The Sixers headlines struggled without their franchise center in the mix, but a bench led by Shake Milton absolutely dominated the Indiana backups, getting Philadelphia to win 113-107.
This is what I saw.
The good
• Rivers seems pretty fixated on the idea of playing all the bench looks this season and for that to work, Shake Milton will have to do strength in attack. He’s looked at the task through two preseason games, and while they’re just preseason games, you must like what you’ve seen so far from his alleged sixth man.
Milton’s best shot is his composure at all times: if the Sixers lose by 15 in the middle of the second quarter or win by three in the quarter, he plays under control and within himself. Through quick forgeries, side steps, and a bit of the glass, Milton began to fill it, and once Indiana sent additional bodies, Milton took on the role of game creator, connecting with Furkan Korkmaz at “12” . work they used to run frequently with Simmons and JJ Redick.
On Friday, the Sixers ’bench far surpassed that of the Pacers, and Milton was one of the main reasons it sparked a great run in the third quarter that continued as the Sixers advanced to fourth. If they get this Shake all year round, the bench will be significantly better than in previous years.
(And since he deserves his own love of racing, I have to mention Furkan Korkmaz on his own merit, because he seems ready to continue the hot shot we saw last year. Rivers has talked about Milton and Korkmaz as a couple throughout the field, and his chemistry has been excellent in the early days. Philly looks like he could have some real hits on the bench.)
• Tyrese Maxey had every excuse to look out of class during preseason. The Rookies had no Summer League, the weirdest season in recent history, and had to be out of camp as a result of COVID, staying only in the Zoom sessions.
Do not care. He’s played an important role during Philadelphia’s first two preseason games and while I still don’t want to crown the boy, it will be hard to keep him out of rotation at this rate. On Friday evening there were some rookie mistakes: he learned the hard way he can go when he plays, with Malcolm Brogdon listening to him for three in a difficult way, but Maxey was an excellent change of pace offensively.
Frankly, he’s already one of the best players they’ve had in recent memory, and when combined with his ability to finish in paint, he can do serious damage to the second unit.
If he competes with Matisse Thybulle for last place on the bench, he deserves the first crack in minutes according to what we saw in the preseason. We’ll see if that’s how it’s shaken.
• Ben Simmons didn’t seem particularly upset by James Harden’s rumors that have been the NBA debates for the past 24 hours. If he was, he opted to channel it into his defensive approach instead of mentally checking and going through the preseason finale.
Simmons chased Pacers guard Malcolm Brogdon, almost playing with him sometimes letting him take a step and then erasing Indiana’s lead. Unfortunately, wWith Dwight Howard, who struggled with foul problems due to an ongoing wrestling match with Domantas Sabonis, Simmons was forced to play a small ball center to close out the first half. This didn’t go so well, and I’m still skeptical, he may be the edge protector to make this style work, although on Friday night the team’s defense was more problematic than his own failures in the center. .
In the offensive end, Simmons showed good diversity with Joel Embiid out. He ran quite a few pick-and-rolls with Howard at first, connecting with him above the trees in a play or two, and was tirelessly pushing the pace whenever possible, grabbing some easy cubes on the edge as a result. . Most notably, Simmons took a three-to-half in a two-for-one situation:
We saw the impact a shot could have on him before Simmons took these three. In a previous possession, Simmons squared off and fired feignedly from beyond the arc, drawing the attention of his defender and creating a window to lead him. This set up a series of passes that would eventually create an open three. More of this would be great for Philly, no matter what her most ardent advocates tell you she can achieve. without a sweater.
• You can see why Rivers wants to get Mike Scott to rotate when he shoots like that. The veteran striker is a good release valve for guys like Maxey and Milton, ready to shoot as soon as the ball touches his hands. The head coach tries to shake up this offense and keeping the shooters on the ground always helps.
• He probably won’t play much this year, but I like what I’ve seen of Tony Bradley so far. It is not the largest tire protector in the world, but it is a good size, soft hands and a lot of energy to the offensive glass. Perfectly great third.
The bad
• During training camp, Doc Rivers pointed out to reporters that recovering Tobias Harris would begin to get him to make faster decisions. Harris retreated on this front to Philadelphia after playing the most decisive best basketball of his career in Los Angeles
If you thought that reuniting him with the coach who took this away from him would be all you need to fix the problem, you would think wrong. Harris had a strong offensive performance against Boston on Tuesday, but this preseason has remained a slow and deliberate player on offense. When Harris is about to turn the ball upside down, you can see it coming a mile away. Outside of one-read passes, he’s robotic as a game creator, and as a result, good defenses make him.
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The nights when he has it offensive, he lives with his limitations and the best players are expected to make up for his limitations. These limitations take center stage when he is in a broader role, as was the case with Embiid at home resting.
(By the way, when the Sixers were small at the end of the second, the situation was tailored so that Harris could take advantage of it, with Sabonis bigger and slower guarding him most of the time. Harris didn’t nearly nothing with the opportunity.Inexcusable).
• All the positive aspects about Simmons remain true, but look, when Embiid isn’t getting ready, Simmons has to hunt down his shot more. There is no way to fix it. Again, I’m not asking him to go out and earn 30 points or fundamentally change the way he sees the game (after all he’s a game creator), but they can’t afford to be so passive.
• Turnover, turnover, turnover. A new coach and a new system bring uncertainty to start the season, so a bit of initial oversight is understood. Fifteen changes in a single half have surpassed the “understandable” point and they should take better care of the ball once Wednesday’s actual games are over.
It is too early to identify the cause, so we can delve deeper into the lack of familiarity. I’m more than happy to give Rivers (and the team) some advantage of the doubt as they work through the problems. The only real concerns are related to guys like Harris, ball protection probably won’t improve much. And while it turned out to be a good story to see the bench excel on Friday, the Sixers won’t win many games in which their starters are outscored by the opponent.
Philadelphia’s ball control problem highlighted their defensive problems in the transition, something they struggled with against Boston, which looked worse during long stretches of Friday’s game. Rivers said before the game that clearing his D transition was a point of emphasis when facing Indiana, which makes it much more reprehensible that they were so bad at coming back and protecting.
• Definitely, Matisse Thybulle seems to be the biggest loser as a result of the change of coach and the transformation of the roster, facing the rotation lane (and perhaps out of it) as we approach the start of the season. He has not been found at any end of the floor, struggling to go on the offensive while making mistakes that people considered “rookie mistakes” last season.
Expectations are higher this year and now look worse than at this time last year. We’ll see if it’s enough to leave it in the pine to start the year.
• I thought Dwight Howard was more “erratic” than he was bad, and he certainly started strong against Indiana, controlling the offensive cup and associating very well with Simmons in the pick-and-roll. But as the game progressed and Sabonis continued to find loopholes in Philadelphia’s pick-and-roll defense, Howard’s problems in space became a little more evident. Still bullish, but something to watch out for (and a point of emphasis for the guys on the corners who are supposed to label the big ones on pick-and-rolls).
• Vincent Poirier played as if he had to play Yakkety Sax in the background at all times.
The ugly
• The craft in this game was pretty brutal and I hope that’s not how the games are called when the real ones start next week. The fall was rewarded, minimal physical contact caused some fouls and some flagrant attacks / hackers were invoked by who knows for what reason.
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