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The Philadelphia 76ers defeated the Detroit Pistons with ease once again. After a huge win on Wednesday night, the Sixers took care of business on Friday with a resounding 124-92 win.
It was another huge night for Joel Embiid, who recorded 35 points, 13 rebounds, four blocks, two assists and two steals. Tyrese Maxey had 19 points, four assists and two steals and Marcus Morris Sr. went 5-5 from deep. No one on the Pistons really had a game that was all that great, though James Wiseman's 20 points and 13 rebounds on 9-12 shooting will stand out in the box score. Bojan Bogdanovic had 17 points on 6-12 shooting.
The Sixers are just so, so much more talented than this Pistons team. They also fit much better together and play more cohesively. Let’s jump into the film.
5a. At the rim? Nope.
This two-part defensive sequence shows the impact Embiid has on that end.
Cade Cunningham looks to get a dribble handoff from Isaiah Stewart but Robert Covington’s stick-to-itiveness and active hands deter the play from happening as designed. But the young Pistons use RoCo's momentum against him, as Stewart flips the screen to get his point guard going back to the left. Cunningham breaks free of Covington but still has Embiid waiting for him in the paint.
De'Anthony Melton's help at the nail makes things harder for Cunningham but he still gets downhill on Embiid. He's not moved, though. I mean, maybe only slightly backward but Embiid absorbs the force of the drive and forces an awkward, twisting push-shot. By the looks of Cunningham's angle, it seems like he's trying to get around Embiid and shoot a hook-shot-esque layup. Embiid meeting him at the spot throws him off balance, leading to the miss.
Embiid not only forces a miss but tips the rebound away from Stewart. An All-Defensive Team could very well be up for the taking for the Sixers' defensive anchor.
5b. From the mid-range? Nope.
A few possessions later, Cunningham gets the same screen in the same spot but doesn’t try to get all the way to the rim. He snakes the pick and gets to the elbow. Without any deterrence right at the nail, he rises up for a jumper.
Embiid, however, is right there waiting to contest Cunningham. He times his jump well, getting a hand up as he shoots. Cunningham knows that taking it right to Embiid is bound to end badly for him and tries something else. It doesn’t help matters that Jaen Ivey doesn’t look ready for a spot-up look, as the Pistons' former top pick doesn’t have much room to do anything else besides try to score on Embiid.
Cunningham almost gets the roll on the shot but no dice. Embiid puts a good contest on this shot to force another miss. He lets his momentum take him down the floor and gets the early seal that leads to a shooting foul.
4. Bigs can jump pass, too
Embiid's two assists are a new season-low but it’s not at all because he didn’t read the Pistons' defense like a book. The right read for the Sixers nine times out of 10 was to feed Embiid. The big fella still shared when he had the chance to.
On this play in the first quarter, the Sixers are looking to give Embiid space in the mid-range. Melton gets caught up and shoots his hands up trying to show it. He wanders to the dunker spot ready to catch a dump-off. His man, Jaden Ivey doubles Embiid, making such a pass more likely. But a 2-on-1 unfolds that leads to an open three-pointer for Tobias Harris.
Because Embiid is looking straight ahead, Bogdanovic doesn’t want to leave Melton unaccompanied under the hoop. He was guarding Harris but now has to protect against a more efficient shot. Embiid pump fakes the pass in midair and delivers a pretty accurate pass to Harris.
Harris missed this very easy look but he at least did the right thing by going right up with the shot.
3. Pure clamps
The Sixers got their hands all over the ball on defense with Melton leading the charge. They totaled 28 deflections as a team while Melton, Covington and Maxey each tallied five of their own. Melton, in particular, was a menace on defense. The way he picked Ivey's pocket on one possession was straight-up mean.
Melton almost forces a turnover but Ivey is able to keep the ball with him and resets the pick-and-roll. In the span of less than two seconds, Melton squeezes himself between two players to poke the ball away with his right hand, corrals it into his body with his left hand and then uses them both to fling a picturesque outlet pass to a streaking Embiid. That sequence of movements requires an impressive amount of quickness, coordination and intelligence.
The outlet pass to Embiid is beautifully on the money. He never breaks stride and gets the ball chest-high as he approaches the hoop. A shooting foul prevents the bucket but this was a spectacular way to turn defense into offense.
2. Maxey to Mook
Morris, as Nick Nurse said after the game, can “look you in the eye and shoot the ball.” He made all five three-point attempts against one of his former teams. Two of them, including this one, came from the right corner.
Here, Maxey drives baseline after a hard closeout from Ausar Thompson but the rookie's size and agility allow him to stay with the play. Bogdanovic bottles Maxey up at the block with no hope of getting a clean shot up, so the Sixers guard pivots to get the ball back out to the perimeter. Instead of an outlet that would just reset the offense with the shot clock winding down, Maxey finds an open shooter.
When Maxey jumps, he's looking out at the right wing where Morris was standing. But to make himself more open, Morris moves down to the corner. With the new angle, Maxey doesn’t have to try to float a pass over Cunningham. He can zip it right to Morris before the defense can close out. Morris has plenty of room to add three more points to the scoreboard for the Sixers.
1. “That’s scary.”
The above quote is courtesy of Maxey, who said after the game that he was shocked to see Embiid pull out this move, which is typically done by smaller guards like himself. It really is crazy to see a player at his size move like that.
The Sixers entrusted Embiid to bring the ball often in this game, which allowed him to hunt scoring opportunities early in the shot clock. With the floor spaced out, the big man takes it right to Wiseman. The Pistons don’t do anything to stop Embiid's momentum and immediately regret it when he gets into a Euro step and puts great touch on a layup he shoots with his right hand off of his right foot.
The ridiculous change of direction from Embiid is not something Wiseman is ready for. Embiid attacks his top foot and the big man is unable to swivel his hips quickly enough to contain the Sixers center. But he does have arms long enough to help him recover and Embiid knows that, leading to a layup that perfectly touches the top of the glass before falling through the hoop. Kate Scott's reaction to the play is appropriate. Making that move that easily is uncommon for someone so massive.
