It wasn’t the best performance of all time, but you’ll take that win.

You’ll take that win any day of the week, considering that your best player was on the shelf while the rest of the squad hadn’t been on the floor together since last Tuesday. We know from last year’s playoff series that Miami is just one of those pain in the ass teams that isn’t gonna roll over and give you anything easy, and while they’re certainly not as talented as the Sixers, they did a nice job keeping it close, deep into the “guts of the game,” as Marc Zumoff would say.

The difference was a couple of 4th quarter runs, one an 8-0 stretch that pulled the Sixers in front at the five minute mark, then a 6-0 run comprising 90 of the game’s final 120 seconds. A trio of Boban Marjanovic free throws and a JJ Redick dagger three were good enough to secure the win.

JJ didn’t have a great shooting night, but it was a balanced output across the board from the other four starters. Tobias Harris led the Sixers with 23 points, Boban added 19, Jimmy Butler contributed 18, and Ben Simmons put up 21 while carrying his team through a sluggish third quarter.

Throw in a couple of positive bursts from T.J. McConnell off the bench, and it was good enough for a four-point home win coming out of the All-Star break.

Boban

I found it slightly amusing that, on Australian Heritage Night in South Philadelphia, it was the 7’3″ Serbian player who stole the show.

Obviously the big topic going into this one was determining how many minutes Boban can feasibly give you, considering that he’s been a 10-14 type of player for most of his career. They got 27 out of him last night and he finished with 19 points and 12 rebounds, 11 and 7 of which came in the first quarter alone.

Here’s Brett Brown on Boban’s game:

Well, initially, I was always curious about his conditioning. Is he going to be able to sustain whatever period of minutes that I was giving him? I think I said pregame, I hope I’m going more like five-minute clumps, six-minute clumps, I’m not worried about if it ends up thirty minutes, but I am the duration. He kept telling me he was fine and the game spun out in that first period and he was really good. Then, the game left, I think a little bit where it went probably a minute and a half longer than I had hoped, but in general, I thought that he was really good. There were times that you knew the matchup was unfavorable and so we got him out. Then, at the end we tried to use a foul, because we had one, to get him back in and have some level of rim protection. I thought, in general, he was very good and he was our bell-ringer tonight.

Yeah, the “clumps” thing is interesting, because in theory you’re wondering how many consecutive possessions a 7’3″ guy can really handle. You don’t want him running up and down the floor at length.

I went through the play-by-play log to pick out those clumps:

  • first shift: start of the game to 3:34 in the first quarter
  • second shift: 8:08 in the second quarter to to 2:13 in the second quarter
  • third shift: start of the third quarter to 5:05 in the third quarter
  • fourth shift: start of the fourth quarter to 9:18
  • fifth shift: 3:39 in the fourth to 0:32 in the fourth

So a couple of longer shifts to start, 8.5 minutes and 6 minutes respectively, then Brett used him in smaller bursts in the second half as Miami adjusted their lineups a bit. Jonah Bolden played 14:44 off the bench and looked… not great, but to be fair, dude has been glued to the pine and hasn’t seen the floor in two weeks anyway. This was more of a Boban matchup anyway, with noted slug Hassan Whiteside in the starting lineup and Bam Adebayo coming off the bench. I thought stretchy Kelly Olynyk might be a problem, but he didn’t too much damage.

Boban was not on the floor, however, when the Sixers went small during the 8-0 run with a lineup of McConnell, Redick, Butler, Harris, and B. Simmons. When he did return, he hit some clutch free throws, finishing 7-10 from the foul line and 5-6 from the floor.

One of the things I mentioned about Boban when doing that brief evaluation of his game after the trade, is that he’s sort of an underrated passer. Yes, he did have five turnovers last night, but when you get him out on the elbow or the perimeter, he’s so damn tall that he can throw these really nifty backdoor and half-lobs by simply looping the ball over an opponent’s head.

