That’s a really nice win.

To go out west after a disappointing Christmas day overtime loss and rip off a 17-point road victory against a decent team was something I did not expect. Last night’s game could have very well been one of those “we gave it our all in the Boston loss and don’t have anything left in the tank” type of performances.

We got the opposite instead.

We got one of those “we’re pissed off and annoyed at the Boston loss and we want to rectify it right away” kind of performances. The Sixers shook off a slow start to explode for 73 points in the second and third quarters, got a little sloppy in the fourth, and then closed it down to sweep the Jazz in 2018. A motivated Ben Simmons put up another triple-double, Joel Embiid was more or less Joel Embiid, JJ Redick and Jimmy Butler had solid shooting nights, and T.J. McConnell stepped up to contribute 10 points and 7 assists in 23 minutes off the bench.

It’s proof that anything can happen in the NBA, especially at 12:57 a.m. on the east coast.

Backdoor for days

The Sixers really killed the Jazz with some well-executed backdoor stuff last night.

This one jumped off the page, coming out of a timeout with McConnell playing the point and Simmons at power forward. This spaces everybody out on the perimeter and pulls Rudy Gobert away from the rim:

Really well done.

Move Gobert, target Donovan Mitchell, and use Mike Muscala as a stretch five to spring Jimmy Butler for an easy alley oop dunk. That’s an example of how Ben can use his strengths as a passer even when he’s bumped down to the four.

I also really liked this play, just a half court set where they went into horns and got Embiid wide open underneath the basket. Utah had defensive breakdowns all night long with these kinds of looks:

The Sixers have a name for this but I can’t remember what’s called. They run something like 3-4 sets out of horns, stuff like a flare screen, twist, lift, all of those fun-sounding names.

You see Derrick Favors and Jae Crowder actually get turned around initially, but they switch to their proper assignments while the Sixers are getting lined up. Then Jonah Bolden screens for Embiid at the foul line, Utah blows the switch, and McConnell fires a bullet into the post while fending off Dante Exum.

I really like the Sixers’ horns sets and honestly wish they’d run more of them. I’m sure somebody in their analytics department has numbers showing how many of those plays result in baskets, and I’m willing to bet it’s pretty high. If you’re reading this and know somebody with access to that data, tell them to give me a call.

But yeah, just really nice execution on a lot of half court designs last night. The decision making was solid and it resulted in a 31 to 13 assist-to-turnover margin last night, the first game of a west coast swing after a tough Christmas Day loss.

JJ Redick in the margins

Nice night for JJ in Utah (8-12, 6-9 from three) after a “less than” night in Boston (5-16, 4-10 from three). His field goal percentage is down in December but his three-point shooting is up.

I’m not a huge advanced stats guy, but in this case I like to use them because we’re trying to sniff out nuance when evaluating JJ’s game.

Here are JJ’s base stats, which show that his scoring output is up, simply because he’s playing about a half minute more per game, taking more shots, and getting to the free throw line more often:

37.1% three point shooting on the year isn’t great. He’ll get that number closer to 40% as the season goes on.

“True shooting percentage” is one of the more useful advanced stats, as it wraps together field goals, three pointers, and free throws to give us a more accurate representation of scoring across multiple platforms.

Advanced stuff:

His true shooting percentage (TS%) is currently at a four-year low while his usage rate is at a four-year high, which means he’s seeing more of the ball but doing less with it. That 3PAr stat is “three point attempt ratio,” which means that 54.5% of his shots are three-balls, which is fine. That’s what you’re looking for from him in this offense.

Another number I didn’t put in that chart is “effective field goal percentage,” which is at a seven-year low of 54.5%. Basketball reference counts it as a normal stat, so go figure, but EFG% basically just adjusts for the fact that three-pointers are worth more than two-pointers. If you have a higher EFG%, it means you’re generally not settling for a bunch of low-efficiency mid-range stuff and instead properly spacing and taking the better three-point shot.

You see some issues with JJ when you check out his statistical margins. I think all of that will improve as the season progresses, but it’s an easy way to see why he’s less efficient even though his minute total is only 0.6 up from last year while his PPG is increased by a full point. If he makes just one more shot per game, his 2018 totals will align more closely  with what he’s done over the last three or four seasons.

That’s it for now. I had trouble staying awake in the fourth quarter. Good win for your team, your town, your 76ers.

Happy weekend.