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The Philadelphia 76ers looked well on their way to absorbing an ugly defeat at the hands of the Indiana Pacers on Sunday night without star big man Joel Embiid on the floor. After trailing by 16 at the start of the fourth quarter, though, Sixers head coach Doc Rivers decided to change things up and switched to a zone defense, completely catching the Pacers off guard.
Indiana scored 95 points through three quarters but only managed 10 in the final frame, getting outscored 37-15 in the process. According to The Athletic's Derek Bodner, the Pacers had 23 half-court possessions in the final quarter and the Sixers implemented the zone defense 15 times. Indiana managed just eight points on those possessions.
Rivers explained why he made the change.
“Their movement was killing us,” Rivers said. “They were attacking the paint, they were beating us off the dribble.”
Sixers forward Tobias Harris also spoke on the abrupt change to a zone defense. Harris revealed the team had barely practiced it before deploying it against Indiana:
“Probably about five minutes,” he said. “And I’m not exaggerating. I’m being honest with you. It was one practice, we just looked over it a little bit, and it was really in preparation for another team we were playing that played zone. That was about it.”
Nonetheless, Harris saw how the zone defense forced the Sixers to communicate on the floor and emerged as a key component for the comeback:
“One thing I know about the zone today, it got us really talking out there defensively,” he added. “On the defensive end we gotta talk more, and that was a catalyst to that tonight. Being out there, getting in a zone, and no one really knowing how to play a real zone, but at the same time we were communicating ourselves through it.”
Without Embiid, Harris stepped up with 27 points and eight rebounds, while Ben Simmons filled the stat sheet with 21 points, six rebounds, and seven assists. Meanwhile, center Dwight Howard and swingman Matisse Thybulle emerged as key players on the defensive end during the run, with Howard acting as the defensive anchor down low and Thybulle making life difficult at the top of the zone with Simmons.
Rivers' squad ultimately pulled off a 119-110 come-from-behind victory to snag their third straight win for a 15-6 record. It was the Sixers' first win this season without Embiid.
Harris and the rest of the Sixers will hope to carry the momentum forward when they visit the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday.
