Sixers Need to Correct the Volume Imbalance in Game 5
If you’re looking for a silver lining after the Sixers’ Game 4 loss in Atlanta, consider the fact that the Hawks shot 16 more field goals on the evening and won by just three points.
It’s one of the largest volume discrepancies this team has endured in a long time, and it played a big role in allowing Nate McMillan’s group to come back and level the series.
On the night, Atlanta committed just four turnovers and grabbed 12 offensive rebounds. The Sixers coughed it up 12 times and only snagged eight offensive boards, so when you put all of those numbers in the figurative blender, Atlanta ends up with a smoothie that’s filled to the brim while the Sixers are drinking from a half-full plastic cup. There’s just less to consume.
“Yeah give them credit,” said Doc Rivers on Tuesday evening, after the Sixers’ film session. “It’s funny, they shot what, 36%? So it’s not like our defense was bad, but our defense was not good either. Deflections, I think one of our goals is around 40 (per game). We had 18. We had zero in the fourth quarter. There were a lot of signs in that game to prove to us that we have to be a better version of ourselves.”
It’s true. There were a lot of peripheral areas in Game 4 that the Sixers typically win but did not win on Monday night.
Consider:
- the Sixers shot 86.9 field goals per game in the regular season
- they were tied for first with 9.1 steals per game
- they were a top-half offensive rebounding team
- they were second in blocks
- they were 6th in the league at creating points off turnovers
- they had the 14th-best defensive rebounding percentage
All of that has been good enough this season to create a scenario where other teams really are not able to out-volume the Sixers with regularity. The -16 FGA discrepancy you saw in Game 4 was a massive outlier and won’t happen again in the postseason if Rivers’ team plays anything close to the basketball of Games 1-3, plus the Washington series. They are so much better when they are forcing turnovers, getting out in transition, and creating imbalance by stacking wins in these auxiliary statistical categories.
Game 5 tonight, at home. Should be a banger.