WASHINGTON — The Philadelphia 76ers walked away with a 131-126 win over the Washington Wizards on the road on Wednesday night, but they needed 50 points from Joel Embiid to get the job done.
While Embiid was phenomenal, Philadelphia’s defensive effort was not. Washington gained too many easy looks in the paint, and there were plenty of times the Sixers were looking at each other in confusion regarding the defensive assignments.
Part of the reason can be traced to the Sixers dealing with a great many injuries of late, leading to guys being in and out of the lineup. It isn’t like these Sixers have never played together, but it has been a while.
“I’m pissed off, but then again, the way I see it is this is really our first game,” said Embiid. “This is a brand new team. First game all together, all healthy with the new guys and Kelly (Oubre Jr.) coming back. So I feel like the rhythm just wasn’t there defensively. We just weren’t connected.”
If it wasn’t for Embiid’s 50 points, there is a strong chance the Sixers would have been upset by Washington on Wednesday.
“Then offensively, the spacing was a little messed up, but we’re gonna be better,” Embiid added. “Like I said, it’s our first game all together, so we’re definitely gonna be better.”
While it isn’t their first game together, technically, communication issues contributed to Philadelphia’s tough night on defense. Obviously, the Sixers won, so that’s all that matters, but the effort they gave on that end has to be better.
“Just probably communication, right?” added coach Nick Nurse. “I think there was — you guys probably saw a lot of wide-open things, right? And that means it was a blown communication somewhere along the line there so I think there was there was a little bit of that. A little bit of on-ball defense and then the help seemed to be a stride or two, stride and a half slow getting there. So just a lot of too much uncontested.”
In the defense of the Sixers, the effort was better in the second half, and it allowed them to come away with one in the win column.
“I feel like in the first half, we were a little lethargic out there,” added De’Anthony Melton. “But I feel like in the second half, it definitely picked up. We got a lot more physical with them and started to challenge them — not only on the boards, but also bringing the ball up.”
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