The Sixers are going to need a victory over Jazz, leader of the Western Conference on Monday night, to save a 0.500 west coast road trip.
They dropped to 18-9 on Saturday afternoon, with a 120-111 loss to the Suns. Devin Booker scored 36 points, continuing his trend of success against the Sixers.
Joel Embiid scored 35 points, including 16 in the last quarter, and had eight rebounds. Ben Simmons had 18 points, six rebounds and four assists, while Tobias Harris scored 18 points from a 7 in 9 shot.
Here are the notes on the loss of the Sixers to Phoenix:
Simmons strong in the first half, Embiid gets his
As usual, Simmons started Saturday’s game with his opponent’s best offensive weapon, Booker.
“He is a unique defender,” said coach Doc Rivers before the Simmons game, who considers himself the best defensive player in the league. “Most great defenders keep their position and they do a great job there. Ben is a chameleon. Ben holds literally one to five, and we are not afraid to put him in one to five on the necessary goods. The key for us is to try to keep you out of trouble as soon as possible. In some games we have no choice – we have to start with the best player. “
Rivers named Dennis Rodman and Scottie Pippen as players comparable to Simmons defensively. He thought it was worth using Simmons on Booker from the start, and that decision looked good at first, since Simmons again played strong defense with the help of Embiid trapped in the pick-and-roll. Simmons won five break points in the first quarter and scored a total of 16 in the first half, although he did not sustain that level of impact after the break.
“I thought Ben was great overall in the game,” said Rivers. “I thought he was aggressive when he needed to be and was a passer when he needed to be.
Danny Green and Matisse Thybulle also spent time with Booker during the game. Booker soon found a groove, keeping his mind offensive despite constant pressure from the Sixers’ ball and finding openings in the transition.
The Sixers limited their opportunities to open three points, but Booker has a diversified offensive game. Even with a new coaching staff, the Sixers have yet to find a good answer on how to stop it.
“We let it get hot,” said Green. “Partly my fault – letting him go to the basket for a few easy minutes. He was in a good place to start. He was not very comfortable, but as soon as he got a pair to knock and reached the free throw line, it got hot. They put up some good screens for him. We do not enter their bodies as we should; we weren’t physical enough with these guys. Let’s fix these covers.
“We allowed him to move a lot to the left – that layup to the left, float to the left – and get to the free-throw line to get into a rhythm. The next thing you know, he started to get into the rhythm and hit some tough guys because of Ben … A guy like that, it’s hard to stop, that’s why you don’t let him get hot. ”
Embiid faced Deandre Ayton, who had 11 points from 5 out of 6 shots in 2018. He was clearly the top player when the two played 1-on-1, able to shoot mid-range jumpers with ease, and he exploited his obvious advantage of strength when the Suns used Dario Saric in the center.
When Embiid, Simmons and Harris combine for an efficient 71 points, the Sixers should normally be able to win.
More three-point questions
After allowing Portland to score 33 points more than they did on the other side of the arc, the Sixers hit just 7 out of 17 in three-point territory and went 4 by 13 in the final period. Phoenix went from 10 to 25 long distance.
The Sixers entered Saturday’s game 27th in the NBA at three points and 20th at three points, for Cleaning the Glass. Although 13 three-point marks in the last two games are especially low, the trend at the start of the season is for the team to be below average beyond the arc, especially in terms of volume.
The numbers could look much better in a week or two if Seth Curry, Green and one or two bank players heated up simultaneously, but we imagine that basketball operations president Daryl Morey will be more inclined to seek outside kicks the more the three of the Sixers – trouble spots persist.
“I think today’s game is getting those perimeter shots,” said Green. “We don’t have to change that drastically, but I think a lot of changes when we move the ball. Our attempts at the perimeter are the result of the movement of the ball, or the lack of it. When we don’t get many attempts (from) three, it’s because we’re moving too slowly or we’re not moving anything. If we do what we’ve done at the beginning of the season … we’ll have more attempts at the perimeter. “
Lack of facilitation in the second unit
Mike Scott, who has been out since mid-January with an injury to his right knee, returned on Saturday and was goalless in 11 minutes. Shake Milton lost his second straight game due to a sprained left ankle, and Rivers said he does not expect the 24-year-old to play on Monday.
With Scott back, the Sixers used a 10-man rotation that featured a bench-only lineup at the start of the second period. This group did not do well, experiencing family problems with offensive fluidity.
“… The ball has to move,” said Rivers before the game. “The ball did not move (against the Blazers) and that has been one of the problems that we have had with this unit all along. They are all gunners in that unit. Tyrese (Maxey) is really a top scorer, Tobias, who we use (with the second unit), is a top scorer. Shake is the marker, Furkan (Korkmaz) is the marker.
“We need someone to pass to each other. When they move the ball well, they have an artificial movement of the ball that leads to a good movement of the ball. So we have to get them to do that again.”
It would make sense if the Sixers explored conventional reserve ball handler options before the March 25 deadline. It is clear that the problems of the second unit that generate a decent half-court infraction are exacerbated when Milton is unavailable. Although Milton is not a traditional point guard, he seems to have the best chance for any bank player to bust a Sixers by scoring a drought by finding himself looking good after the dribble.
The Sixers’ bench combined 20 points and four assists against the Suns. Phoenix’s second unit scored 49 points, including Saric’s 15 in his first game back after testing positive for COVID-19 and then spraining his ankle.
“The bank hasn’t been bad this year, but they have been bad lately, probably going back about five games, in my opinion,” said Rivers. “It’s a long season. I never overreact to some games. But you still have to be better offensively, and it will help your defense a little bit. And if you’re going to be bad offensively, you ‘have to be great defensively. Right now , this group has been bad at both ends, so this is something we have to solve. ”