J.J. Redick is one of two players with championship experience in the Philadelphia 76ers roster. As a long-tenured veteran of this league, he gave the best advice possible to this young core on the eve of Game 5 against the Miami Heat, telling his teammates to seize this moment.
Redick had gone to the NBA Finals in 2009 as a member of the Orlando Magic, and once the team lost to the Los Angeles Lakers, he thought they would be back the next year, only to receive a rude awakening with the team unraveling and failing to reach that stage again.
“He told us how he walked off the floor of the Finals, in the year he went with the Magic, and he looked at everyone, Jameer [Nelson] and Dwight [Howard] had extensions they'd just started, and he said, ‘Don't worry, we'll be back,'” recalled point guard T.J. McConnell, according to ESPN's Ramona Shelburne. “Well, he hasn't been back to The Finals since. So he said the window that's open for us now closes quickly, so we just have to keep taking advantage of it.”
Joel Embiid, who has been vocal about the Sixers' chances to take the Eastern Conference by storm, noted this is an opportunity the team needs to firmly grasp.
“You can't take anything for granted,” Embiid said.
Redick has led by example and played with a fire in this series, averaging 20 points with 2.6 assists through five games, shooting a remarkable 93.1 percent clip from the foul line.
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