The Philadelphia 76ers defeated the Washington Wizards 129-112 on Wednesday night to move on to the second round of the playoffs. The 76ers battled Bradley Beal and Russell Westbrook without Joel Embiid, who was out with a small meniscus tear in his right knee. The theme leading up to the game was whether the team could win a playoff game without the big fella and who would start in his absence. Coach Doc Rivers decided to start Matisse Thybulle and bump Ben Simmons to the “center” position. Throughout the first half, Doc tried many combinations that would help the Sixers remain steady on offense and defense. He played 11 players in the first half but there seemed to be one player who help keep this team afloat with his energy and fearlessness. That player was Tyrese Maxey.

Seth Curry and Tobias Harris led the scoring in the second half while Ben Simmons lead the way defensively. The team turned up the defense in the middle of the third and eventually pulled away from the Wizards. This was an all-around great team win for a team playing without its MVP candidate in a closeout situation. There were great performances from Tobias Harris, Seth Curry, Ben Simmons, Tyrese Maxey, Dwight Howard, and Furkan Korkmaz. Below are some observations from the entire series:

• Joel Embiid should never play a game in Washington again! The injury he suffered earlier in the year that caused him to miss about 2 and a half weeks occurred in Washington. Now, he has suffered another injury in Washington. If he does decide to play in DC again, he needs to take a page out of Kyrie Irving’s book and sage the court before play.
• Ben Simmons played relatively well this series, but the free throws have been a problem. He started out the series 0-10 but was 5-8 in game 5. Other teams may try the hack-a-Ben strategy and he has to be prepared. If he’s not going to shoot jumpers, he has to be AT LEAST 60 percent from the free throw line.
• Bradley Beal is an offensive monster and the Sixers’ defenders did as well they could. Ben Simmons definitely made every bucket by Beal tough. It would be interesting to see Bradley Beal on a contending team.
• Russell Westbrook is going to go down as one of the greatest point guards in history, but boy was he bad this series. His triple doubles seem like they don’t even affect the game and its results. I’m not sure Russ will even be in Washington next year. We will have to wait and see if the Wizards go into full rebuild mode.
• Shake Milton was TERRIBLE this series! His play gave way to Tyrese Maxey who seemed to have jumped him in the rotation. I think Doc will give Shake an opportunity this series against the Hawks. Shake has played well against the Hawks in the past. He scored double digits against the Hawks in both the games he played this season. I expect Doc to have Shake on a short leash.
• Please staple Mike Scott to the bench! Man listen, I’m a fan of Mike Scott in the past but now he just seems unplayable.
• Joel Embiid played so well before he got injured and it didn’t even seem like he was trying. We are going to need the big fella to try fight through the knee injury if he can. I’m not a doctor so I don’t know how bad it is but there seems to be some optimism around it.

Preview of Sixers v. Hawks

The Sixers tip-off against the Atlanta Hawks this Sunday afternoon. We still don’t know if Joel Embiid will be available for game 1 and if he will be available for any games in this series at all. What we do know is there are a lot of national pundits who are counting the Sixers out. The team went 11-11 without Embiid this year including the playoffs. They have to play differently without him in the lineup with Tobias Harris and Ben Simmons stepping their games up. The Hawks are a good offensive team and could give the Sixers problems if they have to outscore them. Here are some things I will be looking for during this second round series:

• Who and how will the Sixer guard Trae Young? He “torched” the New York Knicks in the first round. When you look at the numbers, he wasn’t too efficient. He does have a knack of drawling fouls, which will help him get to his scoring average. The Sixers have a few defenders they could throw at Young including Matisse Thybulle, Danny Green, Ben Simmons, and George Hill. Defending the pick and roll will be key. Will they play drop coverage giving Trae an open three or will they play up to discourage the three but be susceptible to lobs?
• If Joel Embiid doesn’t play, who will start in his place? I think Matisse will start in his place with the task of guarding Trae Young.
• How Will Doc game plan to get Tobias Harris easy shots? I think they will most likely run double pick and rolls, horns sets, and switch hunt to get him on a small defender.
• This team has to target Trae Young on offense! He can’t sit in the corner or someone. He has to be in actions so he has to work on the defensive end.
• I think the X-factors for this series for the Sixers will be Seth Curry and Dwight Howard. If Embiid can’t play, Howard is the only other traditional center on the team and he will be needed for rim protection and rebounds. For the Hawks the x-factors will be Deandre Hunter and how well he can defend Ben Simmons or Tobias Harris. Another x-factor will be Bogdan Bogdanovic and whether he will be able to contribute with shooting and scoring consistently.
• Prediction: The Hawks will be a tough test defensively for this team, but they have the number 1 seed for a reason. They also have learned to play without Joel Embiid if he can’t play in a few games this series. If Joel Embiid plays the entire series, I think the 76ers win 5 games. Without Embiid I think the 76ers win a hard fought 7 game series.