The Sixers went small against the Los Angeles Clippers and got absolutely boat-raced, trailing by double digits before you had a chance to settle into your seat.
Here’s what I saw.
Likes
– No one got hurt. That we know of, at least.
– The paying customer got to leave in time to get home for the Eagles game. And for that matter, there were no Eagles chants at all. Upset of the century.
Dislikes
– No problem with Nick Nurse adhering to the starting lineup that worked well for him on Friday night. There are obvious warts. The two-man game between James Harden and Ivica Zubac is a terror on paper, and that’s magnified by electing to go small with Yabusele.
Not only is it an indictment on Andre Drummond and his play to date, but it’s also a bet that Yabusele spacing the floor will unlock some things on offense. Of course, that’s not such an obvious bet when the Clippers have Kris Dunn’s low center of gravity and Derrick Jones Jr.’s length to contain the likes of Tyrese Maxey and Jared McCain. Still, you’re picking the lesser of two evils, so to speak, behind Joel Embiid. Neither option is perfect.
Having said that, if you’re going to go small against Zubac, your back-side defense needs to be pristine. You need to tag Zubac hard out of the roll. If the other poison is surrendering open threes to the likes of Jones, Dunn or Amir Coffey because you’re helping off to take away the roll, so be it. But, you can’t let Harden and Zubac beat you over the head with pick-and-rolls. While the Sixers did make the tag rotations in the first quarter, they did not make hard commitments to those rotations. It was a brief touch and then retreat back to home position. That does nothing of consequence. So, the Sixers effectively conceded defense with their small-ball lineup.
– Nurse opened the second quarter with a lineup that featured neither Maxey nor McCain. That is certainly a decision.
– This was really the first time we’ve seen McCain look totally overwhelmed on offense. The biggest difference from behind these eyes was that the Clippers stayed physical with him, both on and off the ball. They defended him like you’d defend a player at the top of the scouting report. He had very little room to breathe, and a number of his shots lacked balance. For the first time, he looked rushed.
– It is genuinely impressive how many ways this team can mess up an inbounds pass. On today’s edition, it was a pass that went long for a backcourt violation.
– Every time KJ Martin drives out of an open three, he should have to put $10 in the swear jar. It’s not like he’s at any risk of hurting the team’s three-point percentage.
– One fan in attendance offered a “Fire Nick Nurse” chant toward the end of the game. My good sir, what coach is going to avoid this mess with over $100 million in salary sitting in street clothes?
Spare thoughts
– To reinforce the retro energy of the City Edition court and uniforms, the Sixers introduced the game’s starters with Rapper’s Delight playing in the background. Game Day Operations team gets an ‘A’ for that one.
– An applause for Tony Brothers and his crew. I think a charitable way of putting it would be to say that their interpretation of the rules and what actually happened on the court did not align.
The Sixers (3-13) will host the Houston Rockets (12-6) on Wednesday. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m., Eastern time. You can catch the game on NBC Sports Philadelphia.
