Philadelphia 76ers: J.J. Redick has to step his game up

After hitting the most 3-point shots of any player in Philadelphia 76ers history in the regular season, J.J. Redick has been ice-cold in the postseason.

As goes J.J. Redick, so goes the Philadelphia 76ers, and when he has an off game, it’s going to be a long afternoon.

Case in point: the Sixers’ 112-108 Game 4 victory over the Brooklyn Nets.

Playing in front of his adopted hometown crowd is he currently resides in the Dumbo neighborhood of Brooklyn, Redick seemingly couldn’t hit the broadside of a barn for the better part of four quarters, missing eight of his first 10 shots from the field.

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Sure, Redick did hit a vital 3 with 50 seconds to go to put the team up 107-106, marking the team’s first 3 in what felt like an hour, but that lead was quickly erased moments later by a D’Angelo Russell assisted Joe Harris layup.

And speaking of Russell, he, and the rest of the Nets’ backcourt trio, Spencer Dinwiddie, and Caris LeVert pretty much scored at will for much of the game, combining for 64 points in 106 minutes of action.

Now, this isn’t directly Redick’s fault, as he was primarily tasked with guarding small forward Demaree Carroll (two points) for much of the game, but when Jimmy Butler was ejected for full-on brawling with Jared Dudley, things got real ugly real quick.

At 34-years-old, Redick’s only really good at one thing, shooting, and when his shot isn’t falling, he becomes an ineffective piece at both ends of the court.

But unfortunately, there wasn’t much the team could do to replace his shot.

After losing their de facto backup point guard in Butler for roughly half of the game, Brett Brown was forced how to reinsert T.J. McConnell into his rotation; a played hardly know for his ice veined shooting.

After trading away Landry Shamet for Tobias Harris, Mike Scott, and Boban Marjanovic, all of whom showed out exceptionally well in Brooklyn, and failing to convert Shake Milton‘s two-way contract before the playoffs began, the Sixers really don’t have a three-point shooting guard on their bench.

Sure, they have Zhaire Smith, who has somehow turned himself into a deceptively good outside shooter, but he’s only logged one minute so far this series, and he was in street clothes for the second straight game in Brooklyn.

Factor in James Ennis‘ non-existent outside shot, and the Sixers really only have four bonafide shooters on their roster; Scott, Butler, Harris, and Redick.

While Harris’s dominance, Scott’s effort, and Butler’s first-half scoring spree largely made up for Redick’s quiet outing, Game 4 was ultimately decided on a poor inbound pass from Dinwiddie to Russell, not because of the Sixers’ rally from behind.

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Though this series appears to be all but over, with the Philadelphia 76ers having an opportunity to close it out on their home court come Tuesday, April 23rd, in what will certainly be a sold-out showing at the Wells Fargo Center, the team simply can’t afford to have more quiet outings from their best shooter as they plot their return to the Eastern Conference Semifinals for the second year in a row.