I Am Feeling Good About the Sixers and Bad About the Jared McCain Part

Spike on the duality of the Playoff Sixers.

I am stuck today.

I am caught in the middle of two things I want to tell you. And I don’t feel right telling you one thing without including the other.

If I just told you one of the things, you’d think I was a delusional homer, caught up in the excitement of the playoff run, once again convincing myself of something insane.

If I just told you the other thing, you’d think “there goes angry Spike again, stuck on something that doesn’t matter anymore instead of just enjoying the moment.”

So instead of going deep on either of these things, I’ll just tell you both all at once.

I feel pretty good about where the Sixers are in this series, so much so that I bet on them to win the series, but also, I am furious that the Sixers only have 1.5 playable guards and wings off the bench while Jared McCain is scoring 18 points in 18 minutes for the world champion Thunder.

(quick note here: I was going to use a couple of dashes after “all at once” before I said the sentence, but I’m terrified to use those now because people always assume that AI wrote it if you do that. This is not AI, it’s me.)

To expound on the first part – there were a few things that happened in Game 2 that made me feel pretty comfortable moving forward. First, the defense looked again like the defense from the Celtics series, that is to say, pretty suffocating. Brunson ended up hitting some big shots at the end but generally looked pretty frustrated and stifled all game. They weren’t just walking into open shots, they did have to work for everything (special shout out to VJ for the job he did on Brunson). Second, they found an option with Dominick Barlow at center. I don’t think this is something they can do often, and to be honest it might not even work against either of the Knicks primary centers, but it’s nice to know that it’s there. Third, OG Anunoby got hurt. I am not celebrating an injury, that’s bad karma, I’m just being honest. He’s pretty important for them. Obviously McBride will proceed to go 6-8 from three, but Anunoby’s size and defense makes a big difference there.

Speaking of Anunoby, here is my guess of who is playing that was on yesterday’s injury report:

Embiid (Questionable) - playing
Hart (Questionable) - playing

Anunoby (Questionable) - not playing

Robinson (Probable) - playing

And look, if the oddsmakers were right, the Sixers would not have beaten the Celtics, so take this with a grain of salt, but it’s pretty interesting to me that the Sixers are 1.5 favorites at Draft Kings for Game 3. The Sixers have not been favored in any playoff game this year, and it hasn’t even been close. The Knicks were 6.5 point favorites in Game 1 and 10.5 point favorites in Game 2.

Now to the second part – I just can’t believe that Daryl told everyone at the deadline that he thought this Sixers team could make a deep playoff run, and chose to go into the playoffs with their only bench options as guards or wings being Quentin Grimes and Justin Edwards, one of whom Nurse does not like playing at all even though he praises him at every turn. I’m sure he’d bring up Cam Payne at this point (who suffered an injury and was cut), but thinking that your second bench guard (and only bench point guard) is a guy you signed off the street who was playing in Serbia is a pretty bold choice.

Meanwhile, over in the Western Conference, last year’s NBA champions, the Oklahoma City Thunder, the deepest team in the league, is somehow finding a way to get Jared McCain on the court. McCain had 18 points in 18 minutes in Game 2 against the Lakers, and 12 points in 15 minutes in Game 1 against the Lakers. Both victories. The Sixers entire bench in Game 2 against the Knicks had 15 points in 56 minutes.

McCain was on the floor for the deciding run on Thursday night while SGA was on the bench with four fouls. This quote from Chet Holmgren really stings:

“Every time I see him shoot, I think it’s going in. I know it’s going up at this point, as it should. If you get those shots off and make them at that type of clip, it’s probably the best play for us. So, credit to him, he’s got just a certain type of confidence in him to come in the game cold after a lot of time sitting long stretches and then just bomb and make shots.”

Would he have been the key to winning an NBA championship? Of course not. Would he provided a playable guard to give up 10-15 minutes off the bench to spell Maxey, and potentially catch a little fire from three? Of course he would have.

What the fuck? Honestly man.

It’s Gonna Take More Than That

Team Ricky

• The Statman wrote about the keys to a Sixers victory over the Knicks after the drubbing in Game 1, and with Embiid likely returning in Game 3, I think it’s still prescient.

• Our friends at Shibe Vintage Sports are having a huge sale on Sixers stuff right now.

• AU wrote a bunch about Game 7.

Team Non Ricky

• Man this video of Tobias Harris getting crossed over so bad he fell down is really ruined by this other video showing that Donovan Mitchell actually grabbed his leg.

• I can’t believe James Harden had such a bad performance in a big playoff game!