Update [1:00 p.m.] — 76ers Announced on Wednesday afternoon Center Joel Embiid had a slight lateral torn meniscus and was excluded from the fifth game against the Wizards. This is the bad news.Good news (or at least better one (News) Yes, despite the tears, the team still regards their big men’s status as daily.

For more information about Embiid’s diagnosis and his progress, click here.

Before

The 76ers have yet to confirm his absence, but Joel Embiid missed Wednesday’s fifth game. Judging from where we sat this morning, he feels almost certain. Believing that a potential championship fight is their future, Philadelphia is not interested in taking risks with their franchised players, especially when all they need to do is beat a bad Wizards team again to advance to the next round.

Of course, it doesn’t end until the end, so the 76ers need to make a decision. Embiid’s absence basically guarantees that we will see some gadget lineups against the Wizards in Game 5, but how common will these lineups be? Doc Rivers has multiple options to fill the starting lineup, but each situation is not as clear as they want. The 76ers will ultimately have to decide what (or who) they are willing to sacrifice, because Rivers is weighing whether to give the starter the most boost or the second team needs as much help as possible.

Let us discuss the pros and cons of each realistic option, while giving due respect to the others on the bench.

Dwight Howard

What needs to be clear is that Rivers cannot replace Embiid’s “like” exchange. Few (if any) big men in the entire league have Embiid’s all-around bag type, and they are certainly not the kind of player you have on the bench with the fewest veterans.

But Howard is at least a big man who can do big things: offensive rebounds, blocks, screens, nine yards. To be honest, this has not yet appeared in this series, and he is one of the worst rotation players in the fourth game. But no big man in the starting lineup will cause some trouble at the basket. In this series, the young Wizards center Daniel Garford has performed well in any non-Embidian playing time. If the 76ers finally choose to play a squad disguised as a big forward, he may have A performance.

There are many reasons for the Sixers to look elsewhere. On the one hand, Howard’s starting minutes is basically begging him for fouls in the game, and his rough play is most suitable for a substitute role. There is also the problem of his coordination with Ben Simmons-Simmons/Howard’s lineup is almost generally unfavorable for Philadelphia. The group with the most appearances happens to be the Howard-Harris-Green-Curry-Simmons combination that can theoretically start together. It is one of the worst single-game lineups in the league in the regular season, scoring more than 33 points per 100 possessions. A small sample of 141 recognized properties. According to the data from Cleaning The Glass, overall, the Simmons/Howard lineup has lost more than 10 points in playing time per 100 rounds this season, which makes them rank 11th in the league.

That is, to put it mildly, not good, especially for a team that will start the playoffs together.I do not Thinking Rivers would choose to take this route, but considering that they didn’t stop because of underestimation the other night, and seeing him choose the most “traditional” option he has, whether it works or not, I won’t feel Shock.

Mike Scott

Quietly, Scott may be the person most likely to start for Philadelphia on Wednesday night. He has started twice as many games as Howard in the regular season, and Embiid is on the court, the first priority of the coach must be to play Simmons and Tobias Harris. Opening the field with another shooter (at least in theory) is as meaningful as any other emotion.

I know I know. Scott’s performance this season was terrible, failing to make up for his poor on-court game by helping him stay in the league with his shooting touch.But the team still seems to show him some respect from outside the three-point line. This is the 76ers. Really It needs to be done by putting him in the starting lineup.

The bad news is that although the Scott Harris-Simmons-Green-Curry lineup is their most played small ball, but this year only barely made positive progress. In the 223 offenses this season, Clean The Glass scored two points better than the opponent’s lineup. The defense was slightly above average and the offense was below average.

Scott will almost certainly play sometime in Game 5, and keeping him in the starting lineup allows Rivers to leave a more troublesome second team. If I had to spend my money on a choice, that’s it, but Rivers has broken the habit of the regular season in several meaningful ways, so this is far from a guarantee.

George Hill

Why not add the most stable substitute player to a group that can use more representatives with him before the game gets tougher? Hill had a very good start to the playoffs, both off the ball and off the ball. They performed well and helped many of their mixed lineups.

In the Simmons-Harris-Green-Hill-Curry lineup, the 76ers suddenly had a lot of options to release Simmons as a roller at the basket. Leaving the handover or participating in the pick-and-roll, at least three players in this group can make Simmons look comfortable in these, and their pull-up ability makes it difficult for Washington to stay obsessed with the edges of the screen. Even if Simmons does not become a scorer, in such a situation, passing the ball from a short distance to the corner can be devastating.

What is the reason why Hill feels a little unlikely to be on the starting lineup? Other places may only need his talents. Shaker Milton regressed something fierce in the second half of the season. Although Tyrese Maxi showed excellent flashes in the second team, it felt ambitious to bet on a rookie to become the ball-handling leader of a very unstable team. exuberant. If Rivers wants to use a full bench lineup–and the probability that one of his stars is out is greater than ever before–Hill can be said to be a more influential playmaker and a stable starting second-tier role. , Even if he finally entered the final lineup.

Hill is a raiser on both ends of the floor, so I think if his goal is to promote as many starters as possible, then I think he has good reasons to be Rivers’ best choice. They have always been responsible for almost all 3-1 leading groups, so why not give them the best chance to get a good start?

Matisse Sebre

When Embiid is absent, this is a lineup that many people want to see. Simmons-Harris-Thybulle-Green-Curry has insufficient protection of the rim at the back end, but it may not matter. Simmons and Sebull have two home run guards. The 76ers may make mistakes after the opposing team’s mistakes and make up for the decline in halfcourt offense with a devastating transitional offense.

If Thybulle is the one who received the call, maybe we will see the 76ers only have a small dose this season: in the 2-3 zone, Simmons and Thybulle are in the lead. The Sixers’ small ball built around Simmons seems incapable of protecting the rim, so why not get Washington out of the paint in the first place? At least three players in this group (Simmons, Sebull, Green) have performed well in helping with rotations and pressing shooters, and the Wizards have become an area of ??destruction due to Davis Bertans’ absence from the series. One of his biggest threats is his jumper.

Of course, spacing is a potential problem for any lineup that has Simmons and Sebull at the same time. Whenever this year, as long as these two people are on the same field, the 76ers’ offense is like the fifth from the bottom. The only consolation is that Washington’s defense is too bad, which may not matter. But when you consider the 76ers’ hard work at halftime on Monday night, it seems that there is at least a little bit of strategy and setup. Washington will leave Sebull alone on the perimeter, regardless of success or failure, which may be enough to exclude him.

Fulcan Korkmaz

Never underestimate the power of Starter Furkan. I’m only half joking.

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