What Are The Holes In The Sixers Lineup Moving Forward?
As the Sixers continue to work to improve their chemistry and learning how to play together with better symmetry ahead of the postseason, many analysts and fans are looking ahead to how the 76ers will matchup with potential playoff opponents. Among the questions brought up are 'Who will guard Kyrie Irving in a seven game series?' and 'Who would JJ Redick guard in a series with the Raptors?' - In the Sixers 25 losses this season they have allowed 119.3 Points Per Game along with 48.1 Field Goal Percentage to their opponents; But in their 43 wins the defense is much better only allowing opponents to shoot 43.6 Percent from the field and just 107 Points Per Game Allowed.
Yahoo Sports NBA Contributor Keith Smith joined Mike Gill on Wednesday with his analysis of the Sixers lineups and how opponents will attempt to take advantage:
"I still think that there are some holes in certain (Sixers) lineups. - (Opposing) teams are going to go at JJ Redick, they are really gonna force him to defend and make him have to hold his own at that end and that is going to be something that we continue to see. They still don’t have a really great option for defending scoring Point Guards. That’s part of the reason why the Celtics continue to have success because Boston (says) 'Hey we’ve got Kyrie Irving, (opponents) don’t have anybody who can guard him'. And that is not a knock on a guy like Jimmy Butler, but Jimmy Butler at this stage in his career is not going out and locking down Point Guards night to night....So those are a couple holes, but (Sixers have) got enough talent that they can certainly steam around it and then they are also obviously very hard (to) guard on the other end of the floor.”
Checkout what Smith had to say about Ben Simmons, Celtics West Coast Winning Streak, hierarchy of top Playoff teams, and more NBA talk