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The Philadelphia 76ers faced the Minnesota Timberwolves in their second game of the 2024 preseason. After a tune-up game against the NBL's New Zealand Breakers in which they dominated throughout, the Sixers fell behind early and never recovered, losing 121-111.
Paul George made his first appearance as a Sixer while Anthony Edwards made his preseason debut. Although All-Star bigs Joel Embiid, Rudy Gobert and Julius Randle were out, this was a good chance for two of the titans of their respective conferences to square off.
Here are three takeaways from the Sixers and Wolves' showdown in Iowa, a game that was not publicly televised and was only watchable through an abysmal stream on League Pass. Most of the first half was interrupted by technical difficulties but the show, as they say, must go on. NBA action, it's FANtastic!
1. Paul George does his thing
Under the cover of broadcast darkness, George took his first spin with his new team. He scored his first bucket off a drive, slithering through the defense after getting a high screen. Throughout his minutes, he created plenty of offense, looking every bit like the star the 76ers waited for.
Andre Drummond got to work setting screens for George, who stayed patient and worked the Minnesota defense. Any sliver of space was an invitation to pull up from deep but he kept his head up and swung it to an open teammate when he was met at the level of the screen. He had 13 points in the second quarter, including eight straight for Philly.
fancy footwork by Mr. George. pic.twitter.com/QTbFbRENqp
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) October 12, 2024
Having George run the offense benefited everyone, especially Maxey, who won’t be the only legitimate source of offense when Embiid sits out. George getting the defense to buckle opened space for Maxey to cook, punishing defenders off the dribble for a mini-individual run in the third quarter. Even if it wasn’t No. 8 directly making plays for No. 0, his presence was hugely helpful. The defense respects him at all times and the Sixers should find it easy to get good looks.
George's final stat line in 26 minutes: 23 points, six rebounds, two assists, one steal, 8-15 from the field, 4-9 from deep. Good stuff!
2. Defense experiences its own difficulties
Even with the caveats that the 76ers were missing their best defender and were implementing a new star player, their defensive performance was really bad. The Wolves led the Sixers 70-53 at halftime. Edwards caught fire at the end of the half but that only explains part of it.
All but four of Minnesota's first-half two-pointers came outside of the paint. Most of those came within five feet of the hoop and the Wolves, of course, shot really well on those looks. The spacing from Naz Reid opened up the floor in the halfcourt and the Wolves also pushed the ball up and got great looks (based on what little footage at-home viewers could see). There were multiple instances where the Wolves scored on three or more consecutive possessions.
It's tough to diagnose the problems on defense with so many new parts — oh, and because the broadcast pooped its pants for the first 30ish minutes — but 70 points in a half for a rotation of mostly starters and rotation players is not good.
The starters began the second half and played aggressively, forcing back-to-back-to-back turnovers to ignite a 10-2 run. By the time the backups and young guys came in, the game was back into single digits. It was good to see Philly turn its intensity up when it's backed into a corner. However, it should focus on not getting cornered next time out.
3. Andre Drummond rebounds the heck out of the ball
With five minutes left in the third quarter, Drummond had 15 of the Sixers' 33 rebounds. Seven of them were offensive boards and three of them turned into second-chance points for the big man. He said he was the best ever in this area of the game and goes out and reinforces his case just about every single time.
Drummond shot 4-9 from the field, all of which were shots in the paint. He got three of his misses out of the way in the first two minutes — wise to get your mistakes in when the broadcast goes haywire — but shooting efficiency that poor on that type of shot diet must improve. His playmaking was seen on a great backdoor feed to Jared McCain that led to free throws for the rookie. Still, he also only had a single assist.
On defense, Drummond flashed quick hands, notching two steals in his 24 minutes, and held his ground well on defensive boards. He wasn’t amazing down low (at least from the parts of the game that were visible) and he's going to be even more vulnerable when he has to step out and guard a stretch big like Reid. If his rebounding and ball skills make up for his defensive deficiencies, the Sixers could be in good shape whenever Embiid has to rest.
The 76ers have a back-to-back on deck as they face the Boston Celtics in TD Garden on Saturday at 8:00 P.M. EST.
