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Philadelphia 76ers head coach Brett Brown was plenty encouraged after his team pulled out a 118-115 victory over their fierce rivals, the Boston Celtics, in their last regular-season meeting. Brown attributed the change to having a “new team” with the addition of Tobias Harris, a floor spacer who has solved most of the team's headaches, providing a heavy dose of sharpshooting and heady play:
“What [people] should say, if we're all sort of fair and reasonable, is that we have a new team,” Brown said, according to ESPN's Tim Bontemps. “Maybe the times have changed.”
The Sixers only have trotted out the lineup of Ben Simmons, J.J. Redick, Jimmy Butler, Harris and Joel Embiid a total of eight times since the trade happened, mostly due to injuries to Butler and load management for Embiid, who has been banged up throughout this long season.
Brown noted the short sample size was enough to reap some fruits:
“Although that number isn't large, eight games together as the starting five, the excitement of what we can grow to and as I keep saying, jumping to this playoffs and take off is what my job is,” said Brown. “I think the spirit of the group, I thought the tenacity of that team, where they didn't waiver in belief, was as much of an important factor to me as it is when I look down and say, ‘Oh, by the way, we won.'”
Overcoming the Celtics was a huge step in terms of confidence for a team that was previously 0-3 against them in the regular season after losing in the Eastern Conference Semifinals 4-1 last year.
The recent win should be a huge confidence booster heading into the playoffs, where they could encounter them again.
