

Much of Trae’s game involves tricky maneuvering that might delight a litigious-minded loophole seeker while appalling a purist.an in-game moral equivalent of tanking for picks. If I were Morey, I’d be thinking: “ the league would sometimes let James do certain things for an entire regular season and then abruptly hit a switch and give him none of those calls in the postseason, sure would be nice if they sent Trae a similar message this series.” There would be some irony in Sixers Prez Daryl Morey, perhaps watching Trae operate and feeling mildly appalled by Young’s manipulation of the rule book, since his former player, James Harden has done so much of it. As ESPN’s Royce Young writes, he’s one of the league’s savviest innovators “who pushes the NBA rule book.” He’s cerebral and has more tricks in his bag than a birthday magician.
#Trae young stats vs sixers playoffs free#
Young led the entire NBA in free throws made this regular season. (In fact, Embiid was so ridiculously good at getting to the line that he finished second to Giannis Antetokounmpo in total attempts despite missing 21 regular-season games).īut the surprise addition to that free throw attempts list is the 6’ Lilliputian, Ice Trae. You may know that Joel Embiid led the NBA in free throws attempted per game this season. Limiting the Hawks means slowing down the Oklahoma product, Trae Young.

So whether Joel is not available or available but limited, stopping their next opponent, the Atlanta Hawks, takes on even greater importance now. We don’t know yet if Embiid will be available to play in this series, but if you didn’t know his injury (a slight tear of the lateral meniscus in his right knee) and all you knew was that he was listed as “day-to-day” you’d have little doubt that he’d be out there in some capacity during this series. The Philadelphia 76ers handled business in game 5 against Washington, even without their superstar and MVP caliber talent, Joel Embiid. We’re talking about the games within the game, man. We’re not talking about practice, not practice. There’s the game, and then there’s the game within the game.
