Scene Setter:
It was a relatively small tweak to the 76ers’ standard traveling itinerary, but it carried sizable symbolism.
Usually, when the Sixers have an idle day between home and road games, they often begin it in Camden, where mornings are spent either receiving treatment, conducting team meetings, practicing, or any combination of the three.
Then, by mid-afternoon, the club is on its way out of Philadelphia, flying to the city where it’s due to play the following evening. The next morning, there’s a shootaround, and a few hours later, the Sixers are back at the arena to play their game.
Monday, however, brought a new wrinkle.
About 24 hours earlier, a subtle adjustment was made, pending a Sixers’ win. In the event of a season-saving victory, they would leave for Boston by plane immediately after Game 4 at The Center, rather than wait until Tuesday.
Post-game flights a few short hours after home games are typically reserved for only one other type of situation - those in which a team is completing a home-road back-to-back set the next day.
Why, on Monday, did the Sixers choose to mix things up?
The answer is part logistical, for sure, but it mostly had to do with a potential psychological payoff, provided that things fell into place.
Sure enough, they did.
With T.J. McConnell delivering the ultimate of sparks, the Sixers beat the Celtics in relatively sound fashion, 103-92, at The Center. They had brought their luggage to the building, as if they were going to be heading back to Boston, regardless, and competed accordingly.
During an on-court interview moments after the Sixers picked up their first win in their best-of-seven second-round clash with the Celtics, Joel Embiid told ESPN that the decision to leave Philadelphia that night helped, in part, set the tone for Monday’s game.
“I was happy,” said the 7-foot All-Star, averaging 22.0 points, 14.5 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. “I packed my bags. I knew we were going to come back tonight and get this win. Now, we got to go back up there and get one.”
The impetus to alter the Sixers’ normal travel plans seemed to have originated with a man not too far removed from his playing days.
“I have a great front office, and Elton Brand puts his two cents in about should we send out the itinerary [ahead of time],” said Brett Brown, recalling the chain of events Tuesday, in between film study sessions.
On the heels of Brand, now General Manager of the Delaware Blue Coats, planting the initial seed, Sixers’ President of Basketball Operations Bryan Colangelo added another layer.
Brown said Colangelo asked him, “‘What happens if we put them on a plane, what do you think about that, Coach?’ I said, ‘I think it’s a hell of an idea.’”
So, arrangements were made. Everyone stamped off on the idea, and, once the Sixers got the job done Monday by knocking off the C’s, a charter was waiting for the team at a private runway attached to Philadelphia International Airport.
For Brown, in terms of messaging and logistics, the change was good.
“It’s pretty cool it worked out the way it did.”
As much as a late night flight might have helped to put the Sixers in the right frame of mind in advance of their first contest with win-or-go-home stakes, they have another one right on their doorstep Wednesday.
There are no delusions, or illusions, for that matter, about the challenges that this latest visit to TD Garden figures to bring.
“There’s no mystery of how this game in the Boston Garden is going to be played,” said Brown, who, from his days as an assistant with the San Antonio Spurs, found that few post-season opportunities are as precious as finishing a series at home.
“There is a heightened, and I mean heightened, sense of urgency that you’re playing with fire,” Brown said, referring to the perspective of a visiting team trailing 3-1 on the road. “You’re going on the road, you got to travel, there’s a chance it could end up a sixth game, and then it’s a crapshoot. [Then,] any Game 7, you can’t predict anything.”
The matter of the Celtics not having lost yet on their home floor in the Playoffs is a factor, too.
Brown said, “For sure, there is a heightened sense of urgency in a Game 5, just like we felt against Miami, which I think will be an appropriate message for our team.”
Opponent Outlook:
At the outset of the Eastern Conference Semifinals, we saw the Boston Celtics make strategic decisions that took away several things the Sixers do well. For starters, the C’s defense zeroed in on keeping Ben Simmons out of the paint, and locking down on the Sixers’ perimeter shooters.
In Game 4, Brett Brown pulled the trigger on the Sixers’ most significant counterpunch to-date, by expanding T.J. McConnell’s role. The result was arguably the club’s strongest defensive showing in the series to-date, and an effective offensive attack predicated, in part, on McConnell’s ability to drive the lane.
As for the adjustments Boston might try to whip up for Game 5, Brown said Tuesday he’s not out to make the matter a bigger deal than it is.
“To act, react, that’s part of all of our jobs,” Brown said. “But to predict they’re going to come up with some clever way to exploit T.J. just because we played [him], that isn’t on my mind.”
At this late stage of the series, Brown indicated there are few secrets left between the Atlantic Division rivals.
At Wednesday’s shootaround, the Sixers felt that they were in a good place, mentally, projecting loose vibes. Brown wants his group to continue playing free, and not be beholden to the long odds it faces.
“It’s going to be a great night in TD Garden,” said Brown. “I’m really looking forward to it.”
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