[the_ad id=”97525″]

You thought it might be one of “those nights” when the Sixers opened with three turnovers in their first five possessions.

But it wasn’t. It wasn’t one of those nights. They put together a nice and comprehensive home win that featured good energy from the start and competitiveness throughout. They staved off a late Spurs run after Gregg Popovich went with the “Hack-a-Ben Simmons” routine and re-opened a double-digit lead on the strength of a couple of Furkan Korkmaz three pointers.

Great offensive performance for the Sixers, who rode a combined 36-65 shooting night from their starters (55.4%). Simmons was the only member of that group to hit below 50% on the evening, and he finished with a 10/10/13 triple-double anyway.

This is what balance looks like:
  • Joel Embiid: 9-13 (w/ 14 rebounds)
  • Al Horford: 8-14 (added 6 rebounds and 6 assists)
  • Furkan Korkmaz: 6-12 (4-7 from three)
  • Tobias Harris: 10-16 (3-5 from three, 4 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocked shots)
  • Ben Simmons: 3-10 (triple double)

Throw in a 5-6 night from James Ennis off the bench and that’s how you share the burden in a rather business-like win.

Mid-range-adelphia

26 three pointers is a low number for the Sixers, who have averaged 30 per game this year.

And it’s a low NBA number as well. If Philadelphia shot only 26 threes per game, they’d be 29th in the league in attempts, ahead of only.. the Spurs, who shoot 25 threes each night.

But it’s not a bad number for this team in November, since their strength right now is getting to the rim and just punishing teams down low. They scored 44 points in the paint on Friday night and did a lot of damage in the first three quarters from mid-range, which we’ve all been conditioned to think is a terrible place to shoot the basketball from.

In the chart below, there are quite a few green circles in mid-range areas:

Analytics people don’t like those shots because they’re not very efficient, i.e. why shoot a 21 footer worth two-points when you can take a step back and shoot a basket worth three instead? It’s very trendy to bash the mid-range shot these days, but between Al Horford and Joel Embiid specifically, the Sixers do have guys who can knock down stuff in that 10-14 foot range at a relatively high clip, which they were doing last night.

Said Horford:

We got some good looks, but honestly coach put a lot of emphasis on us getting to the basket. He wanted us to attack a little more. We had some good looks at the three, but we have a lot of guys that are capable of scoring in the mid-range and I myself feel comfortable doing that. If I have those shots I’ll take them. I understand the analytic world and we want to get layups and open threes.

They do, for sure, and Horford noted that Furkan Korkmaz hit a couple of big threes at the end to close out the game, but I think we all realize that the previous philosophy of “pace and space” has to change a little bit to incorporate the “smash mouth, bully ball” style that Brett Brown talked about at the start of the year.

Let me give you a different overlay then, this the same shot chart from above, but with Horford and Embiid attempts only:

On a 17-27 night the pair went 12-14 from mid-range, including one look that was an attempted three pointer where Horford’s foot was on the line. That might seem like a lot of low-efficiency shooting from your starting center and power forward, and maybe it’s not sustainable, but when the “point guard” and small forward can get to the rim at will, then you’re okay with a funky-looking shot profile from your bigs. The mid-range really seemed to get the Sixers going on Friday night and loosen things up offensively.

Hack-a-Simmons

Gregg Popovich fouled Ben Simmons three times last night in the fourth quarter, a stretch in which Ben went 3-6.

He finished 4-8 from the line and is shooting 57.9% from there this season, which is down from the 60% he shot in his sophomore year.

Said Brett Brown:

I see him growing completely from a leadership perspective as much as what we might see in the game. They went out and they started fouling him, he missed his first few and I didn’t blink either. He went to the line and I was prepared to live with that. To his credit, he started making some after that first wave.

Brown has always left Simmons in the game when other teams start their intentional fouling routine. Ben actually started 1-4 last night when this began, but then hit the final pair of free throws, which extended the Sixer lead to 103-95. I still think he needs to get his percentage up, and he needs to get to the line more in general, but he got the job done last night in the fourth quarter.

“Load management, that’s some BS”

This quote from Joel Embiid about playing Saturday night will probably get some play:

Seems like Joel flip flops with his stance on load management depending on who’s listening.

At the end of last season he said he’d be open to a different approach, whether it’s managing his minutes earlier in the season or skipping some back-to-backs. To his credit, however, he’s been consistent in saying that he doesn’t like missing games because he feels like it puts the burden on his teammates to go out and win without him.

Other notes

  • The Sixers have been showing a little bit of 1-3-1 zone coming out of timeouts, nice little wrinkle this season.
  • Malcolm Jenkins was in the house, sitting next to Michael Rubin. John McNesby was not with them.
  • Ben Simmons flopped on a play where DeMar DeRozan was called for a foul. DeRozan was pretty annoyed with it and had to be calmed down by teammates.
  • Simmons only took one jumper, which was a tough fadeaway in the paint that didn’t fall. No three-point attempts.
  • 13 offensive boards and (a reasonable) 15 turnovers helped the Sixers to a 89-85 shot advantage
  • 17 fast break points and 16 second change points = solid numbers that this team is capable of posting almost every night

Final word to Pop:

Happy Saturday.