The Philadelphia 76ers are building their championship quest on a foundation of defense and toughness. If one were to judge them by these first two games inside the bubble in Orlando, it would be laughable to match the Sixers and defense together.
Against two shorthanded teams, the Sixers have given up a combined 89 points in the fourth quarter of these first two games. The Indiana Pacers were missing All-Star Domantas Sabonis and Malcolm Brogdon while the San Antonio Spurs were missing their own All-Star in LaMarcus Aldridge and they scored 46 and 43 points in the fourth quarter, respectively.
“If you go to the first half over the first two games, I think we’ve just kind of cruised through it,” said coach Brett Brown. “Then the third period, both games pretty good, then the closeout period, we’ve been terrible and it starts with something as simple as just the ability to guard my man. Like ‘Can I sit in a stance? Can I move my feet two or three slides tops and then level a downhill driver off?’ Stuff that you were taught at any level of basketball and then it gets into other stuff that’s more coach speak and sophisticated where our technique on pick-and-roll defense.”
On Wednesday, the Sixers have another chance to fix their issues. The Washington Wizards are a team coming in missing superstar guard Bradley Beal while also missing Davis Bertans who is a known Sixers killer. Washington will be using “waterbug” quick point guards such as Ish Smith, Shabazz Napier, and Troy Brown Jr. in the pick-and-roll offense. So that is when knowing your personnel has to become a real point for Philadelphia.
“Whether it’s guarding the ball-handler and going up and picking him up at the pickup points and then the technique of going under, because it’s Dejounte Murray or going over because it’s Patty Mills, I’d say the same thing with the Wizards guards,” Brown continued. “It’s just knowing your personnel. So it comes down to just basic stuff of just guarding your man, it gets down to some KYP—knowing your personnel—and then there’s technique aspects of pick-and-roll that I just went through and so you can bucket it up into those areas, but all of them fall under a mentality.”
Philadelphia’s pick-and-roll defense is designed to allow guys to shoot long 2’s so the screener defender–in most cases, Joel Embiid–will drop back in order to protect the basket. Against the Pacers, Ben Simmons was not quick enough to get up on Warren on the screen and that gave him enough room to get off a shot.
Despite the success that both Indiana and San Antonio had in the pick-and-roll games thus far, Brown has no plans to change anything in terms of having Embiid be much more aggressive. Al Horford on the other hand? That is where the possibilities could change.
“With Indiana and with San Antonio, that’s their mojo, that is what they do,” Brown explained. “With Joel, to bring him out of where he is dominant, to bring him out of that area, I think the ripple effects of the many things that are more punishing rear their head. I think with Al, if you can probably mix in more unders, that may help this downhill torpedo going hard at Al.”
When Philadelphia takes on Washington on Wednesday afternoon at 4:00 p.m. EST, it will have to come with a mentality on defense to make the right corrections on defense. Despite missing Beal and Bertans, Washington has a high powered offense that can kick it into high gear when the time comes.
“The NBA players are the best players in the world,” Brown finished with. “Whether we choose to play defense on a more competitive basis, but we get that disposition, that physicality, that’s when things are going to connect. In the meantime, that’s a clinic on what has happened in the first two regular-season games.” [lawrence-related id=36179,36170,36159]