Inside Sixers: Paul Reed’s prediction, P.J. Tucker’s impact and more from a first-round sweep

NEW YORK — Tyrese Maxey turned to Paul Reed inside the Sixers’ locker room before Thursday’s Game 3 against the Brooklyn Nets to ask this question: “What you got today?”

“I might go out and get a double-double,” Reed responded. “No cap.”

The 76ers’ third-year big man’s prediction was ultimately correct. It was just two days early. With MVP frontrunner Joel Embiid sidelined with a sprained knee on Saturday afternoon, Reed stepped in as the starting center and totaled a career-high 15 rebounds (eight offensive) and 10 points to help the Sixers finish off their first-round playoff sweep of the Nets.

A similar pregame setting is also where Reed found out he would start Saturday. As he munched on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich from his locker about an hour before tipoff, assistant coach Dan Burke approached Reed with the news and to go over some defensive strategy.

Reed’s reaction: “For real?”

It’s fitting that this series is largely bookended with chatter about Reed. It began with his viral Game 1 sequence, when he took an offensive rebound and put the ball behind his back and between his legs before finishing at the rim. Game 4 required a more disciplined approach from Reed to kick those boards out to the three-point arc rather than force a put-back — unless, of course, “the open three isn’t there and it’s just me and the rim. Then I can get in my bag,” Reed reminded after the game.

Now, Reed and the Sixers have at least six days to recalibrate for the next round, likely against the reigning Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics. After rolling through the Nets despite clunky stretches on both ends of the floor throughout the series, P.J. Tucker said the quiet part out loud after Saturday’s capper — that this is when the playoffs really begin for a team that has failed to advance past the second round since their 2001 NBA Finals run.

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Until then, here are some behind-the-scenes moments that peppered their first-round win.

Tucker arrived at Barclays Center Saturday morning with his ear buds in, rapping along to 50 Cent as he changed from his latest pregame get-up into his jersey.

That’s how the veteran forward chose to get into Playoff P.J. mode for a close-out game. And his fingerprints — sometimes literally, with the number of times he tipped the basketball — were all over his first postseason series as a Sixer. Though he only made four of his 20 shot attempts — the Nets were content to leave him in the corner while trapping Embiid — Tucker compiled 27 rebounds, 10 assists and seven steals over the four games.

And those numbers do not account for Tucker’s presence. Teammate Tobias Harris described a vocal Tucker in the pregame layup line, that he was “adamant about focus and, ‘We’re going to win today,’ and ‘We’re going to sweep.’” Sixers coach Doc Rivers recalled a third-quarter timeout when “I stopped talking, because P.J. was talking so loud that I just let him take [it].”

“Those types of things just show the winning attitude and the winning nature of who he is,” Harris added. “And that rubs off on all the other guys on the team.”

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Skill development coach Spencer Rivers sat courtside about two hours before Saturday’s tipoff, balancing his laptop with his left leg elevated onto the adjacent chairs.

Rivers was not lounging. His foot was in a boot protecting a nasty ankle sprain sustained while playing defense during pregame on-court individual work ahead of Game 2.

Players found out about Rivers’ injury in real time, as he crutched through the locker room Monday night. Reserve guard De’Anthony Melton expressed a combination of disgust and amazement while staring at the side of Rivers’ ankle that had already swelled into a massive bump.

The injury technically has no direct impact on the Sixers’ roster. But it does change the workflow of their development coaches, who make up one of the more unsung-yet-crucial parts of any NBA staff. Rivers typically works extensively with Melton and Maxey, directing them through their daily on-court routines that drill skills.

Reed is not the only Sixer who received a pregame visit from Burke this week. The veteran assistant also plopped down next to Jaden Springer before Game 3, a fairly regular occurrence during the second-year guard’s call-up stints with the Sixers.

“I was just asking him about all the games he’s been around,” Springer said of Burke. “He was telling me some stories from back in the day about reaching the Finals [with the Indiana Pacers in 2000] and Game 7s and how intense they were. I just try to pick his brain a little bit.”

Like last year, Springer will mostly observe during this playoff run. And he has sensed a greater intensity from his teammates compared to the 2022 postseason.

“You’re around a team full of vets, guys that have been in these positions before,” Springer said. “Just watching their seriousness and how locked in they are before the game and during the game, that’s something I’m trying to take away and keep learning from … I still haven’t seen everything yet.”

Still, there are moments of levity to celebrate successes. Before Game 2, Maxey told any onlookers to “make sure you address [Springer] as MVP!” That is a reference to Springer earning that individual award during the G League Finals, after leading the Delaware Blue Coats to a championship.

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