The Philadelphia 76ers are a talented team. Other than being led by an All-Star duo of Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid, they have proven pieces in Al Horford, Tobias Harris, and Josh Richardson.
However, Simmons is the engine that drives this machine. He is the one who sets everybody up on offense and runs things and he also puts in the work in on the defensive end as he has made a case to be a member of the All-Defensive First Team. So when Simmons is not out there, the team struggles.
That was the case on Saturday when they lost Simmons after less than five minutes after aggravating a lower back injury against the Bucks. The Sixers then could not come up with the necessary stops and they could not find any flow offensively without their star point guard.
“It’s something that we have to continue to figure out especially when we play a good defensive team,” said Tobias Harris. “Where we can find our spots, where can we get some movement. We want ball movement and body movement too, and find some gaps and some openings too. They do a good job of packing the paint and not allowing us to shoot open jump shots. It would be a lot easier if we made more shots so then we can open it up a little more. We need to get to that. It was a disappointing game offensively.”
Harris shot 3-for-10 on the night, Embiid was 5-for-18, and Alec Burks shot 3-for-13. They were not able to find their rhythm all night and it made a huge difference in the game.
On top of that, their defense fell apart. Granted, it’s the Bucks who own the best record in the NBA, but the defense did not have the usual sting to it to get the necessary stops.
“There’s always room for improvement,” added Embiid. “We can always do a better job. In the first half, we started pretty bad and then we got it going in the second quarter. I felt like going into the game we had a good mindset, everybody was focused. I was pretty confident going into the game and obviously losing bad wasn’t good.”
Here’s the thing though, the Sixers should be able to step up and provide a good defensive effort without Simmons. Philadelphia has a roster full of guys who can play solid defense on a regular basis. Yes, Simmons is the leader and the one who drives the engine, but the team should be able to hold their own without the All-Star.
“You have to be,” said coach Brett Brown. “When you say ‘Can you do it without Ben and Joel?’, in the large majority of the game or the third period that we’re speaking about, it’s difficult but I feel that with the group we have, whoever is on the floor, we have to play better. I have to coach better, they have to play better, and tonight you give Milwaukee credit, because we just didn’t do that.”
The Sixers will be without Simmons on Monday when they return home to host the Atlanta Hawks and they should win that one, but even that one won’t be an easy win. The Hawks have a scoring machine in Trae Young and he torched the Sixers in their previous matchup in Atlanta. They will need other guys to step up in his absence. [lawrence-related id=26318,26311,26290]