What a trip to the West Coast for the Philadelphia 76ers. From the last three and a half minutes of their game against the Kings on Wednesday night to their entire performance against the Warriors on Thursday, the Sixers were nothing less than embarrassed in this back-to-back.
Philadelphia allowed the Kings to go on a 15-0 run in their initial matchup without Joel Embiid, and then, on Thursday, with Embiid back in the lineup, the team remained just as effective. The Sixers struggled from the jump against the Warriors on both sides of the ball. It was an offensive barrage from the Warriors, who constantly moved the ball without interruption, leading to an incredible 42 assists on 53 total shots.
Defensively, this has been the best side of the ball for the Sixers. It’s not that any side has been particularly impressive, but Philadelphia couldn’t stop water with a bucket. It’s ironic as the Sixers also struggled to find buckets to begin with, but we’ll get to that. There are some nights where the opponent is absolutely unconscious from beyond the arc; that was the Golden State Warriors tonight.
The Warriors connected on 22 of 39 attempts from deep, connecting on 56.4% of their threes. Some of this was Steph Curry entering the Avatar state in this game, but the undisrupted ball movement by Golden State went a long way toward opening up three-point opportunities.
That summarizes the horrendous effort to defend the perimeter. Now we’ve come to the paint. The Warriors had an open path again and again and again, all throughout the night. Draymond Green, the 6’6 center in basketball shoes who turns 35 in two months, was able to drive to the hole relentlessly as if it were illegal to even look in his direction.
Philadelphia’s paint defense has consistently been an issue with the amount of time he has missed, but Joel Embiid played in this game, and there was still no semblance of paint and rim protection. It’s not solely on Embiid, but to call his defensive effort in this game lackadaisical would be unfair to the word itself. So disengaged was he for much of the game that the national broadcast’s halftime show relentlessly pointed out his lack of engagement.
Offensively, there was nothing to write home about short of a quick stint of engagement by Embiid in the third quarter. Embiid finished the game with 28 points and 14 rebounds while making 11 of 14 shots from the free-throw line. Paul George contributed 19 points but mostly by sinking some poorly taken deep midrange shots. Guerschon Yabusele enjoyed a quality first half which included a bit of bully ball but could not find the same magic in the second.
Tyrese Maxey endured perhaps his worst game this season, looking more frustrated than focused from the jump. Maxey spent far too much of the game disputing calls, which has become an unfortunate trend this season and looked more interested in forcing shots than finding teammates, which was in stark contrast to the Warriors’ mentality.
Sixers’ head coach, Nick Nurse, is far from blameless as well. His insistence on relying on Kyle Lowry has hurt the team throughout the season. As helpful as Lowry is as a voice and almost as a player coach, his value is felt far more as a coach than a player. While the Sixers were undoubtedly shorthanded, there are simply better lineup, rotation, and gameplan decisions that Nurse has not engaged in.
Philadelphia looks very much like a team that just goes out and shoots a shot when they feel like it, as opposed to being the least bit methodical in creating a shot. That blame lies first and foremost on Nick Nurse but then also on Embiid, Maxey, and Paul George.
Philadelphia will not be able to truly contend if they play schematically how they did in this matchup.
Steph Curry makes history against Sixers
Steph Curry was transcendent in this game, proving once again why he is one of the greatest players the NBA has ever seen. Curry finished the game with the most effortless 30 points, 6 rebounds, and 10 assists you will see. Factoring in his impressive eight-for-eight performance from deep, you have a historic performance for one of the few truly transformative players in NBA history.
With his 30 points and perfect eight-for-eight performance from deep, Steph Curry became just the seventh player in the history of the NBA to accumulate such a stateline, according to Stathead. Not only that but at age 36, Curry is also the oldest ever to do so.
Other than Curry, Steve Smith, Latrell Sprewell, Jeff Hornacek, Taurean Prince, Jalen Brunson, and Ben Gordon (twice) are the only players in NBA history to perform such a feat.
Up next for Sixers
Philadelphia has a much-needed game off on Friday before heading to Brooklyn on Saturday for a matchup against the Brooklyn Nets. After trading away multiple veterans, the Nets are actively trying to tank. Unfortunately, they aren’t very good at it, defeating the Bucks for the second time during their recent stretch of games.
Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. on Saturday, and you can catch the game on NBC Sports Philadelphia or, as always, listen live at 97.5 FM, the Fanatic.
