Sixers

After Big Win Over Celtics, Pat Bev Notes that the Sixers are “Deep as Shit”

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Nov 9th, 2023 · 10:28 AM EST

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Let’s check in with Patrick Beverley following the Sixers’ 106-103 win over the Celtics:

Sixers reserve point guard Patrick Beverley on what Wednesday’s victory over the Celtics says about his team: pic.twitter.com/fg7asofqUr

— Keith Pompey (@PompeyOnSixers) November 9, 2023

“We know exactly who we are. We compete every day. We’re deep as shit. We’re really deep. We know what we have. I guess everyone else is just kind of finding out right now.” 

Yes, well said! A very good barometer type of game on Wednesday night. An early-season win against a quality team to keep that buy-in from the fan base. The city always seems to be riding the rollercoaster with the Sixers, so you win these types of games and there’s no reason for anybody to hop off right now. Cautious optimism must be maintained.

It did get a little iffy in a fourth quarter where the Sixers were outscored by seven, but Kristaps Porzingis front-rimmed an open look at the end:

Kristaps Porzingis misses the game-tying three and the Celtics’ comeback effort comes JUST short 😅

The Sixers win their sixth straight game 🔥pic.twitter.com/zUIyYnPQMq

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) November 9, 2023

Said Nick Nurse of the possession:

“I was actually expecting them to take it out on the other side of the court and run something for Tatum, run him down the left side because he loves going, you know that run and that side left. So I was way off. We figured out on this side and they ran the play for Porzingis. So I was 0-2 on that one.”

And Porzingis:

“Yeah, obviously, it was a really good look. Pump-faked him, but as I went into the shot, I kind of went into it as if it was like a mid-range shot. Like I jumped a little higher, I usually don’t do that for threes. I just shot it bad and as soon as it left my hand I felt it was short. But it was a good look, clean look, it was a good play by Joe (Mazzulla) and yeah we couldn’t ask for anything else. You know, a good look like that at the end to tie the game, that’s all we can ask for.”

Going back to what Pat Bev said, the Sixers do indeed have depth. They got double-digit scoring from four of their five starters, and it could have been all five if De’Anthony Melton could hit anything last night. But Nic Batum, Robert Covington, and Beverley were all net positives off the bench (+7, +6, +4), and the Sixers non-starters outscored Boston 20 to 16 while shooting 9-16 on the evening, or 9-14 if you remove Furkan Korkmaz, his three minutes, and 0-2 mark. Nick Nurse kept it to 10 on Wednesday and has plenty of experimenting to do with guys 11 to 15 all worthy of minutes as well.

“The other day in practice we had like three teams out there running through the plays and we were on the sideline, me, Joel, and Tyrese were saying like we legit have 15 guys who can be in rotation,” Tobias Harris said. “There’s a lot of responsibility with that and guys just being professional and ready. Guys also just being great teammates and wanting the next guy to play great basketball in front of them and to bring contributing efforts because it’s a long season and the goals that we have as a whole group to get to where we want to go. We are gonna need added efforts from everybody, so when guys come in the game off the bench and are able to produce winning plays out there that’s huge for us, but we definitely really have a deep team and I’d say it’s a good thing.”