A.

Well, they proved to me that they could do they could they could possibly win it.

All have been Simmons would shoot jump shots.

I think that's the glaring weakness.

And it all the last play of the game, Max.

You know, essentially, you know, they pulled the LeBron Doc Rivers called the Beautiful, Beautiful play because they bring the ball up the court and then Tobias Harris picks off Caruso.

So Caruso has to ultimately guard him because LeBron was on Tobias Harris.

Okay, but you cause you forced to switch.

So you had Caruso on Tobias Harris, and obviously Tobias Harris took him and sealed the deal with under two seconds left.

And that's how they won this game, because that's something that LeBron James usually does.

He finds the mismatch, he takes advantage of it either for himself or another player on his team, and that's what happened.

But Doc Rivers, you know, pulled that on him last night.

Having said all of that, I just think that when you look at the Philadelphia 70 Sixers, you look at this kid, Maxie, you look a Tobias Harris.

The way that he's been balling you look at Joe L and B.

The way that he's been balling along with Seth Curry, who I can't say enough about, because he's really, really ascending before our very eyes.

What it comes down to is Ben Simmons being on the court in being a threat offensively, If he's a threat, if he's somebody that you have to pay attention to, it's going to free up shot opportunities for other people, including and beat along with others.

If you don't do that, you essentially get to play four on five.

Basketball against the Philadelphia 76 is particularly with Benson, is not being a perimeter threat.

We know he could take the ball to the hole and finish at the basket and score there.

But when you conspire from the perimeter, it opens the floodgates for you offensively.

And that's what Ben Simmons needs to do.

I don't care what anybody says.

Speaking to Daryl Morey last night, he acknowledged it to some degree.

Obviously, Doc Rivers thinks otherwise.

You have to, in my estimation, be able to shoot jump shots in order for you to win the chip.

If you are the Philadelphia 76 is you need Ben Simmons.

To be able to be some kind of threat to keep opposing defense is honest.

If not, it will come back to bite you when it really counts.

Not during the regular season.

Not doing the early rounds of the playoffs.

But eventually it will come back to bite you against the elite team.

Um, first of all, you're right about Ben Simmons.

If Ben Simmons could really shoot Stephen A, he be an M v P candidate for really, and I might not be taking the Nets to get out of the East.

That's number one.

Number two.

You're right about Doc Rivers.

Doc Rivers.

Look, why is, uh, Rondo a playoff player?

Why is their playoff Rondo regular season?

Boy, he's not that good anymore.

Playoffs.

Oh my God, He's an all star because it's that playoffs.

His coaches time right.

The guys who know all the plays, there's more intensity.

There's Mawr kind of designed plays.

The guys who know all the players have an advantage.

Like a brilliant guy like Rondo, who knows?

Everything is like a coach on the floor.

Doc Rivers has like the play out of the time out that gets you the bucket.

Of course, you need the horses, but the coach that could design the play that gets you the bucket out of the time out.

That team has a big advantage in the playoffs.

The Sixers have that guy now, so you're right about that, too.

But that's not what I appeal from the game.

What I appeal from the game is this.

What is this lead gonna do with Joel Embiid?

In an era that absolutely goes against a guy of Embiid size right?

And because he also has classic back to the basket center skills, those guys are almost never the best player in the game or one of the best players in the game are really in the M V P conversation.

When was the last time that happened?

But MBI, because he has those skills and also all kinds of other skills, is he's still my M v P.

After that game, he was giving a D the business.

Anthony Davis, the business when you looked on paper heading into this game, Anthony Davis and Marc Gasol.

What you can't really ask for Mawr going up against Embiid and they couldn't do anything with them.

So what did they do?

LeBron James, who was not a dirty player, had a dirty play.

Both hands on Embiid in the air pushed him.

And, by the way, Marc Gasol behind them didn't get anywhere to land and actually give a little tap in the back.

N b came down so hard, Stephen A that when they replayed it with sound, it was hard to watch and listen to.

That's a big man coming down a long way on a bad back.

And what happened after that play?

The Lakers started making a furious comeback, and Bead was not the same.

He had that one nice move on a D where he scored, but But he really wasn't the same.

They kind of took him out of the game with that play.

In the end, though, what I take away is Embiid so far is the M V P, and the Sixers won the game.

Yes, they were at home.

Yes, they had a big lead.

They got whittled away once it looked like MBS back really started toe stiffened right to tighten, but they still managed to hang on in a game where when you were watching, let's admit it.

It was like Lakers gonna win this.

They're coming back.

They're showing them what a champion is and the Sixers held on.

Well, first of all, I've seen worse in terms of the fall.

I've seen worse.

It was kind of nasty, but I've seen much, much worse.

Let's be.

Let's put that in perspective.

Number one, number two.

However, having said all that, I would understand your sensitivity to such issues.

Max.

Anybody that has a back issue, you are definitely sensitive to those things.

That's definitely I definitely understand that, Max, I understand where you're coming from and, you know, Mr Elliptical, I understand.

But in the end, here's what the deal is, Mac, When you sit up there and you look at the Los Angeles later, you look it.

I'm sorry, Joe.

L and B, here's what I would say.

Toe buffer your argument about him right now, Max, when are you and I gonna sit here?

Because we don't have time today with this is Shawn Watson news.

But when are you and I gonna sit here rhetorically speaking and have a discussion about whether or not Joe L.

N B.

Is going toe overtake Yanis because I got news for you.

Yanis in the Open court is a monster.

We get that 6 11 with his wing span, his agility, his athleticism is hops.

All of that is true, but he's not the true big that Joel and be this.

And now that Doc Rivers got him doing what I beg bread Brown to do for three years, which was get journal and beats big but behind in the post and let him be a man amongst boys now that Doc Rivers got him doing more.

That and Joe L and B being able to shoot perimeter shots, particularly in the half court setting, he's got a chance right now.

Toe overtake Yanis as the elite big in the Eastern Conference.

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