Going against the conference's top seed without their MVP candidate was not part of the Sixers' plan, but plans have changed. “We’ve just got to figure it out,” Tobias Harris said.
Following a victorious Game 6 in Toronto Thursday night, Doc Rivers was already mentally preparing for a “hellish” bus ride to Buffalo. The 76ers took the roundabout path back to Philly so that players and staff would not need to take a COVID-19 test to re-enter the United States, which is required when crossing the border by air but not by ground transportation.
“We’ve just got to figure it out,” forward Tobias Harris said. “This has been a resilient group all year, so nothing has changed in that regard. We’ll prepare the same way and we’ll wait for the big fella. …The Sixers will be missing arguably the NBA’s most dominant player in a series that also features Miami center Bam Adebayo, who this season finished fourth in voting for the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year award.
“We may need all four guys, even if it’s to burn minutes,” Rivers said. “The one thing Miami is, if they’re nothing else, they’re clever and they’re foul magnets. So that’s a concern for us.” Playing with pace and creating space in the halfcourt will also be critical, the coach said. Harris added that he, Harden, and Tyrese Maxey are likely to be more involved in pick and rolls. Rivers said he expects the Heat to trap more on those actions, because “they don’t care who rolls. They know it’s not Joel.”
Overall, the Sixers went 6-8 without Embiid this season. The bulk of those occurred during a November stint in COVID-19 health and safety protocols, and the victories included a dramatic overtime win over the Memphis Grizzlies in late January that was arguably the most entertaining game of the Sixers’ season.
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