A perhaps far-too-common sight in the NBA is the easy transition layup. Someone doesn’t get a foul call they think they deserve, so they neglect to get back on defense and the opposing team scores easily on the other end off the fastbreak.
The Philadelphia 76ers very much are culprits of that, and at least one player knows it.
While referees around the NBA have put varying degrees of effort into swallowing the whistle during regular season games, you usually can count on officials being far more gun-shy in the playoffs. Ultimately, letting guys play is for the best.
But Sixers vet Danny Green pointed out on his podcast “Inside the Green Room” on Wednesday that lamenting a foul or missed shot then not getting back on defense is an issue Philly needs to button up.
“That could be an issue, but we have to find out a way to play through them," Green said. "Those guys know, Joel (Embiid) has played in the playoffs, James (Harden) has played in the playoffs, knowing that they make an emphasis not to call as many fouls in the playoffs and they’re going to change it even more so they can let guys play even more. The goal, and the key is, when it doesn’t happen, get the f--k back on defense. Excuse my language, but you’ve got to get back. So we don’t get the foul call, we don’t make a shot, we can’t let our offense dictate our defense and that’s the biggest thing, the biggest change we need to grow and mature on.
“When shots don’t fall, when we turn the ball over, when we don’t get the foul calls, we’ve got to get three or four guys always sprinting back and also the last two or last man that’s trailing to find somebody that’s open. But to sprint back and talk and communicate, that’s our biggest issue that we’ve had most of the year. So, yeah, that may be an issue, but I think guys will figure it out, I think they’ve been playing with it. They’ll get some of the foul calls, but we’ll learn how to adapt and adjust to making sure that we get back on defense if they don’t happen.”
Green is onto something there. The 76ers are 28th in the league in points allowed off the fastbreak per game (14.5), ahead of only the Lakers (15.0) and Rockets (15.5). For a team that is as good as Philadelphia, that simply can’t happen.
If they don’t, then they better hope they don’t run into the Raptors in the first round, as Toronto is the third-best team in the NBA in fastbreak points per game.
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