Charlotte hit a backdoor push on Wednesday night, so that was annoying if you had the Sixers at -7 in a game that looked like it was going to be a blowout.

It was a clunky finish for Doc Rivers’ team, but a good win nonetheless. The Sixers went 3-0 on the road trip, swept the season series against the Hornets, and have now ripped off 14 straight wins against Charlotte, which is somewhat crazy when you think about it. The contemporary Hornets are not exactly the 1996 Chicago Bulls, but good teams dispatch lesser ones while taking care of business, as Randy Bachman once sang.

Most importantly, the Sixers’ starting lineup is now 12-0 on the season. Joel Embiid continues to dominate, Tobias Harris looks like an All-Star, and Ben Simmons doesn’t have to be scoring threat 1B, because other guys are doing the job. He’s contributing across the board, in other areas.

“That stretch in the first quarter was as good as we can play defense,” Rivers said after the game. “It’s not like they were missing shots; there just were not a lot of shots to be had. Even the shots they took, for the most part, they had a hand in the face, contested, late clock, and that’s not how they want to play. They want to get up and down the floor. And the fact that we didn’t allow them to do that was pretty cool.”

Charlotte only scored 42 first half points. They committed three shot clock violations that I counted and at one point the Sixers were up by 20+ points, though they took their foot off the gas in the fourth quarter and had to play the starters some extra minutes on the front-end of a back-to-back.

“I think they came out with far more energy than we did early on. I thought our defense kind of dispirited them,” Rivers added. “My guess is they went in at half time and said ‘hey let’s keep playing’ and they came out of halftime with some great energy. More energy than us, which was clear. Then they started making some shots and getting some confidence.”

Tobias Harris, All-Star candidate?

26 points for Tobias Harris on 8-15 shooting. He went 9-9 from the foul line. He’s now gone over 20 points in four of his last five games.

It’s the Harris we saw in Los Angeles, who was much more assertive and automatic than the Tobias we saw in Brett Brown’s system, playing last year specifically as a small forward.

“He’s gotten back to the way we used to have him in LA, with quick decisions, straight line, decisive basketball,” Rivers said. “When he’s a decisive player, he’s really good. When he gets himself in those indecisive moments you can literally see it, where he’s hesitating with the ball, dancing with the ball, and that’s not him. But when he’s quick and decisive and goes downhill with the power that he has, he’s a force. He’s been doing that.”

Harris even threw in something that I’ve never seen from him, which was a Euro Step on a drive to the basket, and-1:

This is so good. Honest to God.

It doesn’t look like much when it’s happening, but Harris is making a zipper cut (low to high) to receive the ball. He runs a 4/5 pick and roll with Joel Embiid, gets the slow Cody Zeller to switch on to him, and then he skirts Miles Bridges, which cushions himself into the clumsy center bumping into him from behind. It’s incredibly smooth, and Harris said after the game he didn’t even know he had it in him:

“With the size I have, you have to be a good finisher to be able to score over bigger guys in the paint. Just getting downhill and making the best decisions that are there. I’m a guy that when I come off pick and rolls, I’m looking at pull-up jumpers, but if I see space and light it’s about getting downhill. The next step is to start drawing more and more fouls when I get down there, with contact. I’m always watching and seeing ways I can grow. That euro step, I was watching a bunch of highlights of different guys getting downhill and saw that, and I was like ‘man, I gotta get that in my game, that Euro.’ It just came out today and I was like ‘oh shit, I did that!” 

For real though, it’s a great sign. Not only is Tobias getting downhill, but he’s learning how to meet that contact. Oftentimes he’d get his shot blocked at the rim, more than any other Sixer, but this season you’ve seen more of that decisiveness and finesse in the paint, combined with the automatic decision making.

Seth Curry, not himself yet

Seth Curry missed a bunch of games due to COVID-19 and he still looks off, doesn’t he? He didn’t make a shot last night.

To start the season, he scored double-digit points in six of his eight games, then had to miss time after pouring in a season-high 28 points in the Washington win.

When he came back two weeks later, he scored 15 and 14 in the Boston and Detroit games, but has only scored 40 points in the last five games. He’s only 10 for 35 from three in that time frame.

He said this earlier in the week, at Tuesday’s practice:

“It’s been tough. Little nagging injuries here and there, I’ve been banged up a little bit. Some of the big remnants are also just trying to get my energy all the way back. Some days I feel good; some days I’m just sluggish, and it’s like I got to take a nap all day so it’s weird, but I’m grateful to be able to get up and get on the court every day and play.”

He’ll be back to normal eventually. No worries. In the meantime, his teammates are taking care of business, every day. They’ve been taking care of business, every way. They’ve been taking care of business and working overtime.