The Philadelphia 76ers are in the middle of a tough time. They are in the midst of an NBA resumption in Orlando with the playoffs officially set to begin in a full week and they will have to do this without one of the best games in Ben Simmons that has probably been done for the season.
This now shifted a lot of attention to the other Sixers. Of course, Joel Embiid will take a lot more responsibility on his shoulders, but what is it with a man like Tobias Harris? He got a $ 180 million contract in the 2019 offseason and there are new expectations for him.
“I would say an extended opportunity,” coach Brett Brown said on Friday. ‘I just feel like he’s going to have more opportunities to do that in Ben’s absence. I think, in general, with the group, I feel like it’s an opportunity to galvanize the team. To not have an All-Star and to respond to the team, I have great confidence in. As for Tobias, I see it as an opportunity, because he will have more of a frequency of use and more chances to score the ball. ”
Harris had 23 points and 13 rebounds in Friday’s win over the Orlando Magic, so he had his chance and he ran with it. He shot 4-for-6 from the floor in the second half in the win and he has done a relatively good job of being the leader for this team.
Then one has to look at the other Sixers. Alec Burks was great off the bench on Friday, Matisse Thybulle and Josh Richardson played stellar defense on Magic ahead of Terrence Ross who is one of their top scorers, and Al Horford stepped back into the lineup and had 21 points and nine rebounds.
“I think there are other players, look at what Alec Burks did, look at the defense of Matisse who followed Terrence Ross, and J-Rich who followed Terrence Ross. I don’t think he scored,” he said. Brown. “Look at Tobias who crashed the offensive boards with Al Horford, we as a team end up with 15 offensive rebounds, so you can go to a lot of places, but I feel like there’s a flashpoint where you realize without Ben Simmons, there are some things that need to be done and let’s just start with intensity. “
The Sixers know they can not exactly replace a man like Simmons. He does too many things for them on such an elite level, but they do have guys who are capable of performing the role and at least filling it.
“It’s hard to replace Ben,” Horford said. ‘He does a lot of our group. The way we look at it is that we all just need to step up a little bit more and it will give opportunities to guys on the bench and other guys to come in and make an impact. We do not really know. We just hope he can get well and fast. ”
Simmons’ season 2019-20 seems to be over, but this is now an opportunity for the Sixers to see what they’re made of. They will be able to take a closer look at the pairing of Embiid and Horford and learn more about the rest of the roster.
Their next lesson will be on Sunday as they take a desperate Portland Trail Blazers squad into the bubble.
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