The Philadelphia 76ers were shorthanded on Sunday night. They were down Ben Simmons already, but they then lost Joel Embiid in the first quarter so there go their two best players, to begin with.
Combine their absences with facing a desperate and explosive Portland Trail Blazers team and things can get bad for a team.
The Sixers hung with the Blazers, there is no doubt about it, but they could not close late as Damian Lillard dropped 51 points including scoring seven in a row with Philadelphia leading by one to give Portland the lead for good. The first of those seven points was a four-point play when Lillard drilled a 3-pointer while being fouled by Josh Richardson.
“It’s Dame Lillard, he’s probably one of the top three scoring point guards in the league,” said Richardson. “It’s hard to really stop a guy like that, but you do your best to contain him. I think there were a few plays where I was playing him for a screen and the screen didn’t end up coming and he ended up getting a straight line, but that’s just things you got to look at after.”
There’s a school of thought that maybe the Sixers could have blitzed Lillard to try and get the ball out of his hands. However, that then leaves Philadelphia susceptible to open 3-pointers from shooters like C.J. McCollum and Carmelo Anthony.
The Sixers threw their best perimeter defenders on him–Richardson and Matisse Thybulle in this situation–and he still went out and got 51. Sometimes, you just have to tip your cap and move on.
“Really, the 3-ball is the thing that worries me most,” said coach Brett Brown. “The ways that they generate 3-ball looks the most is when people blitz Damian Lillard. They get into scrambles and so on. So Damian went, they were down one, he scored seven points himself to go up six. So you’re always questioning. It’s an easy question to ask, it’s not always the correct answer to think ‘it has to be blitz’. We had J-Rich and Matisse on him, our two best wing defensive players and you shake his hand the way he ended the game.”
The Sixers now have to prepare for Devin Booker when they take on the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday. [lawrence-related id=36601,36592,36576]