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PST SPECIAL: What Happens To The Sixers Now? · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

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All right, everybody, you're listening to the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show,
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the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show in the world. PST Special coming
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your way here as the Philadelphia seventy six ers were absolutely trounced in Game seven
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of the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Again a PST special podcast to get into this,
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I'm Jeff Warren and I felt the need to get on this microphone this
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evening after digesting Game seven, which was held up in Boston at the TD
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Bank Garden. Oh my gosh, it was the worst possible outcome for this
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Philadelphia seventy six ers team. It wasn't just a loss. It wasn't just
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you know, a couple bad bounces that didn't go the Sixers way. It
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wasn't just the officiating, which we've been talking about on this podcast. It
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was a complete breakdown of a team. It was a complete and utter failure
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of being in the moment and not meeting the moment. That's what this was
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about. And now questions are persisting about what happens to this team, what
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direction does this organization go into? And again, here, folks, I'm
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just talking randomly into a microphone with absolutely no agenda in front of me.
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Again, after digesting this utter debacle of sports that we saw today, of
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this basketball team completely completely imploding, I have to say I had hope and
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maybe you did too. Maybe you had some hope when when when when we
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had a dream start of the game for PJ Tucker, when he went four
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of six from the field, he had eleven points in the first quarter.
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Eleven points from PJ Tucker in the first quarter, My gosh, even even
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he even got the rebound that got him that that corner three on the sideline
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on that out of bounds play. Anyway, it was we thought good things
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were gonna happen. My god, my god, PJ Tucker getting it done
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here. Maybe other folks on this team are gonna step up and not have
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Joel Embiid and James Harden's shoulder the complete burden. But then we get into
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these two gentlemen, as we know, holy cow, talk about not meeting
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the moment, talk about not meeting the moment. The MVP of this league
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in Joel Embiid finishing this game with a dreadful fifteen points, dreadful, and
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at the half he had thirteen folks. Joe Ell Embiid ended the game with
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fifteen points. He had thirteen points at the half. My god, James
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Harden had six points at the end of the half. James Harden ended up
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with nine points on the day, nine points. Here in game seven,
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Where did it all go wrong? Where? What was the moment when it
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all went wrong for the Sixers? Because quite frankly, at one point during
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the third they were tied at fifty five fifty five. We saw that,
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right, I think we all saw that they were tied at fifty five fifty
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five in the third quarter, and then the Celtics just went on a twenty
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five to three run against this Sixers team. I don't even want to I'm
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a team. Actually, they don't want to call him a team. I
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want to say that they kind of were just like bodies out on the floor.
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There were just bodies out on the floor, you know. And I
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wonder if the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals are going to give them
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a little bit more of a run for their money than the than the Sixers
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did here in Game seven. Yes, I know, folks are gonna come
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back and say, well, they tied it up. They tied it up.
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Great, great, maybe you should have put this team away at the
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Wells Fargo Center in Game six when you had the opportunity to do so,
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when you were up three to two in the series. We're gonna get to
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Dock in just a little bit, by the way, in terms of three
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two series and Doc Rivers, we're gonna get to that in a bit.
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But again, let me go back to what I was just mentioning where it
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turned wrong for the Sixers and where the game turned in the Celtics favor.
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Look, everything shifted three and a half minutes into the second quarter, basically,
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you know, after a great Anthony Mountain block, the Sixers had a
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chance to get their lead to ten points. They had a chance to get
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their lead because they were leading, they had a chance to get their lead
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to ten points. Harden lost the ball. Of course, how many times
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have we seen this. Harden loses the ball while going in for a layup,
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committed that flagrant foul on the follow through. Then after Jalen Brown made
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the two resulting free throws, the Celtics just happen to find, of course,
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Robert Williams for an alley yoube, to make it a four point possession.
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They then picked up a steal and a fast break layup to cut the
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deficit all the way to two points. The whole run, that whole run
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there, folks, took twenty eight seconds. That it took twenty eight seconds.
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And from there the Celtics dominated. Jason Tatum delivered a brilliant performance.
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Fifty one points. Fifty one freaking points from Jason. I know I can't
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stand them. I can't stand them either, but fifty one points, thirteen
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rebounds, five assists, Jelen Brown twenty five points. Guess what, These
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two were the only ones who really did much of anything for the Celtics,
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and that's all they needed. That's all they needed because the Sixers just sat
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quietly around. Well, they'd let Jason Tatum put up fifty one. Yeah,
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he was on fire. Maybe there wasn't much, Maybe there wasn't much
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the Sixers could do about it. However, they didn't relate, didn't try
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too hard, and from an offensive standpoint and utter utter failure man, Jason
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Tatum delivered a brilliant performance, didn't he The Boston defense then they held Philadelphia
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to ten points in the third quarter, ten points in the third quarter.
