Sixers’ playoff newcomers getting ‘invaluable’ experience in first series against Boston

VJ Edgecombe recognizes that he has probably become “annoying” to Paul George and Kelly Oubre Jr.

But the 76ers’ rookie guard will continue peppering his veteran teammates with “nonstop” questions throughout their first-round playoff series against the Boston Celtics.

“I just go there talking to them about any little thing I see,” Edgecombe said following Thursday’s practice. “Is this how it’s supposed to be? Is this how it’s not supposed to be?

“They’re probably annoyed, but I don’t care. I’m going to keep asking.”

Though several key Sixers — also including All-Star Tyrese Maxey and, if he returns, former MVP Joel Embiid — have vast playoff experience, there also is a collection of youngsters going through postseason life for the first time. Edgecombe and Adem Bona have been starters in this series, which Boston leads two games to one entering Sunday’s Game 4 at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Justin Edwards and Dominick Barlow have been part of the rotation. And though Trendon Watford, Jabari Walker, Dalen Terry, and Johni Broome have not seen meaningful game action, they are getting an up-close look from the bench and behind the scenes.

However long this postseason run lasts, coach Nick Nurse called it “super, super important” for those players’ present development and longer-term NBA futures.

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“It’s just invaluable experience for them to have to see what it’s like,” Nurse said. “And they’re just getting started. Going against, over and over, the same team. The prep and the adjustments and all that stuff. …

“You’ve got to get in this thing as often as you can, so these guys can grow and learn and get better from it.”

Those postseason newcomers got their first taste of the sharp intensity increase during their home Play-In Tournament victory against the Orlando Magic. But a full series against an experienced Celtics team with Finals potential is a different beast — especially when Game 1 occurred inside Boston’s supercharged TD Garden. That reality was not lost on Maxey, who rattled off those four young teammates during a postgame news conference.

The Sixers were thumped in that Game 1 by 32 points, a fact Edgecombe bluntly pointed to as his “Welcome to the Playoffs” moment. He went to those veterans after that blowout, who confirmed with a “hell no” that this was not how such a game was supposed to feel. Edgecombe responded with a historic 30-point, 10-rebound performance in Game 2, now sandwiching tough shooting outings in Game 1 and 3.

Edwards, meanwhile, realized the difference between the playoffs and regular season when the foul calls that the Sixers’ standouts typically get were no longer drawing a whistle. And on the first two possessions of Tuesday’s Game 2, when Edwards said the Celtics “were damn near trying to tackle PG [George] to get to the elbow or the post area” before the veteran sank both jumpers.

Bona also has noticed a significant surge in physicality, and that he must keep close track of how those foul calls might ebb and flow throughout the course of a game. His fifth foul in Friday’s tight Game 3 loss, while lunging for a loose ball at the end of the shot clock, prompted Maxey to stress “there’s no need” to Bona in the moment and publicly after the game.

That was part of a jarring postseason journey so far for Bona, who is starting while Embiid continues to recover from an appendectomy. When Bona committed two early fouls in Game 1 — including for barreling through a defender on the offensive end — veteran center Andre Drummond was in his ear on the bench. Bona also went 1 of 7 from the floor before Friday’s efficient 10-point outing, prompting Nurse and Maxey to encourage Bona to use his athleticism to dunk the ball.

“I’m going to continue to talk to him,” Maxey said. “I’m going to continue to get on him, continue to push him. Because I know we need him.”

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How the Sixers spend the days between games is also a new experience for these playoff first-timers.

There is increased time for detailed breakdowns of singular possessions, and for repeatedly strategizing against the same opponent rather than for the 82-game regular-season gauntlet. That comes with the “mind games,” as Bona described, of quickly identifying adjustments — and then the adjustments to those adjustments.

The Sixers had a double film session on Thursday, for instance, which even basketball junkie Edgecombe said can be packed with “a lot of information that you just have to get in.” Instead of dissecting three plays that fall into a specific category, the coaching staff can go through six, Nurse noted. Instead of planning for one defensive coverage against an opponent’s offensive set, Barlow said the Sixers can “have four or five different ones in your back pocket.” After that Game 1 drubbing, coaches and players rewatched it in its entirety, with a slew of stops and starts.

Yet even with that uptick in attention to detail, Maxey said he hopes those youngsters still “play free.”

“Every single moment’s important, and it’s a roller coaster,” Maxey said. “There’s going to be ups and downs, so just stay even-keeled.”

That has already been the case in this series, with a Celtics thrashing, a Sixers double-digit road victory, and a down-to-the-wire Boston win in Philly. And roles for those young players are beginning to shift, with Barlow out of the rotation on Friday. Bona’s minutes also could dwindle if Embiid returns at any point in this series.

But the experience remains invaluable for those players’ present and future. That’s why Edgecombe will continue asking nonstop questions for at least two more games.

Even if that makes him annoying.

“We just need to know [what the playoffs are like],” Edgecombe said. “And then, for next year, we will know how to approach. … I’m learning every day, or every game.”