The depth gives hope

     The 76ers weren't expected to win a tough game against a playoff bound team in the Hawks. What?! In every single situation in the near future, the Sixers are heavy favorites against Trae Young and Atlanta. So how could they be at a disadvsantage? 

    Literally the entire starting lineup for the 76ers were gone. Joel Embiid was gone, James Harden was gone, Tyrese Maxey was gone, Tobias Harris was gone, and P.J. Tucker was gone. None of the played a single minute. And to make things worse, the steady De'Anthony Melton was also gone. They relied on their entire bench, and weren't really hoping for a win, as much as a decent loss. They got the opposite. 

    The 76ers bench stunned starters from Atlanta, including Trae Young, Dejounte Murray, and Clint Capela. Jalen McDaniels lead an upstart Sixers squad to a hard-fought overtime victory. He had a double double with 11 rebounds and 24 points. Georges Niang also stole the show with 24 points and five three pointers. He buried clutch treys at the times when the 76ers needed it the most. Shake Milton only had 15 points, but added a monstrous 16 assists to offensively keep the team chugging. They also got a lot of help from Jaden Springer's 19 points, and Danuel House's 22. They were down 63-53 by the end of the half, but two back to back 33 point quarters, and a 17 point overtime left the game at 136-131, and gave Philly the unlikely win on the road. 

     

Jalen McDaniels led a scrappy 76ers squad, lacking their starters, past the Hawks

Photo Credit: Yahoo Sports

    And to wrap up their season, the Sixers finished in Brooklyn. It was a backup game again, and it didn't really matter. The stakes were the same as in a preseason game. Resting starters, and basically just playing the game because they needed to. The standings were pretty much solidified, so with no hope for a higher seed, both teams played their bench. And the Nets had better hope the playoffs don't go like that. 

    Despite allowing 46 points to the Nets' Cam Thomas, the Sixers cleared up in every other spot. They got 10 steals, and Paul Reed had five blocks. Reed hauled in 10 rebounds while scoring 17 points. It was the G league stars who really had an impact on the game. Mac McClung, the slam dunk competition champion, had a near triple double, with 20 points, nine rebounds, nine assists. Louis King also scored 20 points. New 76er, Dewayne Dedmon scored 14 and the entire team beat up Brooklyn 134-105. 

    Again, there were very little stakes, but it still was a pretty awesome game. The Celtics primarily fell to the Warriors last year in the finals because of depth. While Steve Kerr and the Warriors could consistently pull solid fresh players off the bench when their starters grew tired, the Celtics could not. They relied heavily on their starting five, and couldn't trust their bench maintain the score that their excellent starters built up, or had. That led to Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum playing a lot more minutes than they should have, which led to more them getting tired earlier. In the last four games, they all played at least 40 minutes every single game, which is not ideal. The Warriors played their best players for a lot of minutes, but had the cushion of a good bench and people really helps your team. These past two wins, proved the 76ers depth, which is a huge warning to teams they will face in the playoffs. 

The above photo was taken from a Yahoo Sports article. Article originally a SixersWire article. Photo take by Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports. Image used for commentary.