Joel Embiid: DNP – rest
Tobias Harris: DNP – health and safety protocols
Ben Simmons: DNP – whatever we’re calling it now
How many people do you think threw money on the Portland Trail Blazers once we learned that the Sixers’ three max players would all be missing on Monday night? Probably quite a few, and they all get burned. Doc Rivers’ team did more than cover the spread; they won the game OUTRIGHT, as Mike Missanelli would say. They won it by double digits against Damian Lillard and company, who made several runs to pull close, but just could not overtake the home team.
The Sixers looked great doing it, too. It wasn’t a fluky win at all. They got fantastic performances from free agent signings Andre Drummond and Georges Niang, who went for 14/15/7 and 21/5/5, respectively. Seth Curry poured in 23 points while a motivated Isaiah Joe and Paul Reed stepped in to contribute from deep off the bench. The Sixers had seven players in double digits and threw a ridiculous 34 assists, which is a season high.
“It was great,” Rivers said of the effort. “I was joking with Michael Rubin, I said ‘you only had $105 million not in the game tonight.’ So, it was just a good team effort. We went with some crazy lineups. A lot of small ball. (Andre Drummond) was fantastic in his role. It was one of those games where I thought every single guy did something to help us win the game. They kind of stayed within their roles. They understood what we needed. Getting to the paint. Creating plays. Portland is a much-improved defensive team. They’re up, they’re hedging, they’re physical, they show. And it challenges you to move the ball and I thought we did that tonight.”
They really did get something from everybody, and shot 51.8% from the floor in the process. This was the third game in a row that the Sixers shot better than 50% from the floor, with all three of those games taking place at the Wells Fargo Center. They’re 5-0 when scoring at least 110 points and their 49.2 field goal percentage is best in the NBA. They’re also 38.1% from three, which is fourth-best in the league. Curry, Niang, Danny Green (who later left the game), and Furkan Korkmaz each made three threes on the evening.
“Found out probably 45 minutes before the game (that Tobias Harris wouldn’t be playing),” said Curry afterward. “You get a little bit more opportunity, especially guys off the bench, a little more opportunity to play, but for me, I just approach it the same way, just try to be aggressive, attack when I have opportunities, that’s pretty much it just try not to put too much pressure on yourself and go out and play the same way.”
Curry hit a couple of big fourth quarter shots, including a late shot clock floater in the paint. He took four of the Sixers’ six final shots and hit three of them, scoring seven points in the process. That was especially important for a team missing its typical closers in Embiid and Harris.
And defensively the Sixers were active and engaged. Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum shot just 15-40 (37.5%) on the evening and 5-17 (29.4%) from three.
During a first-quarter trip to the foul line, the Philly crowd serenaded Dame with “we want Lillard” chants…
…and he gave what I thought was a perfect answer, when asked about it after the game:
The Blazers are 3-4 to begin the season and Lillard isn’t shooting the ball particularly well. That’s what you want if you’re holding out hope for a Simmons/Lillard trade. You want Portland to not be very good, to the point where they think about blowing it up with a new head coach and getting back assets instead. You want Lillard to want out, but in going through his quotes, it seems like he’s just keeping it straight and talking about how to get himself going this year.
“I did the same offseason work,” Lillard said. “I trained a lot. I played during the summer, I played in the Olympics. Before the Olympics, I was training at home and then I came back from my honeymoon and I was training and I was working. I actually feel like I came into this season in better shape than last season, so it’s not a physical thing. I was ready physically and mentally. It’s just a shooting slump – I’m just not shooting the ball well. Like I said, if I was playing bad then I would be like, ‘Man what’s going on?’ When I’m watching these games I’m playing well, I’m encouraged by how I’m playing. Now, if only I could be making shots, you know, that’s what I’m thinking to myself, but I mean just to answer your question, man, I have no excuses.”