In a battle between the Philadelphia 76ers and the Brooklyn Nets, one might think the edge for points in the paint would go to the former. Philly’s center, Joel Embiid, is the best center in the game, after all. His presence is more than noticeable on both ends of the floor.
But the Sixers were without their leading big man on Sunday night, so everyone on the Nets was able to enter the paint as they pleased.
Philadelphia still posted 54 points in the paint on the offensive end, but Brooklyn outdid them, finishing with 64.
Sixers coach Brett Brown explained after the game what went wrong from Philly’s perspective:
That’s one of the things. I think that we had a hard time defending Brooklyn on the boards. I thought their offensive rebounds were very good. I thought our transition defense, in general, was below average. That was sort of the defensive nightmare of tonight. We just didn’t play well defensively. Some of it I give Brooklyn credit, they’re really hard to guard, especially Spencer Dinwiddie’s ability to get into the paint and attack the rim in significant ways without Joel Embiid.
Speaking of Dinwiddie, the point guard provided some insight on why the Nets were able to thrive on the offensive end on Sunday after their disappointing loss on Saturday:
It was such a stark difference from the last game in Toronto. Toronto played such great gap help that we had to pass. They made us pass and shoot a lot of threes and stuff like that, whereas Philly, you play more drop coverage, which means their two, three and four, their wing defenders, stay close or stay more attached to shooters. They play the pick-and-roll two-on-two, and we try to get downhill when that happens. Challenge the big if it’s a good screen. If it’s not a great screen, then the roll can possibly get behind the big, then we try to look for the lob. So it’s just two completely different defenses and you try to attack them in that specific defense’s weakness.
It’s no wonder Dinwiddie went off for 24 again on Sunday. It’s one thing to identify all of what Philly did defensively, it’s another to break it all down systematically, yet simply directly after a game — and without having watched any film.
Ky Carlin of USA TODAY Sports Media Group’s Sixers Wire contributed to this story.
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