PHILADELPHIA–The Philadelphia 76ers are on their way to the playoffs and they have tough decisions to make over the final five games of the season. Those decisions include having to decide who plays in the rotation in the postseason.
The Sixers have a lot of candidates to earn playoff minutes. Coach Doc Rivers and his staff can turn to the likes of Danuel House Jr. and Jalen McDaniels in his rotation to join Paul Reed and go with an athletic lineup with James Harden leading the second unit.
Then, there is De’Anthony Melton who will certainly be in the rotation. His spot is safe as the Sixers move forward, but in terms of the rest of the minutes, Rivers will be looking at two factors.
“It’s based on two things: it’s based on matchups and it’s based on performance,” Rivers said before a win over the Toronto Raptors on Friday. “If a guy, let’s say—we have a deep team. If a guy that we have in the rotation is not playing well, as far as I’ve read. Maybe there’s a new rule, you can play someone else. That’s how it works. That’s how it works in this league and that’s what we’ll do.”
Rivers’ bench unit gave a big spark on Friday against the Raptors. Reed poured in 11 points and six rebounds, House Jr. had eight points, and McDaniels had seven and two blocks while Georges Niang hit a triple. Those are the players that will be vying for minutes in the postseason.
“I’ve been saying it all year how deep this team is and how many guys we feel like can go out there and just hold their own,” added Melton. “And not only that, but produce at a high rate. So, tonight (Friday) was just one of those nights where everybody was moving the ball and playing hard. It was really just getting stops and getting out in transition and that’s what we want.”
The playoff auditions will continue on Sunday when the Sixers take on the Milwaukee Bucks on the road.
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Author : Sixers Wire
Publish date : 2023-04-01 13:45:31
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