Congratulations if you watched that game. You witnessed one of the best Sixers performances of the last 15 years.

Not only did Brett Brown’s team shoot the lights out, but they played a defense that was more than smothering. Maybe it was suffocating defense, but that doesn’t even seem like a strong enough word. Asphyxiating? That feels more appropriate. The Sixers basically just cut off Miami’s air supply on the defensive end.

If Friday night was a professional win, then this was a “fuck off” type of win for the Sixers, who started the game with the pedal down and left it there throughout. They scored early and often and seemed locked-in from the jump, playing with the same juice that we saw in the fourth quarter of the Knicks game.

After this one, I asked Brett Brown if he was more impressed with offensive performance or the defensive performance, and he said this:

I liked the defensive performance. It was educated on what we tried to get done. They’re just an incredibly dangerous scoring team with the three-point shot. I thought we tried to do some things defensively related to that and I believe we followed a game plan. When you can have an energy and game plan collide, you have a chance to defend, to really have a special defensive night. And I felt like we did some of those things.

Miami came into this game shooting 38.6% from three, which was third-best in the NBA. They finished 6-24 this time out, a piddly 25% as the Sixers really hounded them on the perimeter and made life difficult.

It’s Jimmy

Jimmy Butler finished with 11 points on 4-13 shooting and logged a -31 on the night.

He was booed loudly during introductions and every time he touched the ball thereafter, which made it sound a playoff game inside the Wells Fargo Center.

Ben Simmons was glued to him for most of the night, which brought us this exchange after the game:

Marc Narducci, Philadelphia Inquirer: “You had to guard Jimmy a lot, how do you think that fared for you?”

Simmons: “I think it went well, if you look at the stats.”

That’s true. It went well for Simmons, who again looked like an elite defender out there.

He offered more on what was working defensively on the night:

“I think we all stepped up. We knew we were going to face a tough Miami team and we stayed on them all game. We’ve had too many games where we waited too late, until the 4th and 3rd quarters, but I think this game we showed throughout the whole game that we could hold that (effort and intensity).”

This is a good point. We’ve seen this out of the Sixers this year, but not for the entirety of a contest. When they’re locked in like they were Saturday night, it’s going to be incredibly difficult for other teams to get clean looks against them.

As for Jimmy, he didn’t have much to say post game, offering up this:

He declined to talk about why he ended up in Miami instead of signing a long-term deal with the Sixers, saying “that’s something in the past, I’ll leave it there.”

Hands in passing lanes

Take your pick of defensive plays to show on the highlight reel.

I really liked this one:

That’s just great “feel” for the game from Josh Richardson. He knows Butler has dribbled himself into a corner, so he tracks his man to the perimeter and throws a hand into the passing lane while not even looking. That leads to a transition break out, a couple of bang-bang passes, and then an open Joel Embiid for a clean trailing three.

They were doing stuff like this all night long, just funneling Heat players into tough areas and staying one step ahead defensively.

Welcome media

It was a shit show down at the arena because the Flyers game went to overtime.

That resulted in this entertaining juxtaposition:

It was a warm welcome.

Quotes du jour

I honestly don’t have a lot of other things to talk about. They straight-up blasted Miami.

But we got some good quotes after the game, so I’ll drop some of the more intriguing ones here:

Brett Brown, on Joel Embiid navigating double teams:

We’ve spent a lot of time on floor spots and we’ve cleaned some things up too, some of that is on me. I feel like he knows now, his outlets, when he wants to quarterback a gym and he understands and we can help him (know) where the double teams are coming from. Here’s option 1 and option 2. Your first option is score, but in the event that you’re double teamed, there it is. We found those spots quickly and made shots from those spots, which is always rewarding for him. I think we’re doing a better job of doing that.

Ben Simmons, also on that:

He’s getting a lot better. Since I’ve been playing with him, he’s definitely improved a lot in that area, reading when the guy comes and help, and then making the right play.

Brown, on the turnover situation improving:

I think the number’s gonna be inflated with some of the things that happened at the end (of the game). I felt like when it was three or four minutes into the fourth, when you look at that body of work, it was acceptable. We don’t want to lead the country, be #1 in the NBA in turnovers. The way we play fast, you’re gonna get some. I feel like we’ve talked about it, we understand it’s part of our pre-mortem, if we look down the road, how are we gonna feel pain? It’s from that area. We want to fix it and I think lately the last few games we have.

Josh Richardson, on getting the starting five out on the floor together:

I think I saw our chemistry get better. For instance, me and Tobias had a little back and forth, not bad, but it was one of those things where I was screaming at him for the ball, to get into a mismatch, but he didn’t understand it, then we explained it, but it didn’t escalate. We fist bumped and kept it going, and I saw a few other instances like that. I think when you can go at your teammates like that and come out of it positively, I think that’s a good step forward.

Good to hear stuff like that. That wasn’t exactly the case with Jimmy Butler last year.

Other notes

  • This was the 100th straight sell out for the Sixers.
  • The media dinner was pulled pork, chipotle mac and cheese, and brussels sprouts.
  • This might be a boomer take, but I’m over the Frosty Freeze Out. A frosty costs something like 99 cents. Just go buy one at Wendy’s. I bet 90% of the people in attendance don’t even cash in on the free frosty anyway.

Anyway, I titled the story “Overkill” as an excuse to drop an all-time Motorhead banger at the end: