[EC First Round] (3)Philadelphia vs. (6)Miami

Philly in 5, Miami has nobody who can create their own shot.

 

Gotta go with the Sixers. The Heat aren't in a good place right now.

 

Winner goes to the Finals. Mark it down...

 

Philly is hot and Miami isn't much of a threat. Sixers to the 2nd round in 5.

 

So many guys underrating Miami here. I have been paying attention to them a bit closely since Dragić is playing there and let me tell you, no team in Eastern conference wanted to get matched with them. Why?

First of all, they play gritty basketball. They play at playoff pace during regular season. Their defense is top-notch because of their culture. Spoelstra is demanding maximum effort from every player every minute they're on court.

That being said, there are some X-factors that would need to align for Heat to have a chance against Embiid-less Sixers.

1. Remember how we talk about Olympic Melo? Well, there's Eurobasket Dragić too. If anyone watched him play in last year's National Team, he can understand. He was assertive, he was fearless, he DEMANDED the ball. It's no secret Heat usually struggles when opposing defenses focus on Dragić.
If Heat gets Eurobasket Gogi, they have a chance.

2. Whiteside. Top5 center if he puts his mind to it. Bottom 10 if he doesn't.

3. Wade. That is biggest X-factor of them all, IMO. If Miami will go to Wade-ISO late in a tight game, Sixers will have an easy job.

4. Kelly Olynk. In March, he finally found his groove. In 24 min off the bench, he averaged 13.5/6.3/4.3 on 52% for 2 and 42% for 3. He is becoming a key figure next to Ellington in finishing games. His defense is not bad at all. If he continues to play like this against Philly, Miami has a chance.

 

The 76ers look scary. Get Joel back into the mix and they could easily win the east

 

I think this is the most even matchup in the east. It will be close all 7 games I feel. Miami is scrappy. Philly is kinda scrappy, more talented but less experienced and younger. You got the whiteside vs embiid angle (hopefully embiid is back soon).

 

Who will win the east?

76ers
Cavs
Raptors

 

76ers have 11 players in the amount of 70 million including Embiid 25 million. They have the most "make sense rookie contracts" in the nba.

They can easily get $35 million cap space to sign LeBron

without LeBron, they are the 2nd best team in the nba next year?

Warriors
76ers (easy to improve)
Celtics (tons of assets to improve)

 

I think you are forgetting a team that won 65 games this year on this list.

 

I say Sixers in six. I feel like Philly's inexperience and age shows and allows Miami to take it 6.

 

Heat in 6.

Everyone is way too high on the Sixers cause they overachieved in the regular season. Just my opinion.

Embiid and Simmons are going to be a force for many years to come but I’ll be shocked if they don’t have some big time struggles in their first taste of the playoffs. Sixers as a whole severely lacks playoff experience including their coach who’ll be coaching in his first playoffs ever as well.

Also, the Heat have 3 different guys they can throw at Simmons to slow him down in Josh Richardson, Winslow and Johnson. All 3 of them are athletic, long, strong defenders. You don’t gotta stop Simmons .. just be able to slow him down to the point where he doesn’t take over and get others involved. That team goes as he goes. Another big problem is Simmons shoots 56% from the FT line. That’s going to be an issue especially in crunch time.

There’s also 3 big bodies that all bring something different to throw at Embiid as well. I think Whiteside can handle his own against Embiid if he stays focused and brings his A game but then there’s also Olynyk who I think will be a major factor in the series. The guy’s kind of a bitch but he can ball and he experienced a lot of wars in the playoffs last year. Embiid will have to close out on him on the perimeter cause he can play inside but knock the 3 down as well. Adebayo is a long, athletic energy guy that can change the pace and worst case scenario provide 6 good fouls. Even if Embiid were 100% I think he’d struggle with playoffs conditioning. The fact that he’s missed games/needs to get re-acclimated and isn’t 100% I think he’ll gas and cardio will be an issue. This could also cause him to get into foul trouble more easily. Sixers are not deep at all in the front court.

Then there’s Dwyane Wade of course who has basically been coasting and letting the younger guys do the work in the regular season. Now it’s his turn and I think he has enough left in the tank to take over games down the stretch and be a game-changer. His Championship experience and ability to step up in big time games and moments will be evident again.

Some other tidbits. Spoelstra has coached 113 playoff games and won 3 rings. 2 as HC and 1 as AC. Yes, I know stacked Heat teams but he was there and got the experience. Brett Brown as I mentioned has ZERO. The only guy with any significant playoff experience for the Sixers is Redick. For his career he shoots 45% from the field and 42% from deep. In the playoffs he shoots 42% from the field and 37% from deep.

Heat are a +330 for those that like to wager. Too much value to not throw some monies down on the Heat.

 

Trust the Mask, trust the process.

 

The maximum playoff lesson Philly can get is that the Heat take them to 7.

 

Thank goodness for League Pass. I wouldn't know what I'd do if I was stuck listening to Hubie

 

Holy **** this arena is POPPING

 

The intro music to the playoffs has been atrocious to say the least