The Philadelphia 76ers are in a rut. They have lost five games in a row, all without Joel Embiid and Matisse Thybulle.
In their loss to the Utah Jazz on Tuesday, the Sixers had a tough time handling Utah’s transition offense. Philadelphia did not get back and had a tough time keeping up with shooters such as Bojan Bogdanovic. The Sixers appeared unorganized on that end all night long.
Utah also had 36 points in the paint by halftime and had three players in double figures by halftime. There were too many defensive breakdowns by a team still missing its top defensive players.
Before the game, coach Doc Rivers acknowledged his team needs to be better at transition defense.
“We’re bad,” said Rivers before the game. “We were bad last year. I’ve never been bad at transition as a coach. So it drives me nuts. I think the No. 1 key is to stop the ball. At some point, someone’s got to declare the ball and stop it. Then the second thing is discipline from the corners. When the ball goes up, the corner guys, they don’t watch the action, and then the rebound, you’re still flat in the corners. You can’t get back.”
In Tuesday’s loss, the guards failed to do what Rivers wanted. The Sixers did not stop the ball. Utah finished with 16 fast-break points, but it certainly felt like more. Philadelphia has to take on the challenge to be better in this area while Embiid and Thybulle work their way back.
“If I had two things in transition, those would be the two things,” Rivers continued. “Corner, release back, and someone stopping the ball. Because what teams do now they keep the dribble and we’re taught that no one’s gonna stop him, keep dribbling, and once they get in the paint, these bigs collapse, and it’s all over. So those are the two keys.”
The Sixers have to take on this type of challenge and be better. Even with Embiid, as Rivers mentioned, the Sixers have struggled in transition defense and a lot of it really comes down to discipline.
“You have to have the discipline to get back on the release of the shot,” Rivers finished. “What happens a lot is on the release, if the ball hits the rim and your guys are in the corner still in the frame, then something’s wrong. They should be gone. You will see them watching and then it hits the rim and then they react too late and that’s something that takes a lot of discipline to do. Corner crashes will kill you unless you get the rebound.”
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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