Brown Ready to Lead Way
Of the 16 players the 76ers are carrying on their playoff roster, nine guys - including four regular starters (Ben Simmons, Robert Covington, Dario Saric, Joel Embiid) - have yet to get a taste of post-season basketball.
Good news for the Sixers is that in addition to a handful of key veteran contributors, like JJ Redick, Amir Johnson, and Marco Belinelli, the team’s head coach is well-schooled in post-season hoops, too.
Brett Brown helped guide San Antonio to the playoffs in each of the 12 years as an assistant there. During that run, the Spurs won four championships, and made it all the way to the Finals five times.
Brown’s past post-season experiences have, understandably, shaped the approach with which he intends to handle the Sixers heading into their Eastern Conference Quarterfinals series with the Miami Heat.
Brown seemed to be of the opinion that his club being of the right mindset is as important as anything else.
“I have always learned the game gets faster [in the playoffs], but it also gets faster in their mind,” Brown said Thursday, during an off-day for his team. “Anything to slow stuff down in your head, and try to stay in the moment, and play free will help them.”
Regardless of the extent of their collective post-season experience, the Sixers will head into this year’s playoffs the hottest team in the NBA, having won 16 straight.
Brown wants his group to stay hungry.
“We’re not clicking our heels and feel like we’ve arrived,” Brown said. “We want more, and the group feels that it’s possibly in this to get more. Somewhere out there, I hope to find that balance of, we’re here to win a series, and the reality that we’re still growing our program, too.”
Simmons Prepping for Post-Season Stage
Ben Simmons enjoyed an exceptional finish to his debut NBA campaign. Now, just a few short days later, he’ll step into the cauldron of playoff competition for the first time.
Based on all the promising evidence Simmons’ season yielded (and there was a lot of it), Brett Brown said he has no reason to believe his 21-year old point man will be impacted by the magnitude of the playoff stage.
“There’s a confidence and a poise and there’s seemingly an unflappable way he sees the world,” Brett Brown said Friday, following an hour and a half practice the Sixers held in Camden.
“That’s the thing that surprised me the most about him, is he lives life pretty evenly. I think that’s what he’s going to do [Saturday] night.”
A four-time Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month recipient after claiming the award for March and April, Simmons has averaged 13.3 points, 9.8 rebounds, and 10.4 assists during the Sixers’ 16-game surge. He’s also registered 12 double-doubles and five triple-doubles amidst this stretch.
“I think [the playoffs] will be similar to me playing my first game,” Simmons said Friday. “It’s a step up, it’s more physical, it’s another level. I’m just going to play the way I play, find my guys, get them open shots, and do what I can.”
Fultz Never Lost Confidence
Markelle Fultz’s path to the playoffs has certainly been a noteworthy one.
The 2017 no. 1 pick appeared in the Sixers’ first four games of the season, then missed their next 68.
After putting in plenty of hours in the practice gym to regain playing shape, Fultz returned to action in the Sixers’ March 26th home game against Denver.
He would go on to suit up in the Sixers’ final 10 contests of the regular season, a period during which he posted 7.6 points (42.9 fg%), 3.4 rebounds, and 4.6 assists in 17.7 minutes per game.
In less than three weeks’ time, Fultz is on the cusp of logging minutes in the Sixers’ post-season rotation.
“I always had confidence with myself, I never doubted myself,” Fultz said Friday. “With the team, from the beginning, we had the motto of making the playoffs. We all believed we could do it. It was just a matter of going out there and doing it.”