Sixers

Sixers Lose a Winnable Game, Fans and Media Question Doc Rivers’ Lineups

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Feb 9th, 2022 · 9:58 AM EST

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Let’s take a quick break from talking about the nonstop James Harden/Ben Simmons stuff to talk about actual basketball. The actual product on the floor.

The Sixers lost a close one to a better team on Tuesday night, falling 114-109 to the Phoenix Suns at the Wells Fargo Center. They had a double-digit lead at one point, but Phoenix is really damn good and obviously wasn’t going to roll over. They executed down the stretch and made some really solid plays in crunch time. Philly turned the ball over 14 times en route to 27 Phoenix points while giving up 17 second chance points as rebounding continues to be an issue.

Two plays I think pretty much summed up the game, the first one being this:

This is great defense from the Ayton on Embiid, first with the denial and then on the contest of the shot. The Sixers just burn so much time trying to get it to him. Go play on the second side and run a cross screen for him. Just do something different. pic.twitter.com/DbI8EYSci1

— Mo Dakhil (@MoDakhil_NBA) February 9, 2022

Three point game with just under a minute remaining. Strong denial there from Ayton runs some time off the shot clock and then when Joel Embiid does gain possession, he steps back into a three pointer that doesn’t even hit the rim. Without a true perimeter creator on the roster, these are the kinds of offensive possessions you sometimes end up with while trying to close a game.

That segued into this on the other end:

This a yes, oh no play. This one is going to sting. pic.twitter.com/jITbDZBQyq

— Mo Dakhil (@MoDakhil_NBA) February 9, 2022

That’s such an impressive defensive play from Embiid. You switch onto Chris Paul of all people, and then poke the ball free on the perimeter. That’s a seven footer doing that, only he can’t connect with Seth Curry on that pass, when they really should have just slowed it down and took their time. There really wasn’t any need to move up the court with any urgency right there.

“You can’t turn the ball over in the fourth quarter in general,” Tobias Harris said. “But, nonetheless, a lot of plays added to the reason why we weren’t able to win tonight’s game. So, we’ve gotta figure out ways to be a little more organized in the fourth. They went zone and it kind of impacted us and got us away from getting good looks that we were getting throughout the game. And then defensively, it was too many offensive rebounds for them. Got them extra possessions and extra shots. I think that was the main key to the game that just kind of went overboard for us. So, all of those plays matter. Every single one of them. A turnover in the first quarter matters just as much as the fourth.”

That’s typically where games are won and lost. One squad executes better down the stretch and finishes plays, and the other does not. Phoenix also showed some zone in the second half, which opposing teams are oftentimes doing now, and things always get a little funky as the Sixers swing the ball around the perimeter in lieu of getting their big on the nail and attacking the soft spots. There are too many zone possessions where the Sixers seem content to just pass/pass/pass without true penetration, be it tossing the ball inside or hitting those angled screens with force.

“We made a few adjustments on defense just to go to the zone,” said Suns head coach Monty Williams. “Kind of take them out of the post-ups with Jo. Whether or not that won us the game it’s hard to say but it did give us a chance to break his rhythm a little bit. Nobody’s been able to stop him, and (Deandre Ayton) did about as good of a job as anybody. And then our team’s defense around him was good but we tried to change up our coverages a little bit just to give him a different look. But again, I thought it was just the heart and stamina of our team, off of a back-to-back like you know I can’t say most teams, but some teams will be down 14 on a back-to-back and can’t make a shot, it can weigh on you as far as your mentality, your energy, your confidence and I didn’t see that from our group.”  

The big complaint on social media, however, was Doc’s lineup choices. It always seems to be the main talking point when it comes to his coaching. They didn’t lose the game because of Doc’s rotations, but he ran out a second half lineup of Danny Green, Furkan Korkmaz, Georges Niang, Matisse Thybulle, and Andre Drummond, which shouldn’t have to ever be a thing, unless it’s a true emergency. I know Doc is short a guard with Shake Milton not being available, and the Simmons nonsense lingers, but he’s just shown this overall aversion to staggering since he’s been here. It’s the dreaded “all bench” lineup, right? Sure, he’ll throw Tobias Harris into those bench squads, but when Joel Embiid is off the floor, there’s no reason why Tyrese Maxey can’t be staggered into those 3rd and 4th quarter second units to run things. And when you go back over this box score, Chris Paul, who is as old as I am, is playing 42 minutes on the second night of a back-to-back while young Maxey is only getting 34 minutes.

These are the things that bother people about Doc. It’s the finer attention to detail that seems to be lacking. You saw Dan Burke approach these lineups differently during the two games he coached, and it seems like the Sixers always lose ground when just sort of fudging these rotations and brushing off the results. They need to just put a little more time and effort into the way they approach this, injuries or not.

“It’s tough,” said Rivers. “We have no choice. We have to get another guard. We just do. We need a point guard. We’re looking. But they don’t grow on trees.