After Philadelphia’s 113-112 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday night time, Doc Rivers revealed that the Sixers might be using three totally different beginning lineups shifting ahead within the season. This information got here on the heels of Rivers shifting younger star guard Tyrese Maxey to the bench in favor of De’Anthony Melton for the matchup with the Lakers.
Melton began instead of Maxey whereas Maxey was sidelined with a foot damage, and he proved to be a really comfortable match with Philly’s first 5. Rivers did not reveal what the three totally different lineups are, however he acknowledged they’ll shift relying on opponents.
“We advised our crew that there is three totally different lineups that we’ll be utilizing from this level on,” Rivers mentioned. “We had been going to do it within the Utah sport, however Tobias [Harris] was out. They know the lineups. I’m not going to share them, however there’s three totally different lineups we’ll use on totally different nights… Some nights, it is going to be to match as much as [opponents]. Some nights, it will be to make them match as much as us.”
While Rivers did not go into specifics, it isn’t too robust to surmise what the three totally different lineups could also be based mostly on the way in which the season has performed out to date. One of the lineups is probably going the beginning 5 that the Sixers began the season with — Maxey, James Harden, Tobias Harris, P.J. Tucker and Joel Embiid.
The second lineup in all probability swaps out Melton for Maxey, as we noticed towards the Lakers on Sunday night time. Running Melton with the primary 5 gives the Sixers with extra of a defensive presence to begin out the sport whereas having Maxey out there may be all about firepower. The third iteration of the beginning lineup might very nicely be a small-ball look that the Sixers have used that features each Maxey and Melton together with Harden, Harris and Embiid.
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Having totally different beginning lineups is an uncommon strategy, as groups — particularly contenders — usually want to ascertain continuity. However, that does not essentially imply it is a dangerous thought. If the roster buys into the thought, it might work to maximise the person abilities on the crew. The query then turns into: what’s going to such buy-in take?
“Maturity,” Rivers mentioned. “Really that is the important thing. If we are able to deal with it, it is going to be actually good for us as a result of I believe we have now sufficient guys that we are able to try this with. But we could discover out that it does not work nicely and return to at least one lineup.”
Clearly, Rivers does not plan to power the problem if the crew does not reply, however there’s nothing unsuitable with a little bit of regular-season tinkering. The objective is to have the crew snug and clicking come playoff time, and there are nonetheless a number of months earlier than then.
