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For the first time in Brett Brown’s seven years as a head coach, it looks like the Sixers have overcome this recurring problem.
They placed either 29th or 30th in the NBA for the 2013-14 to 2017-18 seasons turnovers. Last year they moved up to 25th place. And, after an unsettling start that led an avid Brown to talk about “fool’s gold” and “a house built on sand,” the Sixers finished this regular season 10th in the league, averaging 14.2 turnovers per game.
In their 109-101 loss in Monday night’s opener to the Celtics (see observations), the Sixers made 13 turnovers in the first half, 18 in the game. The team has had much worse nights of rolling in a fairly recent memory, and yet these are mistakes they couldn’t tolerate. Unlike 2018, when the Sixers beat the Heat in Game 4 of their first-round series despite 26 turnovers, the Sixers had minimal margin of error. With Ben Simmons indefinitely sidelined after his left knee surgery, forced passes, reckless mistakes and moments of excessive ambition have come at a cost.
“I think it’s an easy problem to solve,” said Josh Richardson, “because I think a lot of our rotations haven’t been forced. We were just loose with the ball, throwing it around. It’s an easy fix. “
Specifically, Brown attributed many of the early turnovers to issues that drove Joel Embiid to its lowest point. Embiid finished with 26 points and 16 rebounds, excellent numbers on the surface but well below what he seemed on pace for after sinking his first five shots.
“I think part of our sales came from standing up and trying to post,” Brown said. “And part of our turnover came when we posted, we didn’t faint from the post. It is a double edged sword where you have to determine which line do you want to walk. … I think that volume of smash mouth, bully ball – doing it all the time comes with a certain level of punishment if you’re not careful.
“And so I can’t wait to go back and see our post go through, deliver the ball to the post. And I think we can improve a lot in this area.
Indeed, it is not an easy task to produce a good offense when the defense knows what is coming, or at least knows precisely what the main threat is. Consider Embiid’s 1.10 points per possession rate on regular season post-ups to be the best in the NBA, and his 9.1 points per game puts him above three points above of the next player. Because very few players can post well enough to warrant this being a staple of a team’s attacking, Embiid is an anomaly.
Brown’s time as an assistant coach under Gregg Popovich with the Spurs influences the way he structures the post attack around Embiid.
“A little more static (than with Simmons), a little more set the table, where Joel can be comfortable with his outlets,” Brown told NBC Sports Philadelphia in March. “I just did pretty much replicate what we did with (Tim) Duncan for 12 years in San Antonio. We go to the ground and use that as a starting point, and then other things happen from those starting points. “
Three of these “starting points” are usually behind the three point line, and there is a man in the “dunker point” on the weak side – essentially the short corner / low block region.
Below is a play from last season that illustrates the idea, with Simmons instead of dunker.
A reporter wondered if it would be better to have the four players in addition to Embiid behind the arc instead.
“… I’m very privileged to have experienced the world of the post player,” said Brown, “when it comes to spacing and patterns.… One thing that resonates the most is four on the perimeter is l easiest environment for defenses to overtake a post player’s team and have the ability to extinguish fires accordingly. There are too many people. And so occupy a low area and space the pitch further apart. most interested.
Brown went on to cite the possibility of forming a “big-big relationship” and greater offensive rebound opportunities as reasons he plans to keep a man in the dunker spot. After the Sixers shot 9 for 27 from three points on Monday, the Celtics are still expected to not hesitate to team up with Embiid aggressively, regardless of the spacing around him.
Embiid was, in fact, effective offensively in Game 1, converting 8 of 15 field goals and 9 of 12 free throws. He just didn’t dominate as much as he thought he would.
“I have to do more,” he says. “Whatever the statistics, I have to do more. I have a job to do – it is to carry us. I’m going to need my teammates to help me out, but I need to do more. I have to take more pictures, I have to be more aggressive. Defensively, I have to help my teammates. We all have to play hard, take care of the ball, do our job and follow the game plan.
Was he disappointed that he didn’t have more post-up opportunities after his great start?
“I’m not sure,” he said. “Like I said, I have to be more aggressive. Maybe we need to call other rooms. I do not know. This is another thing that we have to correct before Game 2. I just have to be aggressive and let the game come to me.
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