Recap The Court

Jacob Smith

The Philadelphia 76ers took care of business against Brooklyn and it never really felt like a contest. The perimeter shooting of the 76ers has shined all year long and Embiid was just too much to handle. He handled the double team extremely well and Philly just seemed to overwhelm Brooklyn on both ends of the floor.

They prepare for the second round against either Boston or Atlanta and with how they look, this may be the best chance the 76ers are going to get with who’s remaining and the mix of the West not showing a team clearly above the rest.

The Celtics have looked really good all season, but what Philly brings is a physicality and the shooting to match the spark Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum bring. With Embiid averaging 20 points and 11 rebounds in their opening series while Philly controlled the rebounds 48-35 on average, the 76ers key to taking care of the Celtics will be locking down the paint and securing second chances for their shooters.

Harden averaged 8.9 assists in the 4-0 series win over Brooklyn, and his facilitating allowed for the scoring of Tyrese Maxey and De’Anthony Melton to go to work shooting 9/15 from the corners and 14/25 from inside the paint. Philly had five players average double digit points throughout the series and that depth will have to continue.

With the Bucks down 2-1 to the Miami Heat, Giannis out with an injury, and the Cavaliers down to the Knicks after putting up just 79 points in game three, across the east it’s not looking to me like there’s teams that can contest Philadelphia and Boston until Giannis comes back.

Embiid playing at a MVP level, Maxey and Melton shooting the lights out and Harden bringing an elite level of facilitation to his scoring ability, elevates the 76ers to a dangerous level. With no team aside from the Kings really running away in the West, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say the 76ers are the favorites at the moment for the championship, and this level of play will be hard to keep up with for even the high scoring teams.