The Philadelphia 76ers (30-16) wrapped up their road trip against the Sacramento Kings (26-19). While Joel Embiid and James Harden sat out, the Sixers came back from a 21-point deficit to defeat the Kings by a score of 129-127. Philly is now in second place in the Eastern Conference.
Let's break down the Sixers Kings, which is definitely the game that everyone in the Philadelphia region watched on Saturday night, no doubt in my mind.
Sixers player notes:
Tyrese Maxey: 32 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 12-29 FG shooting
Offered the opportunity to spread his wings a little bit with the rest of the starting group, Maxey did just that. He got really going in the third quarter, where he scored 15 points, after scoring more intermittently in the first half. His ability to score through contact and at awkward angles made him very tough to stop. Don't be fooled by his not-that-great shooting efficiency — Maxey was outstanding tonight.
Tobias Harris: 17 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, 7-13 FG shooting
Harris led the Sixers in the first half, getting to the hoop several times and picking up the scoring slack left by the stars' absences before Maxey took over. Although he eventually fouled out and committed five turnovers, he had himself a pretty solid outing.
Shake Milton: 15 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists, 5-12 FG shooting
Maxey talked about Milton's incredible steadiness after Philadelphia's last win, saying that he always stays ready to help the Sixers. Milton showed exactly what he meant against the Kings. He was cooking all night, breaking down the defense at will and either finishing the play himself or fishing to a teammate.
Georges Niang: 17 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 7-12 FG shooting
Niang had a solid game off the bench yet, surprisingly, he did it more inside of the arc than outside. He scored four of his seven field goals from the paint while tying a season-high in boards.
Kings player notes:
De'Aaron Fox: 31 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, 11-19 FG shooting
Fox, with both his legs and his look-ahead passing, led the Kings' up-tempo attack. He got downhill with no problem and made good use of the free throws he earned. Throughout the game, he provided his team with a very reliable option on offense and led them in points after a huge second half.
Domantas Sabonis: 16 points, 9 rebounds, 10 assists, 7-10 FG shooting
Sabonis carved the Sixers up with his passing, showing a spectacular sense of where his teammates would become open and manipulating the defense to create more open shots. Although he is one of the best rebounders the NBA has to offer, he didn't own the boards as much as he probably should have.
Kevin Huerter: 20 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, 8-12 FG shooting
The one they call “Red Velvet” showed off his smooth scoring abilities to open up the game. He scored from all over the court and made some big plays on defense to ignite even more offense but cooled off in the second half.
Harrison Barnes: 27 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 8-13 FG shooting
While his shooting line (6-8 from beyond the arc) will be the main takeaway (as it should), Barnes did more than just light it up from deep. He drew fouls and finished shots close to the hoop. But, obviously, his unreal shooting gave the Kings a massive boost.
Game notes:
1st half
- With Harden and Embiid taking the night off, Maxey and Montrezl Harrell stepped into the starting lineup.
- Sacramento raced out to a 15-4 lead in less than five minutes. The Sixers offense struggled to find itself and committed four turnovers while the Kings, aided by a pair of triples from Harrison Barnes, made five of their first eight shots.
- Harris had it going on early for the Sixers, scoring 10 of their first 21 points while also kicking it out to shooters from time to time.
- While the Kings scored with ease, Shake Milton and Georges Niang provided some much-needed offense off the bench. Some decent minutes from Paul Reed helped, too, as did a nifty finish from Matisse Thybulle off of a Milton lob.
- The Sixers' offense was quite good aside from having a cold 3-point shooting night. However, they really struggled to slow down the buzzsaw that is the Kings' offense. A team that plays so fast, shares the ball so well and has so many shooters is bound to snap defenses often.
- The halftime deficit for the Sixers was just 10 points (by a 74-64 score) thanks to a 12-1 run over the final two minutes and a banked-in-heave triple from Danuel House Jr. Sacramento led by as much as 21 points in the second quarter.
2nd half
- Maxey got to work right away in the second half with a logo triple and some tough takes to the hoop. He led the charge as Philly cut the deficit to three points, forcing a Sacramento timeout. Following the timeout, Maxey hit a step-back triple and then assisted Harris on a 3-pointer.
- Philly briefly tied up the game off of an and-one play from Harrell before Sacramento took it back. Although the Sixers played the passing lanes very well to start the half, the combination of Fox's speed and Sabonis' hard screens made it tough to stop the ball. The shooters around them created pick-your-poison scenarios. Once Sacramento got cold, the game found a different tune.
- Maxey gave the Sixers their first lead of the night (95-94 with three minutes left in the third quarter) with yet another tough take to the hoop. Milton led the bench unit without him but still helped the Sixers maintain a sizable lead heading into the fourth quarter.
- The Kings went down by as much as 11 but never faltered. Fox led the charge — literally, he made use of his speed in the open court often — to keep Sacramento close.
- Harrell worked hard on the glass against Sabonis and came up with a key tip-in down for a bucket down the stretch. His highly efficient scoring (17 points on 7-8 shooting) played a big part in Philadelphia's stellar effort.
- Melton came through with some deflections on the defensive end while yet another Maxey layup gave the Sixers a four-point lead with 45 seconds left. Fox came right back to hit a floater with 23 seconds left. A Keegan Murray triple got the Kings within one point following two Maxey free throws.
- With 4.3 seconds left down by three after Melton hit a pair of free throws, the Kings had to scramble for a look at the hoop. Barnes got fouled by Thybulle on a 3-point attempt but missed the first one and the intentional miss didn't work out. No beam lighting tonight.
Random thoughts:
- A tip of the cap to whoever from Liberty Ballers made the comparison between Boston Scott and the New York Giants to Kevin Huerter and the Sixers.
- What a road trip this was, eh? Consecutive down-to-the-wire wins followed by three distinctly different wins made for an eventful week. The last time they swept a road trip of at least five games? Charles Barkley's rookie season, the 1984-85 campaign.
The Sixers will return to action at Wells Fargo Center on Wednesday against the Brooklyn Nets.
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