I’m not gonna recap the Knicks game, because nobody cares. The Knicks are 10-47 and the worst team in the NBA. The Sixers were supposed to win last night, and they did.

Your squad is 37-21 and currently sitting in 5th place in the east, 6.5 games out of first place and lagging behind the Bucks, Raptors, Pacers, and Celtics. If the playoffs began today, the Sixers would travel to Boston for game one of the opening round, which is not ideal.

So it’s some good and some bad. The record is fine, and the Sixers went 7-5 over the toughest part of their schedule, which coincidentally leads us into the All-Star break. The disappointment is a 1-7 combined record against Boston, Milwaukee, and Toronto, and the one win came on a night when the Raptors were playing without Kawhi Leonard, Serge Ibaka, and Jonas Valanciunas.

The reality is that Brett Brown is coaching his third different team this season, a squad that now features five players who have been here for a total of seven days. That’s 33% of his roster that overturned in the past week. But this is also the most talented group of players he’s ever coached, and he has 24 games to get this squad over the hump and into a position to host a first round playoff series, because anything less than fourth place in the East is a massive disappointment, at least in my mind.

Here’s the remaining slate, which only features 10 games against teams currently in playoff position:

It’s not murderer’s row.

You’ve got the Houston and OKC road trips, plus Golden State at home, but there’s a lot of dreck on the back-end of the schedule following the final Boston matchup. The Celtics, for comparison, still have to play at Toronto and at Milwaukee while going on a similar four-game west coast road trip that the Sixers just completed. The Raptors play most of their toughest games at home while Indiana still has to play at Philly, at Golden State, at Denver, at Portland, at Boston, and at Oklahoma City.

So it’s there for the taking, and the Sixers will have plenty of cupcakes to slap around down the stretch, but they need to win one of these big games, either at OKC or at Houston or at Milwaukee, something that gives you a real boost and lets people know that you’re actually a team that can do some damage in the playoffs.

Takeaways from the first two-thirds of the season, and some looking ahead, after the jump:

Best win

Sixers 113, Warriors 104 at Oracle Arena

No Klay Thompson, sure, but the Warriors still had Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, Boogie Cousins, and Draymond Green on the floor. The Sixers were up for this game and played solid basketball throughout.

Next best win

Sixers 120, Pacers 96, at Bankers Life Fieldhouse

Pre-Victor Oladipo injury.

The Sixers played really well on both trips to Indiana, beating the Pacers by 24 a few weeks back and also beating them way back in November to claim their first road win of the season.

Worst loss

Cavaliers 121, Sixers 112, at Wells Fargo Center

This was the Black Friday game, a night when the Sixers came out sleepwalking and/or gorged on Turkey. Cleveland guards combined for 71 points in the nine-point win and Brett Brown gave the most terse post-game answers I’ve ever heard from him.

Next worst loss

Nets 127, Sixers 124, at Wells Fargo Center

I guess we didn’t know, at the time, that the Nets would turn out to be a decent team this year. Still, the Sixers again got cooked by guards, allowing 39 bench points to Spencer Dinwiddie as he, Allen Crabbe, and D’Angelo Russell all shot better than 50% from the floor.

The Hawks loss was also pretty bad, but with Embiid not playing in that game, it stays off the list.

Best individual performance

Probably Joel Embiid vs. Charlotte:

42 points, 18 rebounds, 4 assists, and 4 blocks. He shot 11-18 from the floor, 1-2 from three, and hit 19 of 22 free throws.

Ben Simmons’ 21/10/15 performance against San Antonio could also be a choice here, along with Jimmy Butler’s 34 and 12, plus a buzzer beater, to take out the Nets in Brooklyn.

Statistics worth talking about

Here are some of the league-wide numbers the Sixers are posting, beginning with stuff at the positive end of the spectrum:

  • 115.3 points per game – 3rd in the league behind Bucks and Warriors
  • 47.5 field goal percentage – 6th overall
  • 36.1 three-point percentage – 8th
  • 77.5 free-throw percentage – 13th
  • 10.4 offensive rebounds per game – 14th
  • 27.4 assists per game – 3rd
  • 5.5 blocks per game – 10th
  • 7.7 steals per game – 15th
  • 22.8 fouls drawn per game – 3rd
  • 11.8 offensive rating – 11th
  • 108.4 defensive rating – 11th
  • 54 effective field goal percentage – 3rd
  • 58.2 true shooting percentage – 3rd
  • 13.8 second chance points per game – 9th
  • 15.8 fast break points per game – 8th
  • 12.4 opponent second chance points – 9th
  • 13.4 opponent fast break points – 13th

There’s a lot of good when you look down that list. They shoot the ball well, they don’t give up a lot of cheap stuff on the glass or in transition, and while steal and block numbers aren’t sky-high, their defensive rating is sound. You’d like that free throw percentage to come up, considering the frequency with which they get to the line.

