The Sixers showed Sunday night that they do not need Joel Embiid to win and storm back from a 20-point deficit to beat the Pacers. Their job is definitely easier when the All-Star man is available.
Embiid returned on Wednesday after missing the Sixers game against Indiana at the same time, yielding 34 points, 11 rebounds, two steals and a block in a 118-111 victory over the Hornets at Spectrum Center.
The Sixers won all three games on their away drive, thus improving to 16-6 and 6-5 away from home. They play the Trail Blazers Thursday night at Wells Fargo Center.
Here are observations on winning Sixers Wednesday:
Embiid the shooter
Embiid was immediately prominent and took six of the Sixers’ first ten shots. During a very strong piece, he took a setback and went from coast to coast to a dunk, then trailed the game on the Sixers’ next possession and nailed a three-pointer from Ben Simmons.
Through 17 matches, Embiid shot 42.3 percent from three points. He entered this season after making 31.9 percent of his career three-point efforts, with a season-high 36.7 percent his rookie year. Given his soft, fundamentally healthy shot and good record at the dirty line, Embiid has long seemed to bolster his shooting numbers from the outside.
When asked before the game about the fact that Embiid was named the Eastern Conference player of the month, head coach Doc Rivers made it clear that he was not happy with the early season awards the Sixers had earned.
“Really, as a whole team we just need to get better,” Rivers said. ‘It’s really nice, Joel won Player of the Month, but I do not think that’s why we started the season or what he wanted. He wants more. The better you play as a group, the more those things come to you. But that should be no reason not to keep improving. ‘
Before the season, Embiid also talked about team success that coincides with individual awards. If the Sixers stay at or near the top of the conference and he continues to play at this world-class level, he will have quite a few awards when the year ends.
Early display of defensive firepower
Within the opening game, nine minutes, the Sixers built up a generous handful of excellent defensive games. Embiid had a few alone and showed no signs of rust as he disturbed Charlotte’s offensive rhythm with active hands and feet in the perimeter as well as inside.
Simmons and Danny Green each had impressive blocks, with Simmons chasing a triangle from Devonte ‘Graham and Green wiping out a seemingly easy quick setup for Gordon Hayward.
The Hornets scored just 13 points in the first period, the least the Sixers have conceded in a quarter all season, with 22.7 percent.
“I think with how active we were and how many deflections we got, it was definitely a look at how good we can possibly be,” Green said. “I think the hard part is doing it for 48 minutes.”
After the halftime, it looked like Charlotte’s shooters suddenly all found their groove level, and the Sixers’ defensive energy waned as the Hornets cut a 26-point deficit to seven in the third quarter. Matisse Thybulle made one of the ventures that Rivers forced him to avoid during that shaky period. He jumped in search of a highlight and polluted Graham with a three-point attempt.
Simmons made the same mistake with 5.1 seconds left in the game and the Sixers went up by seven points, which was a headache of the late game.
“Obviously we let our foot down, we focused and we lost it all, but we did enough to win on the road,” Rivers said. “I’ll take it. A lot of learning moments for us, and that’s what I told them after the game, that we’re better than we played in the second half, but that we could not play much better in the first half. did not …. … To go on a journey, with 3-0, that was our goal to get out and that’s what we did. ”
Rivers did not stick to the zone defense that spurred the Sixers’ return to Indiana. He trusts his team’s ability to defend man-to-man.
“This is something we will only use if we feel we need it,” he said. “We believe in our man defense. … There are many reasons why your zone plays. Sometimes you try to hide a guy in bad trouble, sometimes you try to hide a bad defender from your team who is on the floor, and sometimes the other team has a good rhythm and you try to turn them off from the rhythm. ‘
Injury scares Milton
Shake Milton was on the floor and grim with 7:03 left in the second quarter after driving to the ring and taking an awkward step on his right leg when he was committed. He stayed in the game to shoot his two free throws, and then made a foul so he could go to the locker room with Sixers head coach Kevin Johnson.
The 24-year-old returned to the bench a few minutes later, surely a welcome sight for the Sixers. There were no noticeable problems with Milton’s movement during his minutes in the second half. According to Milton, he under-extended his knee Investigator Keith Pompey.
The Sixers relied on him as their main perimeter scorer on the second unit, and he did well in the role despite a slow start from the three-point area. Milton’s defensive stability and confidence as a leading ball handler made him the backbone of the Sixers bench, and, projected in advance, an important piece when the post-season arrives. He scored 13 points on Wednesday on 4-for-12 shooting.
Milton calls the injury ‘just a little adjustment’ and says he will play on Thursday.
Overall, the Sixers’ second unit overtook the Hornets by a 27-24 lead and took advantage of the fact that Charlotte was shortlisted with the typical appetizer PJ Washington (right foot sprain) and Terry Rozier (right ankle sprain).
Five Sixers scored double figures, including Tobias Harris with 26 points that were not flashy but came in an efficient manner. He took 9 for 9 off the dirty line, the season’s highlights for him in both makes and efforts.
Seth Curry, meanwhile, had no points on 0-for-3 shooting. After Curry tested positive for COVID-19 last month, Curry is not full of health again.
“It was difficult, few injuries here and there, and it hit a bit,” he said on Tuesday. ‘I also think there are some leftovers – just to get my energy back completely. Some days I feel good, some days I’m just sluggish and feel like I have to take an afternoon nap all day. It’s weird, but I’m thankful I’m on the field and playing every day. ‘
Curry’s pointless night did not affect his head coach.
“I’m not worried about guys,” Rivers said. “It’s a long season. Tobias, the first three games everyone thought he forgot how to play. Shake’s had his moments. We have so many options that I think I’m going organic. I don ‘t think you should ever try to force guys to get it going.
“Seth is still trying to get back from the virus, and he missed a lot of things. I’m patient and not so worried about it, if you want me to be honest. I like how we play. I’m watching his minutes on the floor, I think he had no effort at half-time, but we had 64 points … There will be such nights, and it did not affect me much at all. ”