Brett Brown’s Intense Halftime Speech Lit a Fire Under the Sixers
The Philadelphia 76ers evened the playing field on Monday after a dominating victory over the Brooklyn Nets. Before they split the series at 1-1 though, the Sixers were still a bit rusty coming off of their nine-point loss from the other day. As they headed into the locker room at halftime on Monday night, the Sixers were winning, but not by much. A one-point lead made it seem like the Nets were giving them a tough night, but in all reality, the Sixers were preventing themselves from dominating by self-inflicting mistakes.
Knowing they couldn't head into Brooklyn while down 0-2 in the series, the 76ers needed to come out in the second half and make a statement. During the last outing, Sixers' veteran forward Jimmy Butler had to take over the game. This time around though, the head coach took matters into his own hands and lit a fire under his players.
According to multiple Sixers players on Monday night, the vibe in the locker room during halftime was quite different. Typically, it's a calm and collective scene, with players and coaches talking strategy, but not this time around. Sixers' head coach Brett Brown was fed up. With everything that's at stake, Brown needed to do something differently, as whatever he has done lately clearly hasn't been working. So Brown threw away the nice guy persona for a few minutes and started motivating his guys by getting firey.
Although it was a different feeling for the Sixers, they clearly needed that. Philly ended up coming out in the second half and absolutely dominating. The one point lead in the first half eventually increased to a 22-point deficit as the Sixers won with a final score of 145-123. Clearly, Brett Brown's method worked, because the Sixers were firing off on all cylinders during the second half. Now, they tie the series up as they head into Brooklyn with the upper-hand.
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