One of the things you heard when Elton Brand restructured the Sixers summer was that his new-look team was built to beat the Milwaukee Bucks.

And why not? If Giannis and company were your biggest Eastern Conference threat, then assemble a gargantuan and athletic team with multiple guys who are capable of defending the league MVP and making the shooters around him uncomfortable at the same time. On paper it made a lot of sense.

We finally got to see this concept transfer from “paper” to actuality on the basketball court, and it played out pretty much the way a lot of people thought it would on the Sixers’ home court, with Brett Brown’s team getting themselves up for a national television de facto referendum game and putting forth the type of effort and intensity that only shows itself every so often. The defense was superb, the shots were falling, the pace was pushed, and guys were diving on the ground for loose balls and steals.

They walked into the tunnel with a 21-point half-time lead, receiving one the biggest pops from the crowd I’ve heard this season. And they continued to pile it on before hitting a fourth-quarter snag in which Milwaukee sat in zone and clawed their back a bit before Philly eventually closed it out.

So we sit here on Boxing Day with a 23-10 Sixers squad that has passed every test given so far. They’ve beaten Milwaukee, Boston, Toronto, Miami, and Indy, which are the other five teams comprising the top-six of the Eastern Conference. This squad has proven it can play with anybody, they just need to do it night-in and night-out and handle the NBA’s lesser squads on the road, which is what Brett Brown is alluding to here:

I think this team is designed for the playoffs. I believe that the road that we have traveled so far has been a little bit erratic at times, but I think the landing spot is exciting. Can we keep the boys in the boat, continue to develop, improve, execute and stay healthy; I can feel this. In my world, we’ve just ended the first third of the season… To date, I like what I’ve seen against the best teams.

Agree, they’ve done well against the best of what the East has to offer. If the Sixers play like they did Wednesday, then they’re gonna start rolling over teams left and right. Big ‘if,’ but you see how nasty this team is when they’re clicking.

Joel Embiid (and Al Horford) vs. Giannis

8-27 from the floor and 0-7 from three for Giannis Antetokounmpo, resulting in just 18 points. That’s the third-fewest points he’s scored this season, the result of a stellar combo effort from Joel Embiid and Al Horford.

Interestingly enough, five of Embiid and Giannis’ first nine combined shots were three pointers. I thought we might see more of the 1v1 paint matchup we saw last season, but that didn’t materialize until a bit later because Milwaukee opened with Giannis defending Ben Simmons while Brook Lopez took Embiid instead.

NBA matchup data reveals that Giannis shot 1-9 against Embiid and 3-7 against Horford on the afternoon, a combined 4-16. Six of those shots were three pointers, which did not go in. Philly was content to let Giannis try his luck from deep, which worked in their favor and was a big reason why he only got to the foul line four times.

“I was just doing my best to stay in front of him,” said Embiid of Giannis. “He’s just so gifted, he’s fast and he’s extremely athletic. I was just using my length as much as I could.”

He did a great job of inviting Giannis in and then contesting at the right moments, which resulted in him only picking up three fouls through the first three quarters, which I thought were a little questionable:

  • First foul: bit of movement from both guys, but I thought Embiid’s arms were straight up in the arm
  • Second foul: I think the refs saw contact with the left arm and whistled Embiid before the shot went up.
  • Third foul: this was the matador act, where Giannis looked like he was barely touched and went to the ground anyway

Fouls four and five were picked up about a minute apart in the fourth quarter, which forced Embiid to the bench with the Sixers up 17. He stayed there until about the 2:30 mark, which left Horford to handle Giannis, and he did a great job doing it. That’s why you brought him in, for moments when Embiid needs to sit or rest, and you saw how Milwaukee wasn’t really able to take advantage of Embiid being off the floor. You can stagger and structure your lineups in creative ways that don’t require matching Joel’s minutes to Giannis.

I also thought the Greek Freak was a little off in general. There was a sequence in the second quarter when he had Mike Scott 1v1 and decided not to take him. I think 99 times out of a hundred he’s driving to the rack, so that was odd to see. Later in the fourth quarter, he got poked in the eye, stayed down for a while, and then was whistled for a technical foul after having a go at the refs for not calling a foul. That also seemed out of character.

But yeah, big boy basketball out there. It felt like a privilege to be 10 feet away from this:

Zone defense

The Bucks went to zone around 4:30 in the third quarter and stayed in it for the rest of the game I believe. Maybe they came out of it for a possession or two but I thought I saw them zone it up for the majority of the fourth.

The Sixers actually started very well against it, hitting four three pointers on the first five of those possessions, one of which was Furkan Korkmaz drawing a foul on Giannis in the process:

Furkan had a fantastic game, finishing with 16 points as a +20 on the day.

