Philadelphia 76ers: What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger

Less than 48 hours after a heartbreaking bounce in Kawhi Leonard and the Toronto Raptors favor, the Philadelphia 76ers are left with a sour taste in their mouth that will fuel the fire for successful seasons to come.

“That which does not kill us only makes us stronger” – Fredrich Nietzsche, German philosopher

“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”- Kelly Clarkston, American pop-star

“Now that that don’t kill me can only make me stronger” – Kanye West, legendary legend

More from Philadelphia 76ers

• 3 Reasons the 76ers Should Poach Blake Griffin From the Celtics
• 3 Most Overpaid 76ers Heading Into the 2023 Season
• Ranking Daryl Morey’s 3 Biggest Mistakes with 76ers
• 3 Teams Crazy Enough to Trade for James Harden
• James Harden Putting Career in Jeopardy With Holdout Threat

For the Philadelphia 76ers faithful, those words – and that message – was light-years away from the forefront of our mind as we stood frozen with bated breath, awaiting the descent of the last-second desperation moonshot Kawhi Leonard hoisted over Joel Embiid’s outstretched reach as time expired at the Scotiabank Arena on Sunday night.

I’m sure the exact scenario varies across Sixer nation, but I can only imagine the scene in most households followed a similar timeline to mine as the events transpired. Just moments prior, we were borderline gauging our eyes out after three dismal offensive possessions in a row – headed by a shot-clock violation immediately following a Sixer timeout – resulted in back-to-back Toronto buckets and a four-point Raptor lead.

Yet two clutch Jo-Jo free throws and the return of “James Buckets” brought much-needed life back to the Sixers’ hopes of advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals, evening the score at 90 points apiece. With four seconds remaining in regulation and the Raptors having utilized their final timeout to advance the ball to their side of half court, Philly needed one stop – a sub-five-second defensive stand – to force overtime in “The North”.

We frantically finagled our eyes back into their respective sockets and hunched forward in our “lucky chair”, elbows rested in our lap – hands cupped around our mouth – holding in the urge to scream, vomit, cry or all of the above. We knew exactly where the inbound pass was going – the entire world knew.

Sure enough, when the whistle blew, and the ball handed to Marc Gasol on the sideline, Nick Nurse drew up enough movement to momentarily disrupt the Sixers defensive rotation. Thanks to a Pascal Siakam double-screen that left two men on Kyle Lowry and Ben Simmons alone to fend against a pair of Raptors, Nurse got the ball into the hands of his star forward who had already dropped 39 points through 47-plus minutes and proven he could single-handedly dismantle his opponents throughout the playoffs.

As Leonard received Gasol’s pass in the chest, secured possession, rotated and fended off a swarming Simmons with his off-ball arm, the Raptor’s superstar may have slipped in an extra step. We think: Wait, was that…how many steps… did he?

But with the magnitude of that particular moment, one wouldn’t expect the officials to take matters into their own hands and decide the outcome of the game – even if Leonard did take a stroll before his first dribble.

When Leonard surged toward the corner, prompting Embiid to slide up and help, Philly’s big man failed to cut off Kawhi’s sideline path to the corner, allowing the all-star to drive past the defense.

With less than one second remaining on the clock, Leonard halted to a jump-stop and – alongside Embiid’s leaping last-ditch effort to put a hand in Leonard’s face – we pounced, unable to remain seated as he heaved the basketball. “Is this the dagger?”, Marv Albert questioned on the TNT broadcast with the shot seemingly frozen in mid-air.

The ball returned to earth, slamming against the front of the rim. Instead of bouncing out, it exploded straight up – pulled back into the atmosphere by an unknown gravitational force.

Leonard. Embiid. Eight other players on the floor. Two head coaches. Two benches packed with a supporting cast of players, coaches, and staff. Over 19,000 strong at Scotiabank Arena. Millions of viewers across the globe. A collective of bystanders staring on, helplessly awaiting the fate of a basketball’s trajectory.

As the ball bounced against the front of the rim once more and, somehow, hopped to the opposite side without any clear indication on its final destination – we felt the initial incision of Leonard’s dagger.

A fourth and final kiss of the iron all but sealed the deal, piercing Sixer nation through the chest. In some sort of sick, twisted revenge for the Jan. 6 double-doink in Chicago, Leonard’s double double-doink dropped through the net, viciously ripping the heart out of every player, coach, and fan embracing the #PhilaUnite movement.

We leaned against the nearest wall. We rested our hands atop our head. We felt the full effects of a swift kick to the sensitive areas, and we stood frozen in utter shock. We watched as our spirited embodiment of “The Process” lay motionless, sobbing on the shoulder of his supportive competitor. We wailed in our sorrows alongside Embiid, and we watched the replay over and over – anxiously awaiting a different result.

