Series Thread: 6) Miami Heat vs. 3) Philadelphia 76ers

[raptorlife4]

the more I think about it I think the Heat have a shot.
They play great defense at times and are gritty.

 

[knowyourenemy]

In fairness to @bksballer89, I think he was talking about a guy who can routinely create their own outside shot.

lol wasn't talking about specialist. I mean guys late in the 4th, you can just go to him isolation style and he can just make contested jump shot after jump shot.

In short there is no DeRozan, Lebron, Durant, Wall, Beal or etc on their roster.

You can make the same case when it comes to Milwaukee because Greek Freak isn't shooting 19 foot J's lol

Other than LeBron and Durant, how do those other guys typically fare in the playoffs? Seems like Simmons driving and dishing will be a better formula then going iso with someone.

 

[Sparhawk]

lol wasn't talking about specialist. I mean guys late in the 4th, you can just go to him isolation style and he can just make contested jump shot after jump shot.

In short there is no DeRozan, Lebron, Durant, Wall, Beal or etc on their roster.

You can make the same case when it comes to Milwaukee because Greek Freak isn't shooting 19 foot J's lol

If you take away the perimeter then you might be left with Simmons 1v1 or Embiid 1v1.
It remains to be seen if those will be favorable matchups in the playoffs.

When LeBron started bullying our players down low, the Sixers doubled LeBron and forced Cedi Osman to make open threes.

He couldn't.

That's why these playoff matchups will be fascinating, because at least one of these matchups will have an unexpected strategy that you would not have seen in the regular season.

 

[Gman]

Other than LeBron and Durant, how do those other guys typically fare in the playoffs? Seems like Simmons driving and dishing will be a better formula then going iso with someone.

It'll be interesting to see how Simmons plays in the playoffs... good coaches like Spolestra are definitely gonna have more of a plan in place. It'll be interesting...

 

[Sparhawk]

That being said, would anyone care to make a friendly wager on this series?

 

[flyerhawk]

lol wasn't talking about specialist. I mean guys late in the 4th, you can just go to him isolation style and he can just make contested jump shot after jump shot.

In short there is no DeRozan, Lebron, Durant, Wall, Beal or etc on their roster.

You can make the same case when it comes to Milwaukee because Greek Freak isn't shooting 19 foot J's lol

Well sure. The Sixers don't have one superstar perimeter player. No question about that.

Their entire offense goes around Simmons taking the ball at the top of the key and either driving to the hole or dishing out to an open look shooter or a shooter with a clear mismatch because the Sixers are so tall.

 

[Rey]

I think Philly having added Ersan and Belinelli along with Fultz looking better and better when subbing in for Ben gives Philly a good shot to win this series. The ball distribution has been great without Embiid in there. The biggest problem Philly had was their bench prior to those 3 getting in there to contribute. That was a big reason why they were having trouble holding leads earlier this year. I see Philly taking this series in 6.

 

[bksballer89]

It'll be interesting to see how Simmons plays in the playoffs... good coaches like Spolestra are definitely gonna have more of a plan in place. It'll be interesting...

Las time they played in early March, Miami had James Johnson guarding him and that worked well.

Will be interesting to see who they have on him Saturday. My guess is either JJ or Richardson.

 

[flyerhawk]

It'll be interesting to see how Simmons plays in the playoffs... good coaches like Spolestra are definitely gonna have more of a plan in place. It'll be interesting...

Definitely one of the big questions of the playoffs.

Simmons is a unique player. I don't think there is any secret sauce solution to defending him. If there were then teams would have exploited it.

But that doesn't mean that his game will translate in his first playoff appearance.

 

[Gman]

Simmons is a unique player. I don't think there is any secret sauce solution to defending him. If there were then teams would have exploited it.

Yeah, I hear ya... I wouldn't think any team or defense could stop him and what he does, the goal would be to slow him down.

I will say that holes in one's game tend to get exploited more in the playoffs... and Simmons at this point in his young career has a giant hole in his game.

 

[flyerhawk]

Yeah, I hear ya... I wouldn't think any team or defense could stop him and what he does, the goal would be to slow him down.

I will say that holes in one's game tend to get exploited more in the playoffs... and Simmons at this point in his young career has a giant hole in his game.

The thing is that is actual game doesn't rely on perimeter shooting AT ALL. His game centers entirely around driving to the paint and dishing to open shooters. Given the way he plays, I'm not entirely sure that a jump shot would really help him nearly as much as people think. Of course, when he does develop an outside shot he will change his game to accommodate that. But right now his game simply need one.

OTOH, his free throw shooting definitely could be a problem in the playoffs.

 

[Gman]

The thing is that is actual game doesn't rely on perimeter shooting AT ALL. His game centers entirely around driving to the paint and dishing to open shooters. Given the way he plays, I'm not entirely sure that a jump shot would really help him nearly as much as people think. Of course, when he does develop an outside shot he will change his game to accommodate that. But right now his game simply need one.

OTOH, his free throw shooting definitely could be a problem in the playoffs.

I caught at least one game this season between Boston and Philly where the C's put Horford on Simmons and Horford was able to play way off him (Al just conceded the outside shot) and then use his similar frame to body Simmons if he drove to the basket. I remember it being pretty effective in that one game.

Now, not every team has a versatile, 'strong yet agile' big like Horford who can pull that off... but that's just one idea on how to contain Simmons which works because Simmons totally lacks an outside shot.

 

[flyerhawk]

I caught at least one game this season between Boston and Philly where the C's put Horford on Simmons and Horford was able to play way off him (Al just conceded the outside shot) and then use his similar frame to body Simmons if he drove to the basket. I remember it being pretty effective in that one game.

Now, not ever team has a versatile big like Horford who can pull that off... put that's just one idea on how to contain Simmons which works because Simmons totally lacks an outside shot.

Well of course Simmons can be stopped by really good defenders, just like every other player can be.

The Sixers and Celtics haven't played since January. It will be interesting to see how they defend him if they both win their series.

 

[LAD]

I caught at least one game this season between Boston and Philly where the C's put Horford on Simmons and Horford was able to play way off him (Al just conceded the outside shot) and then use his similar frame to body Simmons if he drove to the basket. I remember it being pretty effective in that one game.

Now, not every team has a versatile, 'strong yet agile' big like Horford who can pull that off... but that's just one idea on how to contain Simmons which works because Simmons totally lacks an outside shot.

Yea but the problem there is how much energy will that take from Horford, and will he be able to defend Simmons regularly while being a big contributor on offense for Boston? We're talking 4 out of 7 games here.

 

[Rey]

Even when people play "off" of Simmons he can get a running start and get by people. Too big, athletic and fast with excellent handle.

 

[trojanfan12]

I have no logical reason for this (so don't ask me to defend it) and will probably be wrong, but...

Heat in 6.

 

[bksballer89]

Even when people play "off" of Simmons he can get a running start and get by people. Too big, athletic and fast with excellent handle.

Which is why you put someone who is his size. Miami will likely go with the 6'9 James Johnson. If they meet Cleveland, he's going to see a lot of Lebron. Placing someone much smaller on Simmons is stupid IMO

 

[bksballer89]

Whichever team plays at their PACE most frequently is the team who likely win the series IMO.

Philly plays at the 4th highest PACE and Miami plays at the 5th slowest pace

 

[bksballer89]

 

[bksballer89]