When you shoot 50% from three-point range, you’re gonna stay in a lot of games.

The Sixers went 18-36 behind the arc last night, erasing a wobbly second quarter with a phenomenal second half offensive effort. JJ Redick lead all scorers with 31 points on 8-12 three-point shooting, three of which he hit in the final 2:06 of play.

So the Sixers are above .500 for the first time since November of 2013 and heading into a wicked five-game west coast road trip on a four-game winning streak. I certainly didn’t have this team at 5-4 on November 4th.

Did you?

1) Balanced scoring

For all of the talk of Redick’s performance, I think the most impressive thing was the spread of the offensive output.

All five starters finished in double figures on a combined 53.7 field goal percentage (37-69).

Redick, Dario Saric, and Robert Covington all shot above 50% from three-point range:

  • Redick – 8/12
  • Covington – 5/9
  • Saric – 3/5

That’s 16-26 for a 61.5% average. Those are ridiculous numbers. The only thing bringing down the average is the 0-5 combined number put up by Joel Embiid, Jerryd Bayless, and Richaun Holmes. Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot finished 2-5 behind the arc, but hit his threes in the second quarter, when the team was really struggling.

 

2) Still slumping in the second

Indiana carried a 17-2 run from the first quarter into the second quarter, resulting in groans on media row and complaining in the Crossing Broad Slack chat.

The Sixers just didn’t have it, and they showed a lack of composure on both ends of the floor, highlighted by a three-minute span where Embiid committed a flagrant foul, a normal foul, then turned the ball over before having a shot blocked. He could have easily been whistled for a third foul when he knocked T.J. Leaf into a cameraman, or on the sequence where Lance Stephenson got called for a charge.

There were a bunch of plays where the team looked totally out of sorts, such as this one:

https://youtu.be/K1jS0vTfiOA?t=1m28s

Brett Brown said this about the sloppiness:

“I thought our middle pick-and-roll defense stunk tonight. I thought at times our defense in transition stunk tonight. When you come in at halftime and say that they got 42 points in the paint, that’s unheard of in the half, it’s way too many. For the rest of the game they had 14 (points in the paint). I think, to be able to isolate and zoom in on an area, like middle pick-and-roll defense, you get the attention a lot more after a win, to say we won, but look how poor we were here. Imagine if we can get better at that, so that’s the exciting part. This group is so, at times, painfully young with just crazy turnovers or things that aren’t going to script, but they play together, they play hard and those things, like middle pick-and-roll defense, is sure a lot easy to talk about after you win.”

He’s right, it’s a lot easier to talk about after a game like that.

Think about it, the Sixers are 5-4 and they still haven’t played a complete game this season. Imagine what happens when they start to clean up that second quarter and learn how to keep their foot on the gas.

 

3) Making a change

One of the big reasons for lacking interior defense, and second half improvement, was that Richaun Holmes got the backup center minutes while Amir Johnson sat for the rest of the game.

Holmes entered with 8:57 in the third when Embiid picked up his fourth foul. Not ironically, Holmes’ first contribution was monstrous put-back dunk to give the Sixers a 72-71 lead:

It’s crazy, that quick release from Redick and the ensuing reaction by Myles Turner almost makes the play look like a continuation of the pick and roll. That’s what happens when you crash the rim.

Holmes’ follow-through looked a little weak on a missed three-pointer and mid-range shot, but that’s not surprising considering the wrist injury he’s been dealing with. Later, he grabbed a tough rebound in the paint while surrounded by four Pacers and got the two points on the put back. He followed it up with an alley-oop flush to finish with 6/5/1 in 10 minutes of play.

Four of his five rebounds were on the offensive glass, leading all players on both squads. He just brings more grit to the paint than Amir Johnson.

 

Gettin’ Goosebumps

I asked Brett Brown what was going through his head when JJ Redick launched up that shot at the end of the game.

“Which one?” he said with a laugh.

Redick’s rainbow was absurd, but my takeaway is what he said about the Philadelphia crowd:

“I had goosebumps tonight, I really did. It was as loud as you’d ever seen for an NBA arena. Regular season for sure. The end of the shot clock three, was as loud as they get. They were awesome the whole second half. We play with energy, and we fed off that energy. To me the most beautiful basketball you can play is having a symbiotic relationship with the fans. It becomes beautiful. To get them that win was huge.”

It’s true. I haven’t seen the Center like that in years. Maybe it got that loud when Andre Iguodala hit those free-throws in the Chicago playoff game, but I moved back to Philly in 2009 and haven’t experienced a WFC crowd like that since the Allen Iverson days.

This was a tie ball game with two minutes left to play. Redick hit three three-pointers in a row to extend it to 119-110, then Embiid bagged a couple of free-throws to seal the deal.

Not only was Redick on fire last night, but he was clutch, hitting from deep when it mattered most:

 

Rippin’ the shirt

I have to admit that I forgot Ben Simmons’ was in the game when he walked to the middle of the floor sans jersey to yell at the official.

“What the hell is he doing?,” I thought to myself.

I guess I was so focused on the Joel Embiid/T.J. Leaf collision that I didn’t even notice Simmons having his shirt ripped in half by Lance Stephenson:

It doesn’t even look like Stephenson pulls that hard on the jersey, but there it goes, shredded in half.

According to Darren Rovell, Simmons was the fourth player to have Nike jersey rip during game this year. Keep an eye on that important stat.

Also keep an eye on the 5-4 Sixers.