PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers picked up a rather easy 123-103 win over the Sacramento Kings at home on Tuesday. They led by as many as 28. While the offense will receive a lot of praise, and deservedly so, they did a helluva job defending the Kings and their lead guard, De’Aaron Fox.
Fox entered averaging 22.8 points on 50.7% shooting and 36.6% shooting from deep. On Tuesday, the Sixers held him to 13 points on 5-for-15 shooting. He was 1-for-7 from deep.
With De’Anthony Melton sidelined with a back issue, the Sixers turned to Tobias Harris to slow the speedy Fox.
“Just present my length and size while guarding him,” said Harris. “Make some of his looks a little different. Obviously, he’s one of the fastest if not the fastest player in the NBA so just stay in front and be able to present my length. When he’s going to the lane to shoot, outside of that, really it was our whole group getting back on defense. We know they’re a team that gets out in transition and run so we had to get back.”
Coach Doc Rivers knew they had to do something against Fox. Melton offers strength and speed. Without him, he decided to go to Harris, and he answered the call in a big way.
“We just thought size,” said Rivers. “We figured put size on him. That forces him to the basket at least. He loves that little in between, he’s been great on the elbows this year, we felt like Tobias’ size would take him off of that. I thought he did a good job.”
Matisse Thybulle, who has defended Fox in the past and understands how tough that matchup is, was impressed with how Harris slowed him.
“He continues to surprise me,” said Thybulle. “You know Tobias cares about defense when he starts sitting down, putting his hands out, that’s something he used to never do. Now, it’s like I swear every single game, I see him do it a handful of times where they’re bringing the ball down, and he’s really getting into his stance. It means something to him and he’s a talented enough player, athletically and mentally, to be able to adjust and like make these transitions.”
Harris and the Sixers will have another tough matchup invading the Wells Fargo Center on Friday when they host Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors.
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