What do Sixers have left to play for with three games to go?
The Sixers were certainly glad Tuesday to avoid being swept by the Celtics in their regular-season series thanks to Joel Embiids 52-point night.
They also understood the game wasnt especially meaningful relative to whats ahead.
We hope to see each other again, and itll be zero-zero, Sixers head coach Doc Rivers said. Nothing matters in the past. Nothing.
With three regular-season games left for the 52-27 Sixers, what does matter? Whats not yet cemented? Heres a rundown on several areas:
Finalizing first-round opponent
The Nets win Wednesday night over the Pistons leaves Brooklyn with a magic number of one to clinch the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference and lock in a first-round series against the No. 3 Sixers.
That means if the Sixers beat the Heat on Thursday in Philadelphia, theyll officially be set for a Round 1 matchup with the Nets. The one outcome that would result in a Sixers-Heat series instead would be Miami finishing 3-0 and Brooklyn dropping its last two games.
Wins Wednesday by the Bucks (58-22) and Celtics (55-25) sealed Milwaukee as No. 1 and Boston as No. 2.
At least one Sixers victory over their final three games would give the team its most wins in a season since the 2000-01 squads 56.
Scoring and assists titles
Embiid is close to a second consecutive scoring title with 33.3 points per game on a career-best 65.4 true shooting percentage. He may very well win his first MVP award, too.
Luka Doncic and Embiid have each played in 65 games. Doncic has 2,125 total points (32.7 per contest), while Embiid has 2,162.
It’s not impossible for Doncic to overtake Embiid. For instance, if the Mavs superstar scored 95 points over Dallas’ last two games and Embiid posted 23 vs. Miami, then sat against the Hawks and Nets, Doncic would end with a very narrow edge (33.13 vs. 33.11 points per game). Embiid is the clear favorite, though.
James Harden looks on his way to a second career assists title. Hes ahead of Tyrese Haliburton (10.8 vs. 10.4 assists per game) and needs one more appearance to reach the 58-game minimum.
Spotlight on second unit
Everyone whos received rotation minutes for the Sixers this season likely wont feature in Round 1, Game 1.
Over the teams last three regular-season games, perhaps a player or two can shift how Rivers sees things. Danuel House Jr. and Shake Milton combined for a mere 50 seconds of playing time Tuesday. Georges Niang got 16 minutes and had a second straight scoreless outing.
Im not that concerned, Rivers said of Niang. But listen, this is a business. Its a tough job and when youre not making shots and Georges will then youve got to do something else.
Sharpening up some details
Rivers on Tuesday named end-of-game execution, transition defense, and offensive pace as areas of focus before the playoffs.
The teams spacing is also a work in progress, as Harden highlighted after three clutch three-pointers by P.J. Tucker against Boston.
I know him like the back of my hand, Harden said. Theres a lot of frustration as far as where he needs to be on the floor, and were still trying to work that out. But tonight was great. We put him in the corner because … hes an unbelievable corner three-point shooter. Hes been like that his whole career.
Tonight, he was in the corner by himself and he had the confidence to knock the shots down. Hopefully, this game can build his confidence and we can keep going from there.
It also wouldnt hurt to get Tyrese Maxey back on track after the 22-year-olds rough season series vs. the Celtics. Maxey shot just 35.4 percent from the floor and 21.4 percent from three-point range against Boston.
At halftime, I made a comment to our guys like, Weve got to get him going. Weve got to get him more involved. Weve got to get him up the floor. It just didnt happen tonight, Rivers said. And so I want to watch and find out why that happened.
He did have some shots that he did make, but I thought his shots were so separated one here, one four minutes later. Its hard to make shots like that, so weve got to do a better job of making sure he touches the ball.
The Sixers listed Maxey (neck stiffness), Tucker (right calf tightness) and De’Anthony Melton (right calf tightness) as questionable for their meeting with the Heat. Miami’s Kyle Lowry (left knee soreness) and Bam Adebayo (left quadriceps tendon strain) were also questionable.
