Mike Missaneli, Host of "The Mike Missanelli Podcast"

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Donate today at your local CSL plasma center and be rewarded for your generosity. Mike, how you been? Good, Zach. How you doing? Well, I'm doing fantastic.

Appreciate you joining us. So, last night after the Sixers lose, I'm listening to the postgame press conference and Embiid is saying how he wanted to get the ball more and he needs the ball more in the final five minutes. I hear that, Mike Missinelli, and I go, well, it's your team, it's your city. Why aren't you demanding the ball in the final five minutes? Yeah, I kind of agree with you. I thought he was really passive in that situation. I also think it wasn't coached properly. I mean, the subjects had really defended the pick and roll with Harden and Embiid, but Harden was very passive last night as well, so it wasn't working as well. I thought they really should have done some more maxi Embiid action in that set, but he's also got to take the initiative to shoot that medium range foul line jump shot. I mean, I think that's there most of the time, even when they double teamed, if he reacts quickly enough, but he's got to be the guy. There's no question that he's got to bring this team home in a situation like that.

He did not do it last night. As much as he did in Game 5, he didn't do it in Game 6, and it's very disappointing. This series has been so up and down.

Whenever one team gets momentum, the other team takes it back. I truly have no clue what to expect for Game 7 on Sunday. Where's your confidence that the Sixers find the way to get the job done in Boston? Well, I can tell you that in Philadelphia, and you know this well, there is no confidence at all. I cannot believe how many people have bailed out on the Sixers at this point.

Here's my answer to that. The betting line is 7.5, which is pretty significant. I look at this Boston team and I go, what Boston team are you going to get? They really hadn't played well this whole series. They lost two games at home already in this series, and the Sixers beat them three times.

I don't know why they can't if they beat them a couple times. The thing with Boston, their stars have not carried them consistently. Tatum has disappeared many times in this series, and so has Jalen Brown, frankly. They haven't really surged ahead to lift the Celtics. It's been the secondary players that have had to save them a lot. This is what I say to Sixers fans.

This is a present moment. It's a game 7. The past disappointments have nothing to do with the way they're going to line up in game 7.

Mike Missinelli here with us. I wasn't surprised, Mike, that the Sixers lost last night. It was just how they lost. To not hit a field goal from 6.13 to 22.1 seconds remaining, that's just stunning to me, the way that they ended up losing that game last night. Yeah, they squandered them a major opportunity. There's no question about that. They scored, I think, one point for that significant period of time, and not a field goal. I don't get that.

I really don't. There's got to be a way you can design some action to score, especially when you have them beat. And they didn't do that. There were a couple guys that were at fault in that game last night.

MP for not taking charge. But Harden wasn't there. It seems like there's this pattern with Harden. Every third game is when he can play. He'll have a monster effort, and then you'll see a couple lulls. And then he'll have another monster effort, and then there'll be a couple lulls. He's in the middle of two lulls in a row. So game 7 is that third game.

Maybe he needs to do that. And Papaya Harris has to score, too. I mean, 1 for 7 is not going to cut it. I know he's occupied guard, Jason Tatum.

I get it. He did a pretty good job. But he's a guy who can score.

Sometimes they need him to take the ball and transport it from position A to position B and get off a medium range jumper, which is what he does best. And game 5 was their best game, clearly, of the series, Mike Missinelli, as you know, because they got that well-rounded effort. Everyone was great in that game 5. And I just wonder if they could show that again in a game 7.

But you're not wrong. Boston's a weird and funky team where they don't play great until they have to play great. And you kind of saw it last night with Tatum. He was terrible the first three quarters, and then finally some lightbulb went off in the fourth. Yeah, it's happened repeatedly to him. He's disappeared very big chunks of games. And he did have 30-something in that one game, but they were catch-up points. Some things were behind.

They were trying to catch up because of catch-up points. But he didn't have a great first part of that game. And so this is why I say I can't tell from Boston. I don't know if they're a good enough team to actually avoid losing at home three times. There's nothing about them that says, oh my god, the Sixers are no way the Sixers are going to win the game. I expect them to have a pretty decent effort. I expect it's going to be close. I mean, I can't tell you if the Sixers are going to win because that line really does scare me. But they have a pretty good chance to win this game 7. And for the fans to bail out is just completely ridiculous to me. You're 100% right. That betting line at 6.5, 7.5, whatever it is, that's begging you to plus the points with the Sixers. It's yelling at you to plus the points. I would go the other way and take the Celtics.

Yeah, that's the way normally I go too. But I'm just trying to answer. I'm looking at Boston and whether they're actually good enough to say, okay, they're just going to win a game 7 at home. They just haven't shown any kind of consistency that they're a really good team. So I just think the Sixers have a chance in this game. Does Doc get fired if they lose this game?

It's a really interesting question. I don't know what would happen. This could completely fall apart if they don't get out of the second round again.

And he's got that terrible history of not winning closeout games. Who knows what will happen. This could trigger Harden going somewhere else, which I think would be fine as long as they cultivate Embiid and maybe take a run at another star, probably like a Damian Lillard or something. I just don't think Embiid is going to be here. So it's just a matter of adding around him to see if they can make another shot rather than breaking it down.

But the question about Doc Rivers is a good question. If he can't get out of this round. And I feel like Cardin's going to be back even if they lose. Because the only way I think Cardin's not going to be back with this team is if he just wants to go back to Houston. Because you know Maury absolutely loves James Harden. Yeah, but I think he might want to go back to Houston.

The strip club's pretty good there, he's probably thinking. Yeah, who knows what he's thinking. It's been a very strange dynamic. He is clearly a guy who's running out of juice.

You can see that. He's had slashes of a good play. He changed his game this year to be a point guard. I don't know if it's enough that he'd want to stay here. I can't get a read on him.

He's a very odd guy to get a read on. What does your gut tell you what he does in Game 7? My gut tells me if there's three games in between his performances. So I think he's going to play well.

I think he's actually going to make some threes in this game and keep them in it. You can listen to the Mike Misanelli podcast on the Bette River Sports Network. By the way, a day like this, do you miss the daily grind of hosting a radio show, what Philly would be like today? Yeah, I miss the interaction a little bit. Fans here are very reactive fans.

So that day to day, it's been three seasons in a row here with Philadelphia teams going toe to toe to try to win something. So yeah, that interaction with fans I had every day. I'm really enjoying the podcast.

I can sit there and say what's on my mind without worrying about anything. I think it's been very freeing for me. Well, great to catch up. I always appreciate how kind you were to me when I was at 97.5. We'll do it again soon. Thanks, Mike. Anytime, Zach. Thank you. Be rewarded for your generosity.