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Welcome to the latest edition of Georges Niangs 2022-23 Sixers diary. Throughout the season, the reserve forward will exclusively share first-person insights about his on-court and off-court life as part of an NBA team with championship aspirations.

In this entry, Niang describes how the Sixers pushed through their grueling stretch-run schedule and looks ahead to a critical postseason.

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April 12, 2023

This is an opportunity that weve all been waiting for. The older you get, you kind of realize how excited you are to let the regular season pass and have the real, meaningful games start. You just want to be dialed in. I dont think anybodys looking ahead. We want to beat Brooklyn. Thats our main focus right now.

When our schedule came out, I know that we looked at after the All-Star break being like, Damn, that is no joke. You start off with a Memphis team. You start off with the Celtics. You start off with Miami. We lost two out of three, and then we had to go down to Miami and then we kind of went on a roll. I just remember, toward the end of that run in March, it felt like I never got to lay in my bed and be comfortable. I feel like I came home, unpacked my stuff, then packed to leave again. That was a tough stretch, considering we were barely home. The next time that we have two weeks full of home games, Im going to appreciate the [expletive] out of those.

The toughest part about that schedule is the unknowns, whether thats guys missing time or getting guys acclimated after the trade deadline. The theme all year is were finding ways to win games when people arent expecting us to win games, or even be in games. James was out for four games. Joel was out with the calf. Our team has just done such a good job of, with the variables and whatever happens, that we all come together and when we arent full strength, making things happen. Its kind of been a growth for us finding ways to deal with adversity when, in other times, we didnt do such a great job of that. It just goes to show how deep our team is and what we have with the coaching staff. Even when we dont have our top guys out there, we can win games against other teams that are playoff-bound. I thought that was really cool, especially going into the postseason getting everybody confident.

Theres so much to be said about that. Doc doesnt get enough credit for kind of envisioning that. We clinched the third seed. Obviously, you could ride your guys and see how many wins you get and make it about you. But, obviously, getting everybody confident and ready to go before the playoffs starts, youve got to give credit to him. We sat our top six guys in Atlanta, and then you go in there and beat a team that really needed that win. At the end of the day, its crucial that a coach sees that and knows that hes going to need everybody.

We could have gotten beat in Atlanta, but we come back and win. You look at the development of Jaden Springer, everything that hes been through in his two years as a young kid. Coming in as a one-and-done. Most guys ruin their NBA careers within the first two years not being able to play or getting called up or being down in the G League. They start getting discouraged and they start losing focus of the end goal. He stuck with it for two long years, and when his moment came which was probably Game One-hundred-and-freaking-63 of the time that hes been here and he was ready to knock his opportunity out of the park. He can really freaking play, and people see that. Its so cool to see people relish in the opportunities that theyre given, when theyre given. Because you never know when its going to come. You sit there and tell people to be ready, be ready, be ready. You dont understand how hard it is to be ready for five months, but you just consistently stick to your routine and do what you do and it comes along.

I think everybody at this level or everybody in life kind of has that happen to them. You wake up and youre like, Damn, I dont know if I want to do this. Even the small victories. Im struggling for seven or eight games, and I get the opportunity in Atlanta to break out of that, and now Im feeling confident going into the playoffs. Your story is just always being written, and its totally up to you to be mentally and physically prepared to not stress over the little stuff but to focus on your daily routine. Im going to continue to double down on the work thats got me here, and Im just gonna stick to my process and the things that help me go. Knowing that Ive put the work in, so that when the opportunity comes, Im just flowing. Im not putting any pressure on myself. Im just flowing.

Steph Curry said it best. I heard it in an interview: The playoffs are like two regular-season games in one. Thats how freaking hard youre playing. Guys minutes may go down. Guys minutes may go up. But thats how hard youre playing. Its super physical. There are not ticky-tack fouls being called. It is very intense. Theres no helping people up off the floor. Its cut-throat. Everybody wants to win it. Its the most intense part of the season. When I first got into the NBA, Kevin Pritchard in Indiana told me theres five stints in the season. Preseason. The beginning of the season, when everybodys kind of feeling each other out. Pre-All-Star break, when everybodys exhausted and cant wait until the break. After All-Star break. And then playoffs. Playoffs are when young boys get exposed, and the men really flourish. Ive always taken that to heart and realized that playoff basketball is just so intense with the attention to detail. Youre going to know everything that they run. Theyre going to know everything that you run. Its just whos going to fight through the crap and all that to come out victorious. Its like going into the room and being like, All right, whos coming out alive?

Down in the bubble with Utah, we were up 3-1 against Denver. Youre thinking were going to beat them, and anything can happen. Then you kind of realize the knockout game is the hardest freaking game. All weve got to do is get one out of the next three, and they come back and we lose three straight because the unexpected happened. So you always have to prepare to cover all your bases. Theres no taking your foot off the gas. Sometimes, in the regular season, you can get away with doing that. Theres no place for that at all in the playoffs.

We only got to play this version of the Nets once. Theyre a very good team. They do a good job of really spacing you out and moving the ball and making a crap-ton of threes and driving the ball and just shifting the defense. And theyre really good in transition, so were going to have to do a good job of taking care of the ball, not having careless turnovers, closing out possessions, but then getting our guys to our spots. I feel like if we can continuously do that and make it hard for them to be successful with their junk defenses or their switching and punish them for the switching, I think well be in a good spot. They do a really good job and have a lot of good players, but were definitely going to try to limit them with their transition and easy baskets, because I feel like thats kind of what gets their guys going.

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Its just so crucial having guys that have been there before. P.J. is great because hes been there and hes friggin not afraid to open his mouth and tell people what it is and what they need to do. You have a guy like Tobias Harris, who completely bought into his role, where in other instances there may be some guys in the NBA that are like, I dont like what I do on a day-to-day basis. Hes all-in on defending, making shots, taking advantage of mismatches. Thats been huge for us. The rest of it is we all genuinely like each other and enjoy being around each other.

And, in the playoffs, you really realize, if you dont win, this is it. Quin Snyder, when I was in Utah, he was like, Every season is a life. You will never have the same team twice in a row. Doc even says it all the time, Some of you may go on and have a better deal somewhere else, but you dont know how many times youll actually have a team that has a chance to win. So take advantage of these opportunities. I think that all hit home with us. We started 12-12, he made that speech, and youre like, Shoot, we have a chance to make this happen. Im not getting any younger. We need to relish in those opportunities and continue to grow and be better, and I think thats what weve done.

I dont think we feel any pressure. One, because were confident in what we do and its proven it works. Theres no point in us being like, Oh, this is too much to handle, because I think all of us realize, if we do our job, it has a proven success rate. I think thats the most exciting thing for us right now. Obviously, playing in Philly has its own pressures. You dont want to lose, because you better not be going out to eat after that. But at the same time, if you win, you know how well youll be taken care of. Thats another thing that I think most of us look at: Winning and being beloved by this great fan base.

Georges Niang, as told to Gina Mizell

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This is an opportunity that weve all been waiting for: Georges Niangs Inquirer diary lifts curtain on Sixers playoff run - The Philadelphia Inquirer