The bad:

  • 15.5 turnovers per game – 27th
  • 21.9 fouls per game – 22nd
  • 24.6 opponent free throw attempts per game – 25th
  • 17.8 opponent points per game off turnovers – 24th

Turnovers are still an issue, but they’re actually down from last year’s number of 16.5, so that’s improvement of one unit per game.

It’s still an issue, along with the fouling, and it results in 91.3 opponent field goals per game, which is 5th-worst in the league.

Some of that, of course, can be attributed to the pace at which the Sixers play, which results in more possessions for both teams, but ultimately the turnovers, if not negated with decent shooting and/or offensive rebounding, turn into scenarios where the Sixers are giving too many extra possessions to opponents. It’s absolutely killed them in earlier games against the Celtics and Raptors, and if they don’t limit that number, they’re gonna lose again in the second round.

Biggest positives

The Sixers starting five of Tobias Harris, Jimmy Butler, Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid, and JJ Redick is probably the best starting unit in the Eastern Conference. Add in some wing depth in James Ennis and Jonathon Simmons, and theoretically some of the issues with switching and defending on the perimeter should be alleviated.

You can’t say that Elton Brand is to blame for whatever disappointments might be on the horizon.

Biggest concerns

T.J. McConnell has defensive weaknesses as a backup point guard. JJ Redick is still being hunted by teams like Boston. Boban Marjanovic is a good backup big but might not be a great matchup against athletic and stretchy teams like Boston and Toronto. I don’t think the Sixers can afford to leave Jonah Bolden on the bench.

More than any of that, the Sixers have just looked inexplicably tight against some of the better squads in the east. They only had a couple of spurts in the Boston loss where they looked their free-flowing, basketball-sharing selves. They need to mentally get over the hump and play their best basketball against the NBA’s best teams. We saw it happen in Oakland, so we know it’s possible.

Rest

Yeah, the Knicks win didn’t mean much, but the Sixers don’t play well in back-to-back games, which is the theme for most squads. They improved to just 3-6 on zero days rest with last night’s win, with the other B2B wins coming against Charlotte and Phoenix. They went 0-6 on the second night of back-to-backs against Milwaukee, San Antonio, Toronto, Brooklyn, Memphis, and Washington.

For what it’s worth, there are only four more back-to-backs this season, but unfortunately Boston and Milwaukee show up on the second night in half of those scenarios.

On one day of rest, the Sixers are 25-8, so it’s a pretty big performance gap when they get that extra day vs. having to do a quick turnaround.

Random clip from my archives

I really liked this defensive series to close out the home game against the Spurs. Watch the defensive switching and communication here:

Corey Brewer and Wilson Chandler were in on that one. They are gone, but not forgotten.

But seriously, if they lock in defensively and figure it out down the stretch, they have the talent to beat anybody.

Storyline that we definitely don’t have to deal with anymore

Markelle Fultz.

Thankfully that’s over.

Markelle told us back in November that he was fine, when apparently he was not:

Are you 100% healthy or close to it? 

“For sure. I mean, nobody is ever 100% healthy in this game. You play five games in seven days and you get bumps and bruises. That’s life in the NBA. It’s the stuff you signed up for when you get here. But I’m working every day to get better.”

If only it had been that simple.

Storyline that we hopefully don’t have to deal with anymore

Jimmy Butler’s fit in the offense.

The Sixers are running more pick and roll as Jimmy finds his spots. He’s been deferential at times, sure, but we’re weeks removed from the “Butler vs. Brett Brown in the film session” thing and he’s playing pretty well while getting to the foul line, engaging on defense, and trying to settle into the system.

Plus, with the addition of Harris and Boban, it’s kind of taken the spotlight off of Butler and turned attention elsewhere. I think that’s helped put a damper on the “is he a good fit?” talking point, which has allowed him to just sort of go about his business and play his game.

Brett Brown

He’s a hands-off coach who would prefer to let his team get into a rhythm and a tempo, and that’s fine in theory, but he’s just got to help his guys to the finish line. He did a really nice job of that in the Golden State win by dialing up a combination of pick and roll, horns, and a couple of isolation sets to guide his team to a nine-point win.

Looking specifically to Boston and Toronto, he just needs to be super attentive to micro-level details, such as his second-half rotations and defensive vulnerabilities. How can he and Billy Lange help JJ Redick defensively? How many minutes can T.J. play in the postseason? Are Simmons and Ennis going to be switchable guys who solve your Celtics problem?

He’s got a lot on his plate moving forward, and the pressure is going to be immense, but the talent is definitely there for a run at the finals.