The Philadelphia 76ers have to be better against playoff teams
After a loss to the Toronto Raptors, the Philadelphia 76ers have a lot to fix in order to compete in the playoffs.
The Philadelphia 76ers were in a good groove as they won four in a row until they met the Toronto Raptors. The Raptors have had their number in recent years.
This team just knows how to play the Sixers. The bad taste of the Eastern Conference Semifinals is still in the mouths of Sixers fans worldwide, and it seems like the Raptors won’t let up the pressure.
Even without Kawhi Leonard, the Raptors have still been able to handle the Sixers easily. This season against Toronto, the Sixers are 1-2. Defending Philadelphia just comes naturally to this team. In those two losses, the Sixers have failed to score more than 100 points.
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This recent marquee game loss brings attention to an eye-raising record for a team that is supposed to be a contender. Against the current playoff teams, the 76ers are 12-15.
The Sixers will need home court in the postseason in at least the first round. The way the standings are right now, the 76ers would not have home court in even in the first round, as they are sixth. Philadelphia is a bad road team. They are currently 9-15 away from the Well Fargo Center.
How does this team fix their problems against good teams? They can start with their half-court offense. In recent years of the Sixers being dominant, this team was able to break open tough games with their ability to shoot the 3.
Philadelphia was able to space out the floor and surround Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid with shooters. They have to go back to that formula.
The past players they had on their team were built to shoot plenty of spot-up 3s and make them. Players like Robert Covington, Marco Belinelli, Landry Shamet, and J.J. Redick all helped to elevate the team to wins with their 3 point shooting.
The Sixers have gone to a defensive approach with their performance in past drafts and free agency. This was fine when they still had Redick, but now they don’t have any reliable shooters.
In came players like Matisse Thybulle, Al Horford, Zhaire Smith, and Josh Richardson. Those players can hit 3s but they are not the specialist that they had before.
Going back to that formula will take the pressure off their star players in Simmons and Embiid. Simmons is a point guard who is tall and wants to play fast. He can put even more pressure on defenses if there are reliable shooters on the wings in fastbreaks situations and on double teams when he drives to the hole.
Also, what could fix this team is having a sixth man that can help the dismal bench and close out games for them. At 28th in bench scoring, this team is one of the worst bench scoring teams in the league. Philadelphia doesn’t have a microwave type of player that can get hot and put points on the board while Simmons, Embiid, and Tobias Harris are resting.
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The way to go back to their dominant ways is to go back to the old formula and help their bench.