The Philadelphia 76ers at the moment rank fourth in the league in defensive rating at 110.2 as they continue to come together as a team. However, there are still some issues that need to be figured out in order to really move forward.
In the last games of their current road trip, they struggled on the glass in losses to the Memphis Grizzlies and the Houston Rockets. Coach Doc Rivers mentioned that the issues on the glass were part of the fact that they haven’t been able to keep the ball out of the paint which is a perimeter defense problem.
Philadelphia has guys like De’Anthony Melton, Tobias Harris, and others out on the perimeter and Melton wants more communication on the defensive end to fix those problems.
“Just more communication,” said Melton. “More communication, more effort out there. We have had good defensive numbers, but we just got to figure out how to close form out. We’ve been in a lot of close games so I feel like that’s the most important thing our team has to grow on.”
Philadelphia begins a long 7-game homestand on Friday when they take on the Los Angeles Lakers so that will be their next opportunity to figure everything out on the defensive end. In fact, this entire homestand will offer a chance for the Sixers to finally move forward and get on the same page.
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