The Philadelphia 76ers continued their life inside the bubble at Disney World as they took on the Orlando Magic on Friday without the services of bright young star Ben Simmons. It was a struggle to find any consistent offense in this one but they were able to gut out a 108-101 win.
Tobias Harris, Joel Embiid, Al Horford, and Alec Burks were the big leaders in this one. Harris had 23 points and 15 rebounds, Embiid had 23 points and 13 rebounds, Horford had 21 points and nine rebounds, and Burks had 22. Their efforts were all imperative to finish this one out.
With that said, here are the three observations in this one:
Embiid’s second-half switch
Without Simmons, coach Brett Brown made it a point to establish Joel Embiid in this one. However, he did not take much advantage of it. He continuously settled for jump shots early instead of attacking like he did in the first three games inside the bubble and he only had six points while also attempting a grand total of just one free-throw at the half.
The third quarter was much better for him as he scored 12 points in the quarter and he got the foul line eight times. That aggressiveness allowed Philadelphia to settle in on offense and they were able to run some sets and be able to find a groove. That opened up more for the rest of the team and it was important for him as he finished with 13 free throws on the night. He was much more decisive after halftime and that was a huge difference. Philadelphia is going to rely on him every night now without Simmons so that needs to be there for 48 minutes.
The play of Alec Burks
This was a huge opportunity for Burks and he did not miss it. With the offense in a little bit of a slump to begin the game due to the fact that there is no Simmons and it being tough to get everybody rolling on offense, the Sixers finally can turn to a guy who can go out there and get his own offense and he filled that role well.
He scored 13 points on 5-for-9 shooting in the first half while knocking down two from deep. He’s a tough guy to stay in front of and when he is in a groove like that, it can add more to their offense. This is a night that he and the team can move forward with.
Harris and Horford involved more
Without Simmons, the Sixers have to find other offensive pieces to produce and give the same offensive output. Brown clearly wanted to give Tobias Harris some more offensive looks as he was a guy who was receiving a lot of touches on the offensive end in this one. However, there were too many times early where he would settle for a long two rather than take a three. The idea is to have the defense respect the long-range shot, but it would be much more beneficial as a 3-pointer than the alternative. After shooting 4-for-15 in the first half, he shot 4-for-6 in the second half.
Horford received the start in place of Simmons in this one and he was as solid as usual. The Embiid-Horford pairing still has a long way to go in terms of finding any type of consistent offensive production—and that likely won’t happen in the bubble—but there did appear to be some space on offense and it just came down to Embiid becoming more aggressive. Horford was active on the glass and he seemed to stabilize things with some big shots in the fourth. There were a lot of positives to Horford’s night. [lawrence-related id=36409,36385,36376]