For the fifth year in a row, with Utah and then Philadelphia since last season, George Niang will taste the playoffs with once again great ambitions.
With 35 postseason games on the clock, the shooter begins to know the particular context which reigns in the NBA from mid-April, where everything is increased tenfold, in particular the intensity, physical and mental.
“Steph Curry says it best. I heard him say the playoffs are like two regular season games in one. That’s how hard it plays. Player minutes can decrease or increase. But it’s very physical. There are no careless mistakes. It’s very intense. We don’t help people get up. It’s a tough fight.” he explained in his column that he has been writing since the start of the season for “The Inquirer”.
The icing on the cake
Since his arrival in the NBA, Georges Niang has learned that the season is divided into five parts and that the last one is in a way the icing on the cake, the one for which everyone is fighting, with the title in sight. And like every year, there will only be one survivor left at the end.
“When I arrived in the NBA, Kevin Pritchard, the president of Indiana, told me that there were five phases in the season. The preseason. The start of the season, when everyone is getting to know each other, the time before All-Star Break, when everyone is exhausted and anxiously awaiting the break. Then there is the end of the season, and then the playoffs. The playoffs are when the youngsters are exposed and the adults really blossom. I always took that to heart and realized that playoff basketball is so intense, with the attention to detail. You’re going to know everything the opponent is doing, and they’re going to know everything you’re doing. The question is who will fight to emerge victorious. It’s like walking into a room and saying, ‘Well, who’s going to get out alive?’ “.
The older you get, the more Georges Niang measures how slim the opportunities to go to the end are and that all the work of a season is likely to switch from one match to another. The questioning is permanent.
“In the Orlando bubble with Utah, we were leading 3-1 against Denver. We thought we were going to beat them. Then we realize that the knockout match is the most difficult. All we had to do was win one game out of the next three, and they come back and we lose three in a row because the unexpected happened. So you always have to be prepared for everything. You should never lift your foot. Sometimes in the regular season you can get away with it. This is not at all the case in the playoffs.
Brooklyn, a first step not to be overlooked
For this first round of the 2023 campaign, it is Brooklyn who will present themselves on the path of the Sixers. A team a priori within their reach, even if it will be necessary to be wary of it.
“We only played this version of the Nets once. It’s a very good team. They do a good job of spacing, passing the ball around and shooting a lot from 3-pointers. And they are very good in transition, so we are going to have to take care of the ball, not losing too many balls stupidly, going after our possessions, but also putting our guys in the right positions.he pointed out. “I don’t think anyone projects themselves into the future. We want to beat Brooklyn. That’s our main focus right now.”
After Milwaukee, which waited 50 years between the first and second title in its history, Philadelphia will celebrate 40 years of its last NBA championship title. Each year since the advent of Joel Embiid, the pressure increases around the Sixers. But the players try to keep a cool head to achieve their ends.
“I don’t think we felt any pressure. On the one hand, because we have confidence in what we do and we have proven that it works. There’s no need to say ‘Oh, this is too much to handle’, because we all know that if we do our job, our success rate will be up to par”.
| George Niang | Percentage | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Crew | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | party | Int | bp | CT | Points |
| 2016-17 | IND | 23 | 4 | 25.0 | 8.3 | 100.0 | 0.1 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.9 |
| 2017-18 | UTH | 9 | 4 | 36.4 | 0.0 | 50.0 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 1.0 |
| 2018-19 | UTH | 59 | 9 | 47.5 | 41.0 | 83.3 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 1.5 | 0.6 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 4.0 |
| 2019-20 | UTH | 66 | 14 | 43.8 | 40.0 | 83.3 | 0.2 | 1.7 | 1.9 | 0.7 | 1.1 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 5.9 |
| 2020-21 | UTH | 72 | 16 | 43.7 | 42.5 | 95.7 | 0.4 | 2.1 | 2.4 | 0.8 | 1.6 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 6.9 |
| 2021-22 | PHL | 76 | 23 | 43.7 | 40.3 | 88.1 | 0.3 | 2.3 | 2.7 | 1.3 | 2.5 | 0.4 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 9.2 |
| 2022-23 | PHL | 78 | 19 | 44.2 | 40.1 | 86.7 | 0.2 | 2.1 | 2.4 | 1.0 | 1.9 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 8.2 |
| Total | 383 | 16 | 43.8 | 40.3 | 87.2 | 0.3 | 1.8 | 2.1 | 0.9 | 1.5 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 6.5 | |
How to read the stats? MJ = matches played; Min = Minutes; Shots = Shots made / Shots attempted; 3pts = 3-points / 3-points attempted; LF = free throws made / free throws attempted; Off = offensive rebound; Def= defensive rebound; Tot = Total bounces; Pd = assists; Fte: Personal fouls; Int = Intercepts; Bp = Lost bullets; Ct: Counters; Points = Points.
