On May 3, Beijing time, the 76ers will challenge the Heat in the second round of the NBA playoffs! It was a series that the 76ers had long anticipated, and they carefully laid out in the closing stages of the regular season to avoid the Bucks, Celtics, nets, and the heat in the semifinals was seen by them as the easiest way to advance to the Eastern Finals. The Heat don't have superstars, the offensive end lacks continuity, no one on the defensive end can match Embiid, and the 76ers have a great chance to reach the East Finals in a completely healthy state of the two teams.
However, life is uncertain, Embiid in the first round of G6, in the team lead of 29 points, the victory and defeat has long lost suspense, by his compatriot Siakam iron elbow hit by the right brow bone fracture, there is a slight concussion. According to the latest report of The Famous Book Woj, Embiid will not go to Miami with the team and will be absent from G1 and G2, and it is optimistic that Embiid will return in G3 or G4 at the earliest.
Embiid averaged 26.2 points, 11.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists in the first round of the series, shooting 52% from the field, he is the pillar of the team's offensive and defensive ends, and the strategic significance to the 76ers is self-evident, and no one can fill his vacancy. In other words, Embiid's absence has completely debased this series, and the original interior advantage has now become the biggest disadvantage, and Heat star Adebayor may play a dominant performance.
After learning the news that Embiid was absent from G1 and G2, the media was almost one-sidedly optimistic about the Heat advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals. ESPN experts predicted this round of the series, 19 experts are all optimistic about the Heat promotion, 10 people are optimistic about the Heat 4-2 elimination of 76 people, 7 people are optimistic about the Heat 4-1 promotion, 2 people are optimistic about the Heat 4-3 promotion.
When asked on the show today if the 76ers had a chance to win the series, A Smith replied zero, not believing Harden could switch to Rocket mode.
However, just as the so-called mourning soldiers must win, the outside world may stimulate the morale of the 76ers and give them additional motivation, which is very critical in the playoffs and is enough to change the trend of a game.
The more the media is not optimistic about Harden's return to the top, and the more they question his performance in the playoffs, the more likely it is to activate Harden. As O'Neal puts it, "I love seeing the benefits that outside skepticism brings to people, and Harden should take everyone who thinks he's at his peak no longer as his motivation." ”
Harden averaged 19 points, five rebounds and 10.2 assists per game in the series against the Raptors, shooting just 40.5 percent, which was clearly not enough to beat the Heat. With Embiid confirmed to miss the first two games, the 76ers were in a very passive position, with a lot of pressure on Harden's shoulders, needing to play more aggressively and taking on more offensive tasks than ever before.
But that doesn't mean that the game has become Harden's game alone, others can't stand and watch, to actively participate in the attack, Harris and Maxi also have to share some of the offensive tasks with the ball, don't hesitate when it's time to shoot.
To beat the Heat, the 76ers must pull up the strength of the whole team to steal a victory on the road, we will wait and see!