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The fourth quarter was basically just a Celtics celebratory quarter. I guess that's what
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we could call it, my gosh, in a series that the Sixers came
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legitimately close to winning. This season ends here, Game seven in Boston,
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the most painful way possible, the most painful way possible, a twenty four
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point beat down. Meanwhile, James Harden and Joel and be a no show
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in this do or die game, the role players just really missing threes throughout
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the game, and the Sixers just suffering that most painful defeat possible. And
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now there's a ton of uncertainty heading into an offseason in which James Harden is
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a free agent. The questions are going to start about where the direction of
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this team is going to go. And we can talk about a few of
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those in just a bit here. I do need to take a break.
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I desperately need to take a break here. I'm gonna be back in just
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a bit and we're gonna finish things up here on this PST podcast, this
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PST special. Stick with us. We'll be right back, all right,
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folks, We are back. And I wanted to get into some doc river
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stats, some doc rivers previous experiences when it comes to the playoffs. Very
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interesting here. I gotta give a shout out to at barry On here for
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this tweet that I read, and I wanted to bring it up because I
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think we know Doc Rivers is not going to be around much longer. It's
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not going to be possible for him to keep his head coaching job of the
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Philadelphia seventy six ers. Let's go back to two thousand and three. He
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blew a three one lead in that playoff. Two thousand and nine, he
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blew a three to two lead. Two ten, he blew a three to
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two lead. Two thousand and twelve, he blew a three to two lead.
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Two fifteen, he blew a three to one lead, two twenty he
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blew a three to one lead. And in two thousand and twenty three,
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he blew a three to two lead with this Philadelphia seventy six ers team.
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How about this? How about this? And again got a credit at barry
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On here for this. Two thousand and five lost games seven at home.
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Twenty fourteen, choked away game five in a two to two series. In
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twenty sixteen, he lost a two to zero lead. Twenty seventeen, lost
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game seven at home, twenty twenty one lost Game seven at home, and
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we of course know that in twenty twenty three could have sealed the deal he
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lost that it blew that three to two lead at the Wells Fargo Center as
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well. So that's just to add a little bit more context to doc Rivers
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playoff in postseason resume as we're moving forward here. Interesting how my co host
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Lenn was texting some of us on our text thread and he asked the question,
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and it's really interesting to think about after this particular awful loss he asked.
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He said, a good debate topic, guys worse sixers move faults over
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Tatum or Simmons to bias, Brett Brown over Jimmy Butler. Interestingly enough,
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we had one of our dedicated listeners shoot us off some listener feedback this past
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week about this, you know, missing Jimmy Buckets. I don't know,
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I don't know. What are your thoughts out there? I'd love to hear
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from you. Do you think that Markel Foltz over Jason Tatum was worse than
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this organization keeping Ben Simmons to bias, Harris Brett Brown over Jimmy Butler.
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Our listener Francis this past week he said he missed Jimmy Buckets missed him,
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we would have had multiple championships. Of course, we don't know that.
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We aren't sure how that would have gone hindsight, Yes, is certainly twenty
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twenty. But I'd love to know what you're thinking about. I'd love to
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read your email on our regular show and respond to it. But the questions
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are going to persist about what to do with this team. The questions are
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going to persist. How do they continue to move forward even though we have
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loved him, even though the good has certainly outweighed the negative. But should
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the Sixers explore trading Joel Embiid, Because like, unless you want to give
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James Harden a max contract, you know, you are stuck with no meaningful
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way really to improve the roster. You know, you get a huge,
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huge hall of assets for Joel Embiid, You'll let James Harden walk, You
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trade Tobias Harris, you fire Doc Rivers starting over from the beginning. Does
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that happen the most extreme case, that is the most extreme case, or
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do you just fire Doc Rivers and kind of just try to run it back
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with this crew? I don't know, do you honestly think a different coach
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is going to produce a different result. I remember the Philadelphia seventy six ers
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tweeting out earlier this year that it's going to be a different season with a
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picture of James Harden. That was a Twitter post, and it wasn't.
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It wasn't different. It was a lot of the same stuff that we have
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been seeing, missing pieces at times during the regular season and especially during the
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postseason, and things not coming together, things not jelling, certain aspects of
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leadership of this team faltering. I absolutely love the Sixers, and I love
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Joel Embiid. I love what this team has meant to this city over the
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years. But my gosh, in the Sixers four losses to the Celtics,
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James Harden was a combined twelve or fifty five twenty one point eight percent from
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the field. I mean, this is part for the course for him,
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right, This is part for the course in terms of the playoffs during his
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career. They cannot, under any circumstances give him a max contract, let
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him leave the city of Philadelphia. It didn't work. It didn't work by
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James Harden. See you later appreciate some of those efforts that you did give
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us, but you didn't get us to where we needed yet again the Philadelphia
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seventy sixers not being able to get out of the Eastern Conference semifinals. So
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what happens? What happens with this team? Folks would love to hear from
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you, really. I mean, there's a few different avenues that they can
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go in again, aside from running it back with a different coach, Aside
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from the talk of trading Joel Embiid, trading Tobias Harris, you know,
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letting James Harden walk. Can they do to post or can they figure out
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a way to bring potential bench pieces in that could help this team a little
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bit more. I mean, in this game, would you get seventeen points
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out of the bench? And that was actually not that bad considering how the
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bench has played during this postseason. We've had some horrible bench numbers. Of
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course, my gosh, the supporting cast niang with a terrible foul in this
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game when he's hanging on a Celtics leg while he's sitting on the bench.
