The Philadelphia 76ers continued their bubble action on Monday night as they “hosted” the San Antonio Spurs from Disney World in Orlando. After a disappointing effort against the Indiana Pacers to begin the restart, they took on the Spurs and they did bounce back with a 132-130 win, Maybe it’s because they were listed as the home team in this one.
Joel Embiid is the stand out in this one as he had 27 points, nine rebounds, and five assists to really spearhead this Sixers attack. His ability to attack the double teams and continue to be the leader was something that was on full display all night long.
With that said, here are the three observations in this one:
Collapsing in the fourth
After giving up 46 points in the fourth quarter to Indiana, the Sixers fell apart again in the fourth in this one allowing a shorthanded Spurs team to score 43 points. The defense just absolutely fell apart after giving up only 25 in the third quarter. That comes down to a lack of communication and that is something that the Sixers cannot allow. For a team that has as many elite defenders, this effort in the fourth quarter has just not been there. There was not a lot of toughness and it’s concerning again for Brown and his team. Generally, when a team gives up that many points, they won’t win too many games. They’re lucky Shake Milton bailed them out.
Embiid and double teams
Embiid was terrific in this one handling the double teams. San Antonio sent waves of defenders his way—just like the Pacers did—and the big fella did a great job of making quick decisions. There were so many times when he would catch and quickly attack the basket. Missing LaMarcus Aldridge, the Spurs did not have the same size to throw at him and he made them pay.
The only bad play he made was when he waited too long to get a pass over to Matisse Thybulle in the second quarter. He tried to split it by himself and then he got it to the rookie too late and it resulted in a bad shot. Other than that, there was a marked improvement in his game when it comes to this aspect.
Harris as a passer
As the Sixers continue to grow their offense in this resumption, they added a new little wrinkle with their offense. Harris would run the pick-and-roll with Al Horford and the two of them had success. Harris would attract the defense his way and then toss it back to Horford for a bucket or two in that scheme. He also had one play in the second quarter where the Spurs jumped the pass to Horford and he made an adjustment and found Alec Burks in the corner for a triple. He finished with four assists.
Unbelievable. Shake Milton saves the Sixers and they win it 132-130 over the Spurs.
Joel Embiid 27, 9, and 5
Tobias Harris 25, 6, and 4
Josh Richardson 19
Shake Milton 16 and 5
Furkan Korkmaz 12
Al Horford 9 and 6
Ben Simmons 8 and 5 #Sixers— Ky Carlin (@Ky_Carlin) August 4, 2020
On top of that, he still looked for his own offense as he took 17 shots and he was just a solid player on this night scoring 25 points with six rebounds. The only criticism is maybe his perimeter defense as there were a few times he went under a screen and the Spurs got some open looks from deep, but that was not just Harris. A majority of the Sixers had that issue in this one. [lawrence-related id=36086,36077,36070]