A world where a ball that smacks the front of the rim does what it’s supposed to do – bounces off and harmlessly to the ground. A world where – provided with a breath of fresh air – Embiid dominates the post, Simmons facilitates, and Jimmy Butler goes full-on James mode in the extra period. A world where the Sixers waltz out of Toronto with an overtime victory, their ticket punched to the Eastern Conference Finals with a matchup against Giannis and the Bucks.

But as Leonard emotionlessly answered a plethora of questions in his courtside post-game interview, we watched our squad march one-by-one into the locker room for the final time this season. Likely, for the last time as this exact rendition of the Philadelphia 76ers. The Toronto Raptors ended the Sixers championship hopes in 2019. They might as well have killed our hopes for the future of basketball in Philadelphia.

But with time to reflect on the Game 7 heartbreaker, at the hands of a shot that will go down as one of the best in NBA history, the Sixers emerged from the locker room to face the media on Monday. Still breathing. Still talking. Still alive.

And so the message comes front-and-center, flooded by the limelight. “That which does not kill us only makes us stronger”. Losing in the Eastern Conference Semifinals for the second season in a row, without a doubt, earns a failing grade for a starting lineup considered one of the greatest in franchise history, at one point. This one stung, there’s no doubt. But it’s a different feeling.

Last season, the Celtics obliterated a young Sixers team tasting their first experience of playoff basketball. That’s not to say the experience was enjoyable, watching matchup nightmare after matchup nightmare in a string of frustrating defeats against a Boston squad sans Kyrie.

But it didn’t have the lasting impact of this year’s last-second prayer that ended the quest for a championship. In Game 7 of a series where the Sixers showcased flashes of greatness, at times, flowing like a cohesive unit of high-powered offense and sweltering defense.

We saw an aggressive Ben Simmons in a pivotal Game 6, electrifying the Wells Fargo Center crowd with a fearless mindset in attacking the basket, distributing the ball and activity on the offensive board with put-back slams; his 21-point performance in a win-or-go-home scenario only to be outdone by Sir. James Butler himself.

Butler solidified his case for a max contract next season, carrying the team on his back with 25 points and a crucial steal to close out the first half of Game 6. Or dropping 29 points and 11 rebounds in a Game 4 that could’ve gone in the Sixers’ favor had any other player showed up for the chance to take a commanding 3-1 series lead. Or playful teasing Embiid in post-game press conferences and communicating with the young All-stars on the floor, serving as a calm yet commanding veteran presence at crucial moments throughout the series.

The 76ers have boundless potential moving forward to the coming years. While Simmons was criticized for his failure to perform in the spotlight, and Embiid’s durability and diet questioned in light of his debilitating upper-respiratory infection that might as well have sidelined the big man for three games, it is imperative to remember that they are 22 and 25-years-old, respectively.

Embiid’s taken part in three NBA seasons, two of which ended in All-Star selections and all three featuring flashes of domination comparable to the greatest centers ever to take the court. Simmons can break out a triple-double on any given night and is a 6-foot-10 point guard that, when aggressively assertive, can take it to the basket at will and score easy points. The duo has experienced two postseason defeats. Yes, the process feels like it has lasted an eternity (and by all means it has), but Simmons and Embiid’s roles in the onset of a winning culture have just begun.

Many of the NBA’s greatest dynasties were a direct result of postseason failures during the early stages of their respective superstar’s career. The current powerhouse in Golden State didn’t find themselves in the NBA Finals immediately upon Steph Curry’s arrival. Through his first four years in the league, Curry didn’t get even a sniff of the postseason.

When Curry’s splash-brother Klay Thompson was drafted by the Warriors in 2011, the team still failed to make the playoffs. Once they joined the party, the dynamic duo was bounced from the Western Conference bracket early: first, the Conference Semifinals followed by the First Round. What felt like regression would prove to be the kick-in-the-rear the splash-bros needed to overcome their inner demons, taking home the first of three championships the next season – before the acquisition of Kevin Durant. Four years into Thompson’s career and SEVEN years into Curry’s.

Before their decade-long domination, the San Antonio Spurs were frequent participants in the postseason with nothing to show. For the first nine years in his Hall of Fame career, David Robinson failed to reach the NBA Finals. In fact, “The Admiral” only reached the Western Conference Finals once in a string of early-exits from the league playoffs. Even in the first season alongside future Hall of Famer, Tim Duncan, the Spurs were bounced in the Western Conference Semifinals. The Spurs eventually summited the NBA’s mountain in Robinson’s tenth season, the first of two titles for the big man and five for Duncan.

