The Sixers got another masterclass from Joel Embiid on national television, and the big man’s 36 points in 26 minutes was enough to take the Sixers to a 113-95 above the Mavericks.
This is what I saw.
The good
• I spent a good part of Friday’s recap in the Sixers because I didn’t take full advantage of Steven Adams’ error problems. I’m pleased to report that they didn’t make the same mistake twice – Joel Embiid went to work against a small frontline in Dallas, and it was a free-throw parade for most of the first quarter.
Thanks to Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle’s lineup picks, we got to see a clash of styles on the floor. Embiid was late with a few closeouts against three-point shooters, but on the other hand he more than made up for it by beating starter Maxi Kleber and backup Nico Melli before the Mavericks finally decided it was time for Boban. When the Mavericks were small, Embiid got the ball on almost every possession in the post, making play when doubles came and attacking otherwise.
Thanks to the Sixers (and certainly Embiid) for the adjustment they made when Boban came into play. Rather than just trying to flex a giant in the pole, Embiid started pick-and-rolls and dribble handoffs, forcing Dallas’ colossal downtown to try and defend in space (at least initially). Even something as simple as starting an Embiid possession from another spot on the floor makes a difference, and that’s something Doc Rivers put a lot of emphasis on during his first season in charge.
Regardless of the game plan, Embiid looked like a man on a mission. There have been many nights when Embiid decides the other team just can’t guard him this season, and Monday’s first half was there with one of them. The greats of Dallas picked up nine combined fouls in the first 24 minutes alone, and when poor Willie Cauley-Stein had the nerve to wrestle Embiid into the post to finish the half, he was quickly punished for it, when Embiid took the match. that much more personal after a WCS removal.
An even better sign – once Embiid got going at the line, the shots started to fall in the mid-range. While that’s actually been a slot for most of this season, Embiid was open about his struggles to adapt while wearing a knee brace, so seeing him uncork Hakeem-like wobble movements in the pole and one-legged fadeaway on the baseline was a beautiful view.
Big players still give him trouble sometimes, but this game shows how many answers he has depending on who the opponent throws at him. That’s why you need to take the Sixers seriously to win every playoff series – he’s talking firmly with the top players in the league and can bend the game in whatever direction he wants. That is a rare area.
• Perhaps the Zion massacre eventually led Williamson Rivers to consider wobbling its stars full-time, and if so, it was a valuable clunker that everyone had to sit through. Ben Simmons is the man who got the early hook in Monday night’s game, which basically allowed Rivers to keep at least one of his top two players on the ground at all times.
It could be a matchup-specific quirk, as Simmons spent most of his night shading Luka Doncic’s minutes (not that it did much to slow down the Dallas alpha dog). But after seeing Rivers take this route against the Thunder on Saturday, there’s a little bit of hope it could last. The Sixers would be better for it, even if they still have to come up with lineup combinations that still work.
(Worth noting: we didn’t really to see if this holds up in the second half, with Rivers relaxing a bit when the Sixers took this game out of reach. I’m holding on to this anyway, damn it.)
• I don’t know what or who ended up with Furkan Korkmaz, but he’s on the rise as the Sixers try to establish matters during the regular season. We’ve seen Korkmaz line up for small runs before, but that was never a legit two-way game like we’ve seen from him lately, and he looks like a tough guy to knock out of the playoff rotation.
The main key to Korkmaz is that he seems to have figured out exactly when and how to play the passing lanes without exposing himself to cuts on the back door or quick swings to the corner. While he still doesn’t have the strength to hold up well in one-on-one battles, he cares about his craft and has enough length to disrupt, which is about half the battle.
More time with starters in the mix has unlocked Korkmaz, and that gets you a little excited about what he’ll look like when George Hill enters the mix. With less of the gaming obligations that are necessarily placed on him, Korkmaz can focus on shooting, scoring, and further building on his defensive progress. That’s a great place for him.
• The Sixers are frankly getting a bit of a bad year for Seth Curry – these are his worst numbers since he became an NBA rotational player – and it still feels like they handily won the trade with Dallas. There was a streak in the third quarter where Richardson bricked up an open three, only for Curry to step into an effortless transition, and it brought back memories of how many times the Sixers were on the other side of that exchange last season.
Josh Richardson didn’t make much sense with the Philly staff, doesn’t look much more useful in a very different Dallas team, and purely from an aesthetic standpoint, I’m happy with the direction they’re headed. clumsy basketball player.
Thought Exercise: What’s the highest amount the Sixers should have put into Richardson for this deal to be a loss to Philly? Keep in mind that after these two more seasons, Curry has a team-friendly deal.
• Matisse Thybulle may have had my favorite game of the game on a night when the big guy had one of his most dominant performances of the season. On a loose ball that shot into the Dallas backcourt, Thybulle decided to finish the game rather than settle for an inbound pass from Philadelphia deep into Maverick’s territory, and his attempt got the Sixers a three-point look from Danny Green, who promptly was correct. shot it.
Some weird blips like that recent Pelicans game aside, the Sixers have played as a team hungry to prove something to themselves and the rest of the league. They certainly have talent, but they (usually) play hard and don’t take that talent for granted. An opportunity is only valuable if you take the opportunity seriously, and Philadelphia plays as a team aware of the opportunities that lie ahead.
(A Thybulle-specific note – does anyone know the least amount of minutes a player has appeared during the creation of an All-Defense team? I’m just thinking about this out loud. He’s ridiculous.)
• This wasn’t a great defensive performance for the first two quarters or so, but the process ultimately delivered the results it deserved. I think people turn to versatility to describe Simmons’ defensive value, for example, “He can guard one through five!” but that underestimates the impact it has for Simmons to be able to take one man on an island and fight with him for the entire game, keeping everyone else in position to help and fight.
Simmons didn’t exactly close Doncic Monday night, but his impact as a playmaker was limited due to the way the Sixers were able to line up around that match. It’s one of the many reasons I’ve tried to dissuade people from summing up his evening by referring to matchup data on NBA.com. The defense goes much deeper than that.
The bad
• Do we want to delve deeper into Dwight Howard’s dirty problems? That seems questionable after such an effortless victory over a good Dallas team. He must be smarter, yes, but there were some fake calls in that mix (especially the “shove” that a tech pulled in the third quarter).
The ugly
• Embiid was a dirty drawing machine all night, and it seems absurd to suggest this, but he didn’t get enough mistakes Monday night. Some of them were blatant no-calls – Boban punched him in the face during a first-half lob game, and Embiid sat under the brim licking his wounds as Dallas ran the other way.
You can’t make a mistake for every possession, but this guy tests that theory every time he speaks. He is a special talent.
(I suppose Embiid wasn’t the only one who didn’t get a call Monday. Shake Milton took a shot at the grill in the fourth quarter that went unrecalled, much to Milton’s chagrin when he stayed under the basket while Dallas the other side ran on.)
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