The Philadelphia 76ers haven’t had a pleasant time in the second round of the Playoffs at all. With star big-man Joel Embiid out with injury, the 76ers are just not being able to compete against the Miami Heat. Despite the presence of James Harden on the floor, his impact has been minimal and the 76ers have faced consecutive blowout losses where they lost by double-digits.
Miami’s best player this series has been Bam Adebayo, who is exploiting the 76ers weakness in the paint without Joel Embiid. DeAndre Jordan and Paul Reed have not been effective in slowing down Bam in any way, with their contribution on the offensive end also being minimal.
Doc Rivers still hasn’t pivoted away from those players in the lineup and is accepting it as a roster challenge he has to deal with. He doesn’t plan on benching the pair as he believes they are ‘trying their best’.
“You can’t blame DJ. You can’t blame Paul. They’re doing their best.”
– Doc Rivers
(h/t @BradyHawk305 ) pic.twitter.com/aCxuLeSpWH
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) May 5, 2022
While it’s good that Rivers is noticing the effort his backup big-men are putting in without Embiid, there is no way to justify the same by saying at least they are trying. As a coach, it’s on Rivers to make adjustments to try and play the Heat a different way so that they can have some success. However, Doc is sticking to his style and still hoping for success.
Even with Embiid, it looks like Miami may be too tough a challenge for this team to overcome with just 3 months of continuity behind them. James Harden’s struggles haven’t made this any easier for anyone involved, except maybe Miami.
Rivers needs to try something different for the sake of it just to give his team a fighting chance before going down 3-0. The existing sets haven’t been working, so if Philadelphia continue to play the same way and hope for ad different results, the blame may need to shift from the players to the coach.
