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While Wednesday night’s game never provided a definitive answer to whether the Sixers are a true NBA title contender, it was the team’s most important early-season test to date. .
The Sixers nearly passed him, taking a 107-106 win over the defending Lakers champion to move up to 13-6.
Tobias Harris ‘pull-up pull-up on the Sixers’ last possession won the team and saved them from what would have been a bitterly disappointing loss.
Up 14 points with just over five minutes left, the Sixers’ late-game execution just wasn’t good enough as they seemed more eager to watch the clock slow down than to score.
“He shouldn’t have been that close,” said Danny Green. “We grew in double digits for most of the game and we grew and showed some maturity, hopefully throughout the season we will keep that lead and keep our foot on the accelerator. But we had too much. misses, too many lulls not to play, solid attack and movement of the ball, too many turnovers and bad shots on goal, and then defensively, just a few misses.
Harris eventually saved the day, and an unbalanced, buzzing Anthony Davis uprising failed.
“I am a person who visualizes myself in these places,” Harris said. “When the opportunity arose we went out of time and Seth (Curry) and I chatted and discussed how they are more likely to change the pick and roll if Joel (Embiid) doesn’t is not open, and let me just iso up and get to my place.
“It’s a shot that I work on over and over again. In those moments, being confident enough to let it go and be okay with the outcome. Tonight has gone well.”
LeBron James had 34 points, six rebounds and six assists in a losing effort, keeping Los Angeles competitive throughout the game.
The win is the best of the 2020-21 Sixers to date, an impressive response to the idea that their place at the top of the Eastern Conference is due to an easy schedule.
Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey was not at the game because he works remotely due to unrelated COVID-19 contact tracing, according to a report by Keith Pompey of The Inquirer .
The Sixers will then play Friday night, a road game against the Timberwolves. Here are some observations on their victory over the Lakers:
Simmons vs. James
Ben Simmons was in attack mode from the jump, scoring six of the Sixers’ first nine points, quickly eating up enough space James had given him to operate and set the tone well.
James was arguably the focal point of the Lakers ‘offense, and he burned Simmons and the Sixers’ zealous defense early on by scoring several cuts to the back. James’ sense of when and how to use his wide range of skills remains special; he is a basketball genius with extraordinary physical gifts. His aggression was needed in the first half as Los Angeles shot 1 for 11 with three points and received no significant scores from anyone other than James and Davis.
Although James scored a lot more than his mentee, Simmons left his mark on the game in many ways, registering a triple-double with 17 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists.
“He was huge,” head coach Doc Rivers said. “The numbers will say offense, but the defense and all these other little things he did was amazing. He plays really well. It’s funny, on his low scoring nights you watch the movie of the game and he flies everywhere.
“What he does for us, the winning things he does, is hard to put a number on, and unfortunately we’re in this generation of numbers where everything is in numbers. His talent is sometimes missed by a lot of people.”
Green said after filming the Sixers on Wednesday that he saw why people tie James and Simmons, but thinks it’s “unfair” to compare anyone to James. We think that’s a reasonable estimate.
Eventful evening of Embiid
It didn’t take long for Embiid to frustrate Marc Gasol, the man who had kept him in his career-worst 0-for-11 performance last season, when the 35-year-old committed a technical foul in the first quarter for opposing. to an Embiid and-a. The Sixers All-Star center started rolling after that, clashing and making his move to the post before the doubles could arrive.
Rivers left Embiid on for over 10 minutes and played him in a formation with no real striker. This unit was excellent as the Sixers helped towards the man who faced a major disadvantage on a particular defensive possession and continued to cook offensively, gaining a 34-18 lead.
The non-Embiid minutes that followed were far less fruitful for the Sixers as the Lakers went on an 8-0 run. Dwight Howard missed four shots in that streak and didn’t play well, prompting Rivers to insert Simmons as his team’s defensive center. A Los Angeles bench member shouted “No rim protection” upon seeing the move and, with all due respect to Simmons and his various defensive talents, the sentiment wasn’t wrong.
That said, the Sixers at least managed to attack and stabilize things a bit when Simmons replaced Howard. Rivers’ willingness to use Simmons at the center is certainly a notable development; This may be a look the Sixers will start to incorporate more if they plan to bring it to the playoffs. Rivers gave Howard his normal save center minutes in the second half.
The Sixers praised Embiid’s ability to draw fouls (as well as his many other skills, of course) after missing the team’s Monday loss to the Pistons with a strain on his back. Embiid was 11 for 13 from the foul line and is now averaging 10.9 free throw attempts per game in 15 contests.
Embiid (28 points, six rebounds, four assists) had a fear of injury in the third period when he came up for a dunk and fell hard to the ground after James made contact with his chest. He banged his fist into the ground and stood up cautiously but stayed in the game and made both free throws. James was called up for a Flagrant 1 foul, although Embiid said after the game that he believed the 16-time All-Star should have been ejected.
Embiid was whistled for a Flagrant 1 foul about a minute later when he hit Davis in the face with an elbow as he looked to draw a foul on a drive.
Complementary pieces intensify
In a star-centric game, the Sixers won in large part because their complementary players were overall better than the Lakers.
At an important point early in the third quarter, Harris entered Gasol’s body and put the ball down to give the Sixers a 57-53 lead. Harris (24 out of 10 for 16) and Green (14 out of 5 for 11) both drained three points soon after, helping the Sixers regain their 12-point advantage, forcing a Lakers timeout and suppressing a part of the malaise that could have stemmed from the Lakers’ second-quarter return.
Although the Lakers did not leave, Harris was again vital later in the third, converting a left-wing layup, stopping Davis one-on-one twice at post and allowing the Sixers to maintain their lead. His All-Star case certainly got a bit stronger on Wednesday night, especially with his clutch pullover to top off some dramatic play.
“I hope we all get it together,” Harris said when asked about himself, with Embiid and Simmons all possibly All-Stars. “Obviously this season we’ve played great basketball as a team. We have the MVP on our team in Joel. He’s been playing hard since day one. Ben has been a great player. This year he’s played a good pace, really dictating everything and defensively, offensively, doing his thing all around.
“I hope we all do the game. For me, I’ve always been just about winning and letting it be handled, but I regularly play at the All-Star level every night. I’m not the forever type. toot my own horn, but in the past I’ve had a few times where I felt like I should have been there and didn’t, so that would be my little talk there.
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