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The Philadelphia 76ers were touted to be one of the biggest contenders for the NBA championship this season. Riding on MVP-calibre performances from Joel Embiid, The 76ers were unfortunately knocked out by the Atlanta Hawks after suffering multiple injury concerns.
The result was another playoff disappointment after some genuinely impressive showings throughout the season. In this article, we look at five things that went wrong for the Philadelphia 76ers in the 2020-21 NBA season:
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2020-21 NBA season: 5 things that went wrong for the Philadelphia 76ers
After years of consistent Playoff disappointments, the Philadelphia 76ers looked set for a deep playoff run and were looking like title contenders. However, a bad luck with injuries, lack of offensive production in the roster apart from Embiid, and an in-form Trae Young meant that the wait goes on, for Philadelphia 76ers’ fans.
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#1 Simmons’ lack of offensive production
Perhaps the most obvious reason behind the Philadelphia 76ers’ inability to go past the Atlanta Hawks. Ben Simmons transformed into a primary defensive superstar and his offensive production was inconsistent at best.
There were only a few games in Joel Embiid’s absence through the regular season when Ben Simmons got going and proved his offensive talent.
His ability to finish at the rim and playmaking has never been in doubt, but Ben Simmons became an offensive passenger through much of the playoffs that directly impacted his team, especially in the absence of Joel Embiid.
While Simmons might as well not return for the 2021-22 NBA season, his inconsistent playoff performances and an offensively ineffective series against the Atlanta Hawks was one of the biggest reasons why the Philadelphia 76ers were knocked out.
#2 Joel Embiid’s injury troubles
Once Joel Embiid got injured late in the regular season, the alarm bells had begun to ring for the Philadelphia 76ers. Embiid will argue that he was unlucky and would have won the MVP award had it not been for the number of matches that he missed.
Regardless, the Philadelphia 76ers looked ordinary offensively in the absence of Joel Embiid and do not have a replacement who can come in and support the rest of the 76ers’ stars.
Despite some huge performances, Joel Embiid’s injury meant that the roster simply did not have enough firepower to outscore the Atlanta Hawks.
#3 Doc Rivers’ failure to get the best out of his stars
On paper, the Philadelphia 76ers were one of the best teams in the NBA this season. But Doc Rivers failed to get the best out of the likes of Ben Simmons and Tobias Harris, making the 2020-21 NBA season the latest in a series of years in which Rivers has failed to lead high-profile stars to a deeper playoff run.
Since leading the Boston Celtics to the Championship in 2008, Rivers has failed to lead an LA Clippers’ team consisting of the likes of Blake Griffin, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George to a championship and the pattern seems to be playing itself out at the Philadelphia 76ers’ as well.
Ben Simmons has seen offensive stagnation, while Tobias Harris appears to be an expensive role player. The Philadelphia 76ers might be tempted to make large spread changes in order to contend for the Championship again.
#4 Tobias Harris performing like a role player
In recent weeks, quite a bit has been made of Tobias Harris’ failure to emerge as an integral part of a “big 3” alongside Embiid and Simmons. Harris is on a max $180 million contract with two years left on his deal and last averaged more than 20 points a season during the 2018-19 NBA season.
Harris simply does not possess the skills to be called a superstar and appears to be raking in more money than he deserves.
After an impressive series against the Washington Wizards, Tobias Harris averaged less than 19 points per game against the Atlanta Hawks, which included a 2-14 shooting performance from the field during their game 4 loss.
#5 Lack of secondary scorers
While Seth Curry was highly impressive during the Playoffs, a number of secondary and bench players did not have the best of time offensively for the Phialdelphia 76ers through the Playoffs this season.
As a matter of fact, Simmons, Curry, Embiid and Tobias Harris produced more than 80%, with Embiid and Seth Curry alone accounting for more than half of the points that the roster scored during the playoffs, despite one of them playing with an injury.
Simmons and Harris were expected to be better offensively, but so were the likes of Korkmaz, Tyrese Maxey, Danny Green and Dwight Howard. Matisse Thybulle was in a league of his own defensively.
Regardless, a lack of secondary scorers also played a part in the Philadelphia 76ers’ downfall, with quite a few role players registering subpar performances through the two playoff series.
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