The Philadelphia 76ers started the season as one of the league’s top offensive teams, led by a balanced attack around Joel Embiid. They averaged 111.1 points and were shooting 39.4% from deep. Things were going pretty well for them on that end of the floor.
Fast forward to now: They are struggling to score. Entering Thursday’s loss to the Atlanta Hawks, they were averaging 102.2 points per game and shooting just 31.5% from deep over a 17-game stretch.
On Thursday, they scored 96 points while shooting 6-for-27 from deep. They shot 41.2% from the floor overall, unable to get into a rhythm.
“The overall theme for us as a team for us through the year is basically our offensive execution lacks when our defense is not up to par,” said Tobias Harris. “It stops us from getting out and running and having an open floor. When we have to take the ball out every time, it forces the other team to be set defensively in the halfcourt and pick how they want to play halfcourt defense against our offense.”
The Sixers have certainly had a tough time in terms of getting out in transition. That is where they miss Ben Simmons the most. He could grab a rebound and immediately get the team running. The Sixers are at their best when they can play with pace and get open looks.
“We had some great looks,” said Harris. “I think overall, that’s the key to it. Our transition offense is a catalyst to us being a better offensive team and if we don’t get stops, we’re not able to get to that really. That would be one of the biggest areas, I think.”
Then there is the poor 3-point shooting. The Sixers have shooters Seth Curry, Furkan Korkmaz and Harris, but they haven’t knocked shots down.
“We’re just missing them,” said coach Doc Rivers on Thursday. “We started the game out and it was fool’s gold, honestly, because we were getting wide-open shots. You saw that, right? They weren’t going in. It still wasn’t good offense. We should’ve taken all those shots, honestly, they were wide-open, but the way we were playing with no force, no energy, no attacks, nothing.”
Philadelphia needs to catch a rhythm. They have proven 3-point shooters.
“Everybody wants to shoot a great percentage or shoot the ball to the best of their ability,” Harris finished. “We’ve struggled from 3 as a group, and it hurts us. Including myself. I’ve struggled from 3 all year thus far. You’ve got to figure out ways to get out of it and find a rhythm and a balance of making those shots and being able to take them. … But we have struggled. It’s pretty obvious that we have.”
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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