The Sixers’ performance in their bursting victory Thursday night over the Magic would have been difficult to overcome.
While they weren’t so good defensively on Saturday night, the team bombarded the Hornets with early offensive excellence and facilitated a 127-112 victory at the Wells Fargo Center, moving to 5-1.
Six Sixers scored in double digits and all participants hit 57.1% of the ground. Tobias Harris scored 24 points, the team’s best mark, and Ben Simmons made a triple-double with 15 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists.
The Hornets will stay in Philadelphia to play against the Sixers again on Monday night.
Here are the remarks about the first game in your miniseries:
Green finds a rhythm, Sixers’ attack keeps flowing
Danny Green was bound to find his shot at some point, after losing 15 of his first 19 three-point attempts as a Sixer. It didn’t take long for him to do so on Saturday, as the 33-year-old converted his first three long-distance attempts. All of these marks came within the flow of the offense, and two were by-products of Seth Curry directing and kicking him out.
“Obviously, the secret is that we were shooting well because we were getting open kicks,” said Green after the game. “I think that most teams, if you swing the ball and find the man open, most of the uncontested kicks are much easier. We know that the worm will turn and we will have some moments of calm or some lapses or phases in which we do not shoot either, but at least we are giving our team the best chance. ”
The Sixers made 8 of their first 12 attempts at three points as a team, while Charlotte started a 2 out of 10. The Hornets’ decision to play by zone at the time was understandable given what they were suffering in size and skill, but allowed the Sixers to continue swallowing offensive rebounds and taking down long-range jumpers.
After losing his first six NBA trios, Tyrese Maxey hit one in the second quarter with a transition assist from Simmons.
The Sixers produced many of these open eyes with a fluid initial attack before the Hornets’ defense could take a stand. Simmons thrived on this style and gave nine of the team’s 21 assists in the first half. In the last two games, the Sixers have scored 148 points in the first half. It is not bad.
“It all starts in defense,” said Simmons. “We have to get the rebound, that’s the first thing – or a stop. So the transition is easy. You have guys filling in tracks, or me, Seth or Tobias pushing the ball, and then you have (Joel Embiid), who worked hard in terms of being in shape and being able to run all the games.
“When he does that, I feel like we’re unstoppable. So the guys are looking to play at that pace. I think we can. I don’t know how much faster we can play, but we will keep pushing the limit.”
Although Sixers’ president of basketball operations, Daryl Morey, strongly believes that Maxey will be a better sniper as a professional than he was in college (29.2% in Kentucky), an important initial step for the newcomer will be to make defenses respect the threat of your kick. If he can get to that point and become known as a competent sniper in opposing patrol reports, it would increase the danger he poses as an explosive downhill pilot. For now, Maxey would be well served if he trusted his sweater and did not refuse many opportunities to shoot.
Harris keeps everything simple (and very effective)
Since he usually catches the ball and attacks immediately, there is not much to say about Harris’ attack at the moment; that’s how the Six want it to be.
He landed a dunk in the first room, running the floor and accepting a pass from Simmons in stride. Harris’ other dunk in the first room was entirely his work, and much more impressive.
Harris was also an engaged and agitated defender, ending with four steals and three blocks.
“When I see him doing that, it motivates everyone to keep doing his job,” said Simmons. “When Tobias came here, defensively, he was not where he is now. And he stepped up – he’s getting a lot of thefts, he’s putting his hands on the lanes, blocking shots. He took a big leap from last year to now defensively. He has been, on both sides of the ball, an important factor for our team. And he will stay if we want to win a championship. “
Harris was one of the holders of the Sixers who played a little more with the second unit. With Furkan Korkmaz still out due to a sprain in the left adductor and Mike Scott out due to a left knee injury, coach Doc Rivers decided to use a nine-player rotation and mix his starting and reserve players more often.
As Bismack Biyombo is the only healthy center in the Hornets’ rotation and Charlotte plays small ball when sitting down, it didn’t hurt the Sixers that Harris was the only available striker on the team. Overall, however, it may be an area where the Sixers will seek to add depth before the negotiation deadline.
Good trends for Embiid
We are already verging on the territory of a broken record, but Embiid’s impressive work reading double teams was a big part of the Sixers’ offensive success in the first half. He saw help coming in before he arrived, knew where his teammates were and usually made the right move, whether it was a jump pass, a cutter feed or a simple plate back to the man who just gave him the ball. His pass often helped the Sixers to start beautiful strings where they whipped the ball around the perimeter and eventually created an open three.
“Most of the time, I would say that the first pass right in front of him is where we are looking,” said Rivers. “But because we are putting Seth there or Danny Green there or Tobias there, they are trying to get it out now, which really helps us.
“Now he is looking to the side and throwing that pass to jump, which leads to corner three. I love that he knows now, if I can play for the first guy, something good will happen. If they take that away, something better it’s going to happen on the other side. I think Ben is doing a great job with the time of the dives. In the beginning, he was diving very early and they managed to catch him and retreat. Now … he’s taking someone with him. I like how we’re doing now. ”
Embiid had some twists on Saturday that he hopes to clean up in the future, including one in which general choice number 3 LaMelo Ball pulled him out after a defensive rebound and one in which he lost the ball while trying to pass Biyombo.
Another positive trend with Embiid that persisted in this game was his more aggressive pick-and-roll defense, preventing opponent guards from stepping comfortably in three pull-ups. It was noticeable that small, fast guards like Terry Rozier and Devonte ‘Graham, who would have been happy to make these pitches against the Sixers in recent years, sometimes needed to take a different approach with Embiid playing “at the height”.
That said, Rozier (35 points) still gave Green and the Sixers trouble. The Sixers’ biggest problems across the team on Saturday were defending an uneven transition and sloppiness in the second half, as the attack was not as strong or smooth after the break.