“I felt like we got decent looks,” said Brett Brown of Milwaukee’s zone. “I think Furkan came in and bailed us out a little bit. I’ll go back and look at it. I think we got decent looks, I think we’ve been trying to pick and roll the zone a lot, instead of going stagnant and dumping it into holes.”

And he wasn’t surprised that Mike Budenholzeer stuck with the zone despite the Sixers hitting their shots early against the defensive look.

“Especially when you’re going into the fourth period with the lead we had, it’s kind of like all bets are off and what else are they going to do?” he added. “It didn’t surprise us, and how we handled it I thought was okay. That drought we went on, I think there was a 12-0 run and then Furk comes in and makes the three, we’ll look at that. I thought, by and large, we did okay. I look forward to seeing if I’m right.”

Bombs away

The Sixers hit 21 three-pointers, which according to the PR staff ties the franchise record previously set on January 15th of his year against Minnesota. 21-44 is a 47.7% mark, which is amazing and not sustainable.

The intriguing thing is that the Sixers are the 5th best three-point shooting team out there, with a 36.8% mark on the season. But they only shoot 30.2 threes a game, which is 26th overall, way down towards the bottom with the Spurs and Pacers.

That would tell you that the Sixers should… take more three pointers, but this is also a very good ‘points in the paint’ team and can post up against anybody with the size mismatches that are created one-through-five. It’s something to keep an eye on, how the Sixers approach this disparity and whether or not it changes moving forward. It’s a great problem to have, since there are theoretically multiple ways for them to score; the issue is just finding the right balance, one that maximizes the efficiency between two point and three point attempts.

The general manager on Ben Simmons

Simmons had a 15/7/14 game, one of those performances where he’s pushing the pace, assisting teammates and playing elite defense. Eight of his ten shots came right at the rim.

Before the game, Elton Brand spoke to reporters, and he was asked straight up if he thinks Embiid can succeed in the playoffs with a non-shooting Simmons:

Brand: Ben’s gonna do more than his fair share defensively, passing the ball, 17 assists (in Detroit). And we can be creative. But I think he’s gonna unlock some things with his spacing and we’re gonna put him in places on the court that Joel and the rest of the team can be be successful. It’s a not a concern, but it’s a good question.

Follow up: Is it frustrating? He doesn’t seem to space all that much, and if it’s the regular season, wouldn’t seem like that’s the time to work on that, for the playoffs?

Brand: It’s a great point; if it’s not gonna happen in the regular season, it’s the time to work on it. It won’t happen later on in the season or in the playoffs but it’s a work in progress, which I’ve probably said five times already, but it’s true. Once he gains the confidence and realizes it’s a high-percentage play for the team and for us, maybe not that game, but 10 games down the line, 20 games down the line, we’ll be fine. He’ll be fine.

Go figure, the Sixers clobbered the NBA’s best team in a game where Ben took the fewest shots of anybody in the starting unit. He didn’t need to shoot from distance.

Brand’s quote made it sound like it’s not a huge deal to the coaching staff and front office, or at least that they don’t think it’s gonna happen yet, the shooting and spacing. For what it’s worth, Ben hasn’t tried a three-pointer since the Cavs game, which is when Brett Brown said he’d like to see one attempt per game from him. You’ll see a three show up on his Denver log, but that was a 48-foot heave at the buzzer.

I think with Ben and the shot, I’m more interested in how teams plan for a seven game playoff series, vs. one game in December, but this time out he was fantastic doing what he typically does against a great Bucks squad.

Other notes:

  • Ron Brooks sang the anthem, but the audio wasn’t working for the first 25 or so seconds of the song, so the crowd jumped in to help out. They got the mic turned on and he finished strong.
  • John Kruk rang the bell.
  • Pretty sure I watched Robin Lopez shoot three pointers on consecutive possessions. They did not go in.
  • Pat Connaughton looks a little bit like Colby Covington.
  • James Ennis recorded his “one offensive rebound per game that he has no business getting” at 11:37 in the 4th quarter
  • 22 points for Tobias Harris, 5-7 from three. He continues to cook in December.
  • Only seven turnovers yesterday, leading to a 101-96 field goal disparity. That’s a lot of shots for basketball game. Furious pace at times in this one.
  • Horford is second on the team in assists. He’s a sneaky-good passer.
  • The Sixers are now 18-14 all time on Christmas Day.

I hope everybody had a fantastic Christmas. Here’s my second-favorite scene from Christmas Vacation:

Merry Christmas! Shitter was full!