Case in point:

Blown layup, but wonderful pass.

Whiteside is 7’0″ and Boban is just dropping the ball over his head to a cutting Jimmy Butler. It’s interesting from a system standpoint as well, because Boban is able to throw those passes off a DHO, which is a staple of Brett’s offense. If he continues to grow that part of the game, I could see him running very similar elbow and stagger sets, the same stuff that Embiid and Redick run with a high level of success. This time you add a cutting wrinkle to it, and now you’ve got another action to think about if you’re a defender.

Another pass I loved:

Great cut from Butler, super clever screen from Harris, and Boban has the wherewithal to just bounce that pass right into the lane for the easy bucket.

After the game, I polled Sixers fans.

Is Boban a Philly guy? There’s still time to vote:

I also thought this was a great stat from ESPN, via Elias:

Boban Marjanovic reached 1,000 career points in 1,574 minutes of playing time. From , that’s the 2nd-fewest minutes needed to reach 1,000 career points among active players. Only Joel Embiid reached the mark in fewer minutes (1,271).

Pretty efficient.

T.J. McConnell

I go back and forth with T.J. Sometimes I love him as an energy guy off the bench who just picks up the team and helps string together a couple of spirit plays – steals, lobs, defensive hustle, etc. Other times he’s a matchup liability who makes you question his value on a playoff-bound team. How many effective postseason minutes can he really give you?

Last night was the former. He just provided this team with so much “pop,” an incredibly efficient 6 points, 2 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 steals in just 11 minutes of play. T.J. was the catalyst for the late run, a +8 off the bench in that small lineup I mentioned above.

This was a precursor to the 8-0 run, just two possessions prior:

A savvy steal, on a 16-year veteran no less.

Strange case, T.J. McConnell. I’m in the camp of people who thinks he can be effective in limited playoff minutes, but in a game like last night, he probably should have played more than the 11 he received.

Said Brown:

“I think it’s another reminder for all of us, how he can come in, and without significant minutes, just change a game’s tempo. He did that. I thought he was excellent as far as putting his own thumb print (on the game) with not a lot of time, especially in the fourth.”

Yep.

Tobias Harris

That left side high was his sweet spot last night.

Look at the chart:

He was 8-15 overall, and 3-7 from deep, with every make coming just 3-4 feet apart.

Interestingly enough, he actually shoots fewer three pointers from the left side, but hits at a higher percentage over there. Here’s his seasonal shot chart:

Left side three: 34-73, 46.6% vs. a league average of 35.1%.

Middle three: 20-53, 37.7% vs. a league average of 34%.

Right side: 44-108, 40.7% vs. a league average of 35.1%.

Something to keep an eye on going forward. Embiid I think is more effective when trailing and starting from the left side slot/elbow, and if that’s the case, Harris begins on the weakside in the opposite corner. I need to look more at that when Joel returns.

Other notes:

  • I loved the wink from D Wade to Harris after he got him off the ground and earned the foul on his very first offensive possession
  • This team still can’t defend Wade, for whatever reason. Luckily he’s headed out the door and into retirement.
  • 25-35 from the line isn’t great. That’s 71.4%. There was a point where the Sixers missed three in a row at one point in the 2nd quarter and were shooting 60%. They got better down the stretch in this area.
  • The rotation felt out of whack a bit in the second quarter or third quarter, I can’t remember off the top of my head, but Butler and Harris were sitting for what felt like an eternity. Brown had a lineup on the floor of Ben Simmons, Jonathon Simmons, James Ennis, Mike Scott and Jonah Bolden. He’s tinkering, he’s experimenting, I get it, but sooner rather than later I’d like to see him starting gearing this thing towards a playoff-style rotation.
  • Hassan Whiteside – I don’t get it. Guy always looks utterly pedestrian whenever he plays against the Sixers.
  • Hell of a defensive close-out by Justise Winslow on the Redick dagger 3, even better side step and release from JJ.