PHILADELPHIA–The Philadelphia 76ers have won four in a row to begin their 7-game homestand following a 118-106 win over the Golden State Warriors and it looks like they have begun to turn things around a bit.
Granted, they knocked off a Warriors team that was missing three All-Stars in Steph Curry, Andrew Wiggins, and Draymond Green, but the Sixers are still figuring themselves out as they move forward. Therefore, despite the sluggish start, coming up with the win on Friday shows growth and is a solid win.
The Sixers have been terrific on the offensive end during the win streak as it seems that they have found a way to push the pace that coach Doc Rivers has been preaching and ensure that the ball gets in the right guy’s hands.
“Our pace,” said Joel Embiid. “We’re playing fast. Still sticking to what comes first which is defense and when you’re able to get stops, you can run, you can get easy baskets. I think that’s where it starts and then offensively, putting the ball in the right guy’s hands and now the ball is moving
On top of that, Embiid and the Sixers have begun to understand the way the offense runs. They want to be able to get into all of their actions.
“If we don’t have anything, we know what to do,” Embiid added. “We go from the first action to the second action into the third action so that’s been great. I think we still got a lot to improve on and it’s been good to see what we’ve been able to do.”
Of course, having a healthy James Harden back on the floor helps. The Beard missed 14 games due to a right foot tendon strain and the Sixers have been able to get him reintegrated in a better way in order to succeed on offense.
“Time and just the communication we’ve been having whether it’s with Doc or Joel and just everybody,” said Harden. “Alright, this is how we’re playing. This is what we need to do and even for myself like pushing the pace and getting the ball past half court faster, and then having a couple more seconds to decide what we want to do. I think our communication has been on point.”
Then there is the fact that the Sixers are getting contributions from everybody. Philadelphia received double-digit points from De’Anthony Melton, Georges Niang, and Shake Milton to help out the star duo.
“I say the biggest thing is just our energy and effort towards each other, helping each other be successful,” said PJ Tucker. “I always like saying, like Coach (Erik) Spo’s favorite sayings, ‘enjoy somebody else’s success’, and I feel like that’s like huge when it comes to the bench and everybody’s just having that good energy and that good karma towards everybody. I feel like that’s picked up a lot and everybody’s spirit has gotten better as a team.”
The Sixers will now host the Toronto Raptors on Monday.
[mm-video type=playlist id=01f09kz5ecxq9bp57b player_id=01f5k5xtr64thj7fw2 image=]
[listicle id=72379]
[lawrence-related id=72406,72402,72399]