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What are you doing, man, what are you doing costing your team in
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this moment, in this particular moment to make a dumbass decision and move like
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that. The team definitely needs a new sort of direction. What is that
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direction going to be? I do want Joel Embi to be here. I
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do, and I'm not going to make any excuses with his knee, but
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yes, I mean that could that have been a prevalent aspect of why he
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didn't perform the way that we have been used to seeing him perform. Oh,
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by the way, he's the MVP of the league, and I know
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reading on Twitter folks saying you know what, that shouldn't mean as much.
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Yeah, I get it, it shouldn't mean as much, but guess what
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it does. It does, and it stinks when the MVP does not show
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up for a moment like this. I still love the guy, I'd still
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love him in Philadelphia, but in terms of what this team needs to do
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to get itself over this playoff hump, my gosh, this semifinals hump?
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Is he a part of that? I want him to be, but I'm
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not sure if it's possible. I don't know if it's possible. Let us
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know what you're thinking, Philadelphia Sports Table at gmail dot com. Love to
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read your email here on the show. I'd love to get some responses about
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this. I want to talk about this. I know Eric probably well,
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Eric doesn't want to talk about this. To be honest with you, I
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asked him if he wanted to jump on. He's like, now, not
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really. Here's disgusted. Sixers Nation is disgusted. I know Lens disgusted.
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The text message is going back and forth. This team was not just utterly
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disappointing, but they were embarrassing. They embarrass themselves. It's embarrassing to be
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a part of this fan base right now at this particular moment here on May
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fourteenth, twenty twenty three, what's twenty twenty four that season gonna look like?
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What's what type of head coach is going to be now brought in to
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help provide some leadership to some very talented gentlemen who are who were wanting to
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get to that next level? What does it all look like? We're gonna
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be talking about it more on this podcast show, of course. So very
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bitter, so upset, so disappointed, so many of us just pissed off
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with how this went. Do you remember Eric from a couple of months ago
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saying, I get the feeling that this could happen again. And I kind
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of was thinking to myself back then, you know what, I don't know.
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They had a pretty good March. If you remember, March regular season
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schedule was supposed to be brutal, and they got through it. They got
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through it. It's because you had an MVP. You had an MVP caliber
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style player who helped them get through that. And I thought I'd be able
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to transfer over to this postseason man, the semi final round. Man,
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they're Achilles heel. Well, I don't know what. I don't know what
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more to say right now. I feel like I'm just talking pontificating in front
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of this microphone. It's so upsetting to know the talent that is on this
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team, but the talent just wasn't able to get it done. Sometimes in
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sports you need more than talent. Sometimes in sports you need, as I
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have mentioned a couple of times on this podcast already, you need to meet
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the moment. And if you don't, what does that mean? What if
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it means if you can't meet the moment? You know, I feel like
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Joel Embiade. It joins James Harden and Doc Rivers and this pantheon of choke
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artists. Now, I don't want that to be Embead's legacy. You know,
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he just he did not look great. Of course in this Game seven.
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They came up small when it mattered most. And they're never going to
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live this down. They're never going to live this down. And I hate
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to say it, but sometimes I think we have enough of a sample size
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to suggest that certain elements of this team might never be what we need them
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to be in the playoffs. You know, as brilliant as Joel Ebid maybe
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during the regular season, we just haven't seen it translate over into this postseason.
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It's so so incredibly disappointing. So I'm gonna end things there again.
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We'd love to hear from you. I need some emails people, I need
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some back and forth about where this team is going to go in the future.
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I want to hear from you. Philadelphia Sports Table at gmail dot com.
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And for you listeners who've been around for a while, you know,
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if anything happens to your podcast feed, head on over to Philadelphia Sportstable dot
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com. We've got all of our shows over there. Social media sites.
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We're on Twitter, we're on Instagram. I'm not gonna go through all that
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right now, but let us know what you're thinking, what you're feeling.
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I know it's not going to be good, but I don't know. Maybe
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we can help each other through this here. Alright, folks, you all
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take care and we've got some great, great podcast coming to you this week.
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We gotta show dedicated the Flyers, Yes, the lowly Flyers, but
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they're in a rebuild. The rebuild is going to be interesting. Our opposition
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Territory show is going to be pretty good. We're gonna be getting into a
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NFC East team that you know, could be making some waves this coming season.
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And we got a great guest coming up on our regular show to get
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into this Philadelphia Phillies team as well. And it's gonna be tough to continue
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digesting this one, folks, So you all take care, reach out to
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us, take care. We'll catch you next time.