Subscribe
Follow Us
The Philadelphia 76ers (14-20) faced the Phoenix Suns (65-18) in a showdown of disappointing title hopefuls. Fresh off a six-game road trip, the Sixers did not have Joel Embiid and lost 109-99.
The Suns dramatically changed their starting five, benching Bradley Beal in the hopes of sparking something, anything, to get them back to their winning ways. The 76ers have had their own cycles of new lineups, starting over after making a new lineup last game because Embiid's sprained foot was acting up, sidelining him for tonight’s game. It’s nothing major but it kept the big man out against a talented Phoenix squad.
Andre Drummond and Kyle Lowry were also sidelined (along with Jared McCain and KJ Martin) while Kelly Oubre Jr. returned from a three-game absence. Without Embiid, Drummond and Martin, it was perhaps the smallest the Sixers have been all season.
Maxey and PG retake control
The last time Tyrese Maxey and Paul George had the keys to the car without Embiid, they crashed and burned in the Sixers' brutal defeat at the hands of the Sacramento Kings. One of them rose to the occasion, restoring some amount of hope that he could thrive without Embiid. One did not.
The Sixers jumped out to a lead thanks to some poor defense from the Suns. Failures to match up and over-helping led to a 10-0 Philly run. Clearing out a side of the floor and getting into two-man actions (mostly pick-and-something with Guerschon Yabusele) resulted in some easy buckets and a 12-point lead. Maxey hit a pair of triples while George assisted Yabusele on a triple and made his own jumper from the midrange.
The script stayed the same for the Sixers: create space for stars to make everything happen. Well, believe it or not, the same results spawned. George wasn’t exactly lighting up the nets, posting one of his worst shooting performances of a season that has had some strong contenders. It's starting to get really scary in all the wrong ways. Maxey, at least, created a lot of threes through his playmaking and provided stretches of consistent scoring. He ended the night with 31 points and 10 assists while George had 13 points on 5-18 shooting.
Kelly Oubre Jr. saved the Sixers from getting run out of the gym at the end of the third quarter. He totaled 13 points in the period, including 11 in the final two minutes, while Maxey and George were respectively at 15 and 10 for the whole game to that point. That’s a man who does not like his former teams — and can go off on them because of their poor defenses.
Once Oubre hit the bench to rest at the start of the fourth quarter, the Sixers looked lost. Maxey, George and Caleb Martin took turns getting bottled up by Phoenix's defense, gifting their guests an 11-1 run. The Suns shined on offense the rest of the way while the Sixers merely made the loss less lopsided.
New rotation by necessity
Out of necessity, the 76ers had to turn to a few of their youngest and most on-the-fringe players their roster has to offer.
Adem Bona appeared in the game in the first quarter, serving as Yabusele's backup. He forced Jusuf Nurkic into some tricky passes, rebounded the heck out of the ball, blocked a Devin Booker layup and slammed a two-handed dunk home off a pass from Maxey in his first stint. He secured five rebounds in his first six minutes, though he also recorded a pair of fouls. Caleb Martin had to play center for a brief stint in the third quarter after Bona played a less effective stint.
With Lowry out, Jeff Dowtin Jr. was the new pairing for Reggie Jackson as the backup guard tandem. Jackson also got a few minutes to play alongside Maxey. Neither of them appeared in the second half while the opposite was true for Eric Gordon. None of them scored a single point.
Justin Edwards once again made it into the game before Ricky Council IV, though C4 played with him during the second quarter. Edwards drilled his first shot of the game — a triple off a pass from Maxey — and played the most minutes off the bench at 13.
Although the frequent injuries have left the 76ers with new lineup combinations time and time again, it's something that all NBA teams have to deal with over the course of the season. It shouldn’t be an excuse for how lackluster their offense continues to be without Embiid. It’s January, so the sample size of games and schemes to try and not try should be plentiful.
De-fense by de-fault
The Suns only trailed by seven after a first quarter where Kevin Durant and Devin Booker combined to shoot 1-8 from the field. Their bench unit went on a run that got the game back to a single point as Philly's offense went cold. Neither offense was truly ever good for a long stretch of time, they just took turns being less terrible. Both squads were dismal even from the foul line, below 70 percent.
At halftime, the only scorers in double figures were Yabusele and Oubre with 12 and 10 points respectively. Looks like these supposed “walking buckets” with “All-Star selections” like KD, PG, Maxey and Booker could learn a thing or two. That Booker guy even triggered the Bricken for Chicken with a pair of missed free throws in the third quarter. That guy will never score 70 points in an NBA game, mark my words.
The Sixers didn’t force as many turners as it usually does but they did take advantage of them with breakaway buckets. They also did a great job keeping Phoenix from hunting mismatches by recognizing the attempts — say, for example, when Durant was trying to get a post-up on Maxey at the nail — and switching away from the ball.
In the third quarter, one of the teams finally made it to the modern NBA.
A 10-0 run by the Suns earned them their first lead of the game since the opening minutes. They leaked out of defensive possessions frequently, cashing in on easy shots. Beal scored 12 points in the period, buoying his strong debut performance off the bench. Phoenix scored 36 points in the third quarter.
Rookie forward Oso Ighodaro was fantastic for the Suns in the second half. Bouncy enough to score and rebound at the rim and smart enough to get the ball where it needed to be, he gave the Sixers defense fits as a screener/roller. The Suns' stars had an easy time getting their shots off with him smashing the scrambled Philly defense to pieces. The 76ers were left searching for answers on both ends and found nothing.
The 76ers will continue their homestand against the Washington Wizards on Wednesday.