The unforgettable tandem of Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal weren’t immediately hanging banners from the Staples Center ceiling in their Los Angeles Lakers careers. Arguably the most dominant duo in NBA history, O’Neal and Bryant were sent packing by the Utah Jazz in each of their first two seasons together – first in the Western Conference Semifinals and then the Western Conference Finals. They, like the Warriors, regressed in the following season – swept by the aforementioned San Antonio Spurs (on the road to their first championship) in the Western Conference Semifinals. Only after three seasons of agonizing endings did Shaq and Kobe taste the sweet, sweet sensation of an NBA championship. Four years into Bryant’s career and eight seasons into O’Neal’s.

Last, but certainly not least, a certain team in the city of Chicago. One Michael Jordan, who faced adversity from the moment he was cut by the varsity squad in high school, was not an instant champion upon his arrival to the NBA. No, Jordan was welcomed to the league by three straight defeats in the opening round of the playoffs. The Hall of Fame guard followed that with an Eastern Conference Semifinals defeat in his third season. One cannot forget the epic battles in back-to-back Eastern Conference Finals where the Detroit Pistons played bully-ball, cutting short Jordan’s quest for an NBA Finals appearance in consecutive seasons. It was that physical and mental turmoil from the Pistons beatdowns that fueled Jordan to become synonymous with NBA greatness en route to a 6-0 record in the NBA Finals along with six NBA Finals MVP awards. Seven years into his legendary NBA career.

While there is a similarity between the last two examples, the takeaway should not be that the Sixers need to hire Phil Jackson as their head coach in order to climb over the mountain standing in their way. It’s far from that. Brett Brown should not be fired (and will not, per Woj) despite failing to surpass the Eastern Conference Semifinals for a second consecutive season (though had you asked me this two weeks early, my mindset would be completely different). At end-of-year media day, several players defended Brown’s job security following the loss and supported the sixth-year head man who lived the worst of the process.

With every demoralizing defeat, Brown is equipped with additional motivation to improve his weaknesses in the offseason. The town (I’m 200% guilty of it) is so quick to jump on Brown and call for his job. We forget that Brown is young, in terms of playoff experience, as well. The first four years of his head coaching career, Brown was supplied with a glorified pile of trash to go compete in the NBA. He’s only had two years to work with the Simmons/Embiid duo and was asked to mesh together not one, but two blockbuster trade acquisitions in less than a full season.

With Brown remaining in Philadelphia, we can only hope that Elton Brand and the front office do everything in their power to bring back a roster that closely resembles the group that trudged to the locker room, defeated, on Sunday night.

The number one order of business: Resign Jimmy Butler. Butler proved to be the perfect fit for Philadelphia – a walking embodiment of the city taking the court on a nightly basis. The best case scenario would be for both Butler and Tobias Harris to return, but at this point, Butler is far more valuable to the team than Harris despite being the elder of the two.

Along with Butler, J.J. Redick’s veteran presence and sharpshooting ability is a crucial asset to the team’s success, even at the ripe age of 35 next season. Redick has publicly touched on his desire to close out his career in Philadelphia and will hopefully trade a dip in salary for the opportunity to win an NBA championship. The return of Mike Scott would provide much-needed depth to a bench that was lacking in the latter portion of the season and into the playoffs, and Scott has told both Brown and Brand that he’d like to be back with the team next year. A healthy Zhaire Smith could provide the team with an additional contributor off the bench, and the offseason focus should center around versatile backup big men to take the floor when 21 heads to the bench.

Which brings the attention full circle. This postseason and this heartbreaking moment could very well be the Detroit Piston-like breaking point for the Sixers’ young All-Star caliber core. The overwhelming criticism the 22-year-old sophomore centerpiece received throughout the postseason won’t sit well in the back of Simmons’ mind. Look for the Aussie to spend the offseason developing a much-needed mid-range game and, more importantly, a killer mentality. Expect an improved, aggressive Simmons come next season.

As for his counterpart, this feels like the wakeup call that Joel Embiid so desperately needed. His animated personality is loveable the majority of the time, but the mental image of that final, unthinkable bounce into the net will be tattooed to Embiid’s brain for the duration of the offseason. The emotions that overtook the All-Star center in the moments following the final play in Toronto, that feeling will stick with him for the remainder of his career.

When he is grinding it out in the gym, sweating away the extra pounds weighing him down. As he alters his diet to improve his physical fitness and strengthen his flimsy immune system. While he breaks out extra reps in the weight room to bolster his strength, further allowing him to dominate in the post. And throughout his work on the court – improving his ball-handling skills, working on agility and quickness, and expanding his post-up repertoire. Most importantly, in his transition from a fun-loving jokester to a monster on the court with a desire to slaughter anyone who stands in his way – never lifting his crushing foot from their throat until the clock hits zero.

Because emerging from the aftermath of Sunday night’s heartbreaking loss still breathing, Embiid knows better than anyone else: what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger.