-point win. “I mentioned in the past that DX is my favorite. Triple H and Shawn Michaels were my favorite wrestlers. Obviously the group was also my favorite and that’s what they used to do (the crotch chop). And also with the ref sign for the ‘and-1,’ it just made sense to combine the both of them and just enjoy myself. But at the end of the day I missed the crowd, and I enjoy when they get loud. It doesn’t only help me but it helps the whole team. Getting loud makes us play harder and get more stops and get out in transition and make plays.”

The Sixers figuratively told the Wizards to “suck it” on Wednesday evening, as they rolled to a 71 point first half and went on to win comfortably. They pulled their starters early and we got playoff minutes from BBall Paul and Isaiah Joe, which means that Doc Rivers’ team is rested and in excellent position as they head into Washington for game three holding a 2-0 series lead.


Probably the biggest takeaway is that the trio of Embiid, Ben Simmons, and Tobias Harris combined for 63 points on 28-40 shooting. Washington didn’t have anybody to guard them. And with Russell Westbrook shooting 2-10 and hurting his ankle in the second half, Bradley Beal just doesn’t have enough help for this Wizards team to keep pace with the Sixers.

The series is pretty much over.

Ben Simmons and “giving space”

There was quite a bit of chatter about Ben Simmons’ game one performance, which consisted of 15 rebounds, 15 assists, and six points. He only shot 3-9 from the floor and was 0-6 from the foul line, which resulted in a lot of shit talking, including Howard Eskin trashing him at Eagles practice.

Wednesday, Simmons did a nice job of quieting his critics, at least for perhaps one news cycle, as he went on to log 22/9/8 in just 29 minutes of play. He would have very easily had a triple double if the Sixers weren’t killing the Wizards, but he sat the entirety of the fourth quarter and cost bettors some nice dough in the process. A bummer for double-double (+140) and triple-double bettors (+600), but it happens. Such is life.

Afterward, Ben was asked about the criticism from game one, and I thought this was a good sequence of responses right here:

We got aggressive Ben early in this game. He got to the rack for the game’s first bucket and then hit a short fadeaway going to his left. He tried and missed a right-handed eight footer a short time later but didn’t seem to hesitate in shooting it, which was good to see. And on the next two trips down the floor he attacked the rim, which was encouraging because sometimes he’ll look assertive in the first few minutes and then sort of disappear or become deferential. He won’t keep that downhill mentality going, but that wasn’t the case in this game.

“They were giving us space,” said Doc Rivers of Washington. “And when they don’t give us space, that means Ben is going to drive and kick off. He’ll create points by passing. When they do give space, then Ben drives to score. Tonight they kind of changed what they were doing on Joel, which gave Ben more room. They were also spraying back out to our shooters, which gave Ben more room. He was great and took advantage of that.”

This is pretty much the story of Ben’s offensive career. If the space is there, he should attack the rim. If they throw another body in help, and he collapses the defense, then the kick out is always the better play. Nobody is ever going to convince you that driving against two guys is better than passing it back out to the perimeter for an open three-point shot.

“It’s all about us scoring points,” Rivers added. “And whichever way we do it, I’m good with that. If we had scored 130 and Ben had the same numbers as the first game, that would mean he was great in doing something else. That’s what I mean. His value to us, you can’t measure it.”

The manifestation of Ben’s offensive limitations occurs in the fourth quarter of close games, when his lack of shooting becomes a spacing liability. In that case, you put him in the dunker spot and let other guys initiate instead. We’ll cross that bridge when we get there, but until then, the guy deserves credit for these last two performances.

Rotational things

With Embiid not in foul trouble this time, he played until the 2:30 mark in the first quarter before coming out for Dwight Howard.

Beyond that, it was Matisse Thybulle, George Hill, Shake Milton, and Furkan Korkmaz also getting first quarter minutes. We ended the quarter with the fabled “all bench” lineup that has resulted in consternation among Sixers Twitter this season.

Tyrese Maxey did get some minutes in this game. He entered with 3:21 in the third quarter and after the game Rivers was asked about that playing time, and whether it had anything to do with Seth Curry having to leave the court via injury.

“It wasn’t a reaction to Seth at all,” said Rivers. “We made that decision – I actually told him at half time he’d be playing in the second half. We’ll see (about his minutes). I don’t comment about player’s minutes and all of that, but he earned it. His speed was a difference maker.”

Maxey has totally outplayed Shake Milton through two games in the playoffs. This is an interesting micro storyline to keep an eye on for rounds one and two, but I imagine that if they get Brooklyn or Milwaukee in the ECF, then it’s going to shrink to an eight-man rotation with Thybulle, Howard, and Hill coming off the bench. We’ll see.

Other notes:

  • Pat Croce rang the bell emphatically. Good to see him doing well after beating cancer.
  • Washington was 2-22 from three. Less than 10%.
  • Good offensive rebounding position for Simmons in this game. He drew a couple of fouls from guys pushing off his back.
  • Rivers referred to Matisse Thybulle as “our defensive Lou Williams.” Thybulle had 5 blocks and 4 steals in just 20 minutes.
  • Dwight Howard earned his first technical foul of the playoffs. There will be more to come.
  • Davis Bertans fouled out with zero points on 0-4 shooting. If they don’t get anything from him off the bench, they have zero chance of keeping pace.
  • Tobias Harris with the quietest 19 points you will ever see. 9-13 shooting. He is on fire right now.
  • The Sixers seem fine with Bradley Beal getting his points, but you might like to see them try something different on him, just to experiment. There’s an opportunity here to try out some different coverages, maybe throw in a top lock at times, just anything to slow him down and give you some experience for when you get to a potential Nets series, and you’ve got three pure scorers you have to account for.
  • From Sixers PR: “According to Basketball-Reference, teams that have taken a 2-0 lead in a seven-game series have a 211-16 record since 1984 when the playoff field expanded to 16 teams.”
  • Also from Sixers PR: “Tonight marked the fourth time since the 2005 playoffs that the 76ers shot 55-percent-or-better in a game. The team has now won six straight playoff games when doing so since 1991 and are now 22-1 all-time (Stathead).”

Great Sixers win. And if you’re not down with that, I’ve got two words for ya:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GICPkSb5OI8