That works.

It wasn’t pretty at the end, but this was a nice bounce back win for a team that suffered a brutal home loss Wednesday night. This was a much better fourth quarter than what we witnessed in the Houston defeat.

Saturday night, the Sixers led 107-102 with 2:31 remaining on the clock.

This is how the remaining offensive possessions played out:

  • Ben Simmons hits floater
  • Dario Saric miss
  • T.J. McConnell missed 3
  • McConnell turnover
  • Joel Embiid low block finish
  • Jerryd Bayless fouled, hits one of two free-throws

They started with a five point lead and scored on three of six possessions to finish the game. A Bayless free-throw miss and ensuing foul gave Dallas a chance to tie, but Yogi Ferrell gifted the game right back to the Sixers when he missed at the other end, resulting in a failed tip-in attempt at the buzzer. The best possession in that stretch was a Brett Brown timeout leading into a low block look for Joel Embiid, who finished with strength at the rim:

https://youtu.be/Dd-cbvT7cO4?t=9m13s

Compare it to Wednesday, when the team was up 104-96 (at home) with 2:35 left to play.

They finished with this:

  • Simmons blocked at rim, Covington rebound, Redick tripped, turnover
  • Simmons turnover
  • JJ Redick misses 3
  • Redick misses 3
  • Bayless blocked, shot clock violation

That’s zero points in the final five possessions.

So they actually blew an 8 point home lead but won with a 5 point road lead beginning from virtually the same position on the fourth quarter clock (2:31 vs. 2:35). That’s progress for a young team that’s learning how to win and still doesn’t really have an identity. It’s also a boon for a well-liked coach who is, for the first time, under scrutiny to execute in these positions.

 

1) Help us out here

The Sixers’ bench contributed 34 points in the win, which could be viewed as a season high. Technically, it’s not, because the bench scored more in the Toronto loss, but that was an asterisk type of game where Embiid didn’t play and Brown emptied the bench in the 34-point blowout loss.

Here’s how the Sixers’ bench had done in five previous games before Saturday night:

  • vs. Houston – 18 points
  • at Detroit – 20 points
  • at Toronto – 43 points
  • vs. Boston – 21 points
  • at Washington – 25 points

Last night was a better indicator of bench contribution.

With JJ Redick missing due to lower back tightness, Dario Saric started this game and contributed a season-high 12 points. He missed all five of his 2-point field goals but hit on 4 of 7 three pointers:

For what it’s worth, Saric averaged 15.1 points last year in 29.6 average starting minutes. His numbers were 11 and 23.6 off the bench.

T.J. McConnell had himself another fantastic game with 15 points, 4 rebounds, 8 assists, and 1 steal. He played a season-high 31 minutes and Brown put him on the court to finish the game, addressing a complaint Sixers fans had from Wednesday night, when McConnell sat on the bench while his team coughed up that eight point lead.

Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, Justin Anderson, and Nik Stauskas combined for 13 points on 4 of 9 shooting. Amir Johnson had 6 points and 6 boards.

 

2) Okafor or Nokafor?

Speaking of Johnson, he hasn’t really wowed anybody in Philadelphia, based on the reaction I read online and hear on the radio. Richaun Holmes will be back eventually to spell Embiid off the bench, but the Sixers basically confirmed the other day that Jahlil Okafor doesn’t have a future with the team.

Wrong idea? Probably, according to a small sample of Sixers’ Twitter:

Johnson has been paying attention. He rarely tweets, but twice now he’s zeroed in on media critique and responded, this one from last night:

And this one took place last week:

He’s aware. We’ll see if he plays harder and/or better this week.

 

3) Big vs. “Big”

Four points and a season-low four rebounds for Nerlens Noel, who was ineffective in his 20 minutes. He only shot one field goal.

Noel just isn’t big enough to body Joel Embiid, and you saw it last night, with Joel moving almost freely around the rim.

The one sequence where Noel got the better of Embiid was on a swipe that resulted in Embiid bumbling the ball out of the bounds. He then drew a foul on a dunk attempt at the other end of the floor. Otherwise, it was just a size mismatch all night long.

 

4) Smart doubles

Apropos of nothing, I just wanted to show you this clip of what I thought was a shrewd Sixers defensive possession to close out the first half.

It starts with the Mavericks running a pick to get a mismatch of T.J. McConnell (6’2″) guarding Harrison Barnes (6’8″):

Justin Anderson sees the mismatch and comes over to help. Barnes tries a cross-court pass to Dirk Nowitzki, who sees Embiid bearing down and loses the ball out of bounds while trying to swing it back to the point.

It’s just a nice job by Anderson to understand what’s going on and create the double team. He sees that happening and starts his motion while Barnes still has his back turned without full possession of the ball:

Barnes probably could have found Wesley Matthews underneath the basket or just swung it back to J.J. Barea, but I think the quick double from Anderson had something to do with Barnes trying to hit Dirk on that cross-court pass.