2023-06-02 05:08:02
CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) — Nick Nurse inherits a Philadelphia 76ers where Joel Embiid has grown to be the NBA’s Most Valuable Player. Tyrese Maxey is a rising star and James Harden showcased his old talent in the playoffs.
For all that ability, the Sixers are mere spectators at the NBA Finals.
Nurse, officially named Philadelphia’s coach on Thursday a few weeks after he was fired by the Toronto Raptors, had higher expectations for a Sixers who instead suffered their third straight second-round playoff exit.
“This team could be playing tonight,” he considered.
It certainly isn’t. The Denver Nuggets defeated the Miami Heat in Game 1 of the Finals.
Meanwhile, the Sixers introduced another coach, with another fresh vision after another non-title season.
Weeks after firing Doc Rivers, they turned to Nurse looking to put their frustrations behind them in the second round of the playoffs. Better still would be to get a championship.
But no one should expect Nurse to spend much time lamenting his lack of playoff success.
“I really don’t vibrate with the frequency of the past,” he stressed.
Nurse, 55, led the Raptors to the NBA championship in 2019, when they beat Embiid and the Sixers in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
There was barely a trace of that series in Nurse’s explanation of why Philadelphia falls short every year. The team needs “that combination between staying healthy and being lucky.”
Embiid has suffered some kind of ailment in the postseason every year. It is something as predictable as the elimination of the 76ers.
And as for luck. Kawhi Leonard’s shot bounced off the rim four times going into Game 7, sending the Sixers home in 2019.
It was the first time a death basket ended a Game 7 in NBA history.
Philadelphia hasn’t reached the Eastern Conference finals since 2001.
“It doesn’t matter,” Nurse said.
In Philadelphia yes. Everyone wants the team to celebrate like it did in 1983.
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