Sixers Bell Ringer: Who’s the group of players who went down to Nawlins and were delighted by Zion?

Sixers Bell Ringer Season:

Joel Embiid – 18

Tobias Harris – 12

Ben Simmons – 7

Skud Milton – 5

Matisse Thybulle – 2

Danny Green – 2

Tyrese Maxey – 2

Dakota Mathias – 1

Furkan Korkmaz – 1

Tony Bradley – 1

The Sixers recently enjoyed a big season of division rivals and hated the Celtics in Boston, but the Sixers continued their journey by heading down to the Bayou to tackle the NBA’s toughest team, the Pelicans. Nothing strikes fear in the hearts of opposing teams like the mascot of the Pelli, and I’m worried I might have nightmares tonight because of Pierre the Pelican:

Photo by Jonathan Bachman / NBAE via Getty Images

But maybe the Sixers enjoyed too much gumbo last night. Despite the league’s 28th defense per 100 possessions, Philadelphia drew their worst offensive output of the season with 94 points in a 101-94 loss, where Zion Williamson put the Sixers out on the sidelines. It can not be easy to pull off.

Let’s go to the bell.

Tobias Harris: 23 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 2-5 from 3, 7-9 from the line

Photo by Sean Gardner / Getty Images

Like the recent loss to Memphis, Tobi was the only starter to score a productive game at the offensive end. He finished 7-out-16 off the field and 7-out-9 from the offense in just 34 minutes of action. He was not just mr. Consistently this year, he was one of the team’s best fourth quarters. Unfortunately, not many others got assaulted tonight, and things snowballed in Bourbon Street.

Ben Simmons: 10 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, 5 steals, 6 turnovers, 1 block, 3-6 fg, 4-9 FT

Photo by Sean Gardner / Getty Images

There was a moment when I wondered if Ben Simmons might be one of his quietest games of the season, and could also place a five-double double-digit points, rebounds, assists, steals and turnover. Another quarter and he might get there. Ben had the most (+5) impact on the team, but only took 6 total field goals, and making 4-9 free throws is probably not the level of offensive aggression people want to see from him; especially if he’s been in a slump lately and they could use a breakout game from scratch. Especially if there will be more games where Embiid looks just as passive as tonight.

Simmons was clearly outscored when he faced Zion Williamson, who netted the Sixers with 37 points, 15 boards and 8 cents.

The good news, after playing Ben with Dwight Howard about ten minutes per game over the past few games, Doc Rivers played the incompatible duo just two minutes that night. Maybe a sign of new experiments coming.

Joel Embiid: 14 points, 9 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 blocks, 5-16 from the field and 4-4 from the line

Photo by Sean Gardner / Getty Images

If the MVP candidate had not recently returned from missing ten consecutive games with a leg bruise in his elongated left knee, I would have wondered who would do it? Because he did not seem to have it in him to bulldoze the helpless Kiwi Steven Adams, he decided to take a jumper after jumper that simply did not fall. He went down 1-5 from deep against Boston, and tonight 0-3, so his shot has been a bit flat since returning.

Embiid was still a plus four in the state. But he was far from his usual dominant self, the one that crushed the Celtics the other night. It might be naive to expect him to dominate on a constant basis, while being clearly bothered by the bulky knee brace he wears (of course, along with the reason he wears it). But he looks rather sluggish. His conditioning is not where he needs it. As I write this, I see tweets that he’s still posting shots at Smoothie Center, so maybe he understands this and wants to return to where he was in mid-March:

Furkan Korkmaz: 12 points, 2 assists, 2 rebounds, 4 of 9 off the field, 4-8 of 3

Photo by Jonathan Bachman / NBAE via Getty Images

In a game where the points were harder to reach than they did during a pandemic, Korkmaz’s deep ball was one of the only bright spots tonight. Fighting for a rotation spot due to Matisse Thybulle’s improved play, and George Hill’s pending debut, Furkan will need more hot shooting nights to stay relevant here.