The Philadelphia 76ers were able to come away with a 118-111 win over the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday night and they made a statement defensively at the beginning of the game. The defensive effort the team put out was something that they used to make sure they pulled away in the win.
They held the Hornets to just 13 points in the first quarter as they put Charlotte in a tough situation from the beginning. The Hornets then shot only 35.6% from the floor in the first half and only 3-for-17 from deep.
That effort was led by their star duo of Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid as the two of them put on a terrific effort on that end and the team followed.
“We were active out there defensively,” said Tobias Harris. “Our pressure was there and that’s where a guy like Ben, I think, doesn’t get enough credit, but defensively, his intensity. I thought Joel tonight was bringing it from the beginning of the game on both ends. I thought he was huge for us.”
Simmons took on the challenge of defending Hornets scorer Gordon Hayward and he held him to 4-for-10 shooting in the first half. Hayward had been playing some really good basketball lately in helping Charlotte win three games in a row, but Simmons did a terrific job on him.
Combine that with Embiid on the back end of the defense forcing guys to think twice about going to the basket, it makes it tough.
“I thought Ben on Gordon Hayward was just, his defense was dominating,” marveled coach Doc Rivers. “When you have those two out on the floor and their size, it allows our other guys to be really good as well. That stretch in the first quarter was as good as we could play defense. It wasn’t like they were missing shots, there weren’t a lot of shots to be had.”
At the end of the day, the defense was suffocating and it was as good as the Sixers looked on that end all season.
“I think the sky’s the limit,” said veteran Danny Green. “Obviously, this is a different team, it’s different with different matchups. I think how active we were, how many deflections we got, it was definitely a glimpse of how good we can potentially be. I think the tough part is doing it for 48 minutes.”
It was really impressive because the Sixers forced the Hornets to play at a different pace. Charlotte likes to run and get up and down with the athletes they have, but they were not able to do so. Simmons and Embiid made sure that they did not have those opportunities.
“Even the shots they took, for the most part, was a hand in the face, contested, late clock, and that’s not how they want to play,” Rivers said. “They want to get up and down the floor. The fact that we didn’t allow them to do that was pretty cool.”
The challenge now is to board the plane and return home to take on the Portland Trail Blazers.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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