CAMDEN, N.J. — The Philadelphia 76ers are 0-2 after losses to two of the NBA’s elite teams, the Boston Celtics and the Milwaukee Bucks. The Sixers have been up and down on both ends of the floor, but, offensively, there can be more improvement.
They scored 117 points in Boston on opening night and followed that with 88 points against the Bucks. The Sixers were able to get really good looks in both games, but weren’t able to knock them down.
The efficiency as a team hasn’t been there, and Joel Embiid has not settled into a groove yet. He was 6-for-21 overall and 0-for-7 in the second half on Thursday.
“We watched the film and you realize ‘Wow, we got a lot of great shots,’ ” coach Doc Rivers said. “Joel had 21 shots. Sixteen of them, he will take all night. They just didn’t go in. Those, alright?”
With that said, there is something off with the Sixers on the offensive end. Rivers wants Philadelphia to play with much more vigor and intensity on the offensive end.
“We didn’t run our sets with enough vigor to me,” he added. “With enough power. So that wasn’t exactly unorganized. I was probably wrong in saying that. It was more we got to run it with the right intention, with better pace, and I didn’t think we did that. So we have to do that better.”
Then there was the difference in 3-point shooting. The Bucks put up 42 3s on Thursday while Philadelphia attempted 24. Milwaukee made 13 while the Sixers made five.
“I didn’t think we freely passed the ball,” Rivers continued. “They had 42 3s; we had 24, whatever the number was. We didn’t make but five of them and they made 13. You can’t make up five to 13 in 3-pointers. It’s hard to make up. Yet, it still was a one-point game.”
At the moment, the Sixers are trying to figure everything out. They need to get everybody on the same page and trust each other, which will lead to more offensive success.
“We showed them that,” Rivers finished. “There were so many times where the ball could have come out of your hand quicker and got guys shots and we have to be able to do that.”
[mm-video type=playlist id=01f09kz5ecxq9bp57b player_id=01f5k5xtr64thj7fw2 image=https://sixerswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]
[listicle id=69794]
[lawrence-related id=69831,69815,69808]