The Sixers used a meaningless final to get some reps for their starting lineup in the playoffs, blowing the Rockets out, 134-96, with an extensive performance on Friday night. More importantly, they appeared unmanned.
Here’s what I saw.
The Good
• Alec Burks is really stuck in a groove in Orlando, and after watching the first half of Friday night’s game I wonder if he’s finally ending up getting reps for Philly. Shake Milton controlled the game just four minutes from the first quarter, and the Burks got extra time for the rest of the half, handling the ball with several combinations for key lineup for Philadelphia.
He deserved more than a chance at this point. Burks has been part of an offensive resurgence for Philadelphia, and the increase in pick-and-rolls combined with a scattered floor has been a blessing in disguise for him. Joel Embiid’s large body makes it difficult for boys to get screens, and Burks has both the burst to get to the rim and the quick trigger to take an open try if he wants to. It helps that he collapses a lot of those jumpers – it almost feels like he can sometimes not be missed in Orlando.
The most important development, however, has been that Burks took care of basketball while picking up pitches for playing. Maybe it’s a product of the scattered floor, but his reads have been crisp and the Philadelphia shooters get some wide open looks when teams cheat on them to help on his discs. Having someone put this pressure on defenses is enormous for this group.
The hot streak can and will slow down at some point, but I’m buying Burks stock for now.
• A few possessions here and there will not be enough to weigh my stance in the playoffs, but Matisse Thybulle did a lot of work by defending James Harden on Friday night when he had the chance to pick him up. Maybe he deserves a shot at Jayson Tatum and the bigger Boston wings.
It was for the most part a typical Harden night – 27 points, a handful of crazy passages, and a gray-headed doll – but Thybulle almost stopped him dead in his tracks. Given Harden’s ability to put boys in dire straits and use the slightest reach to punish you, it’s remarkable that Thybulle was able to avoid bait.
For the past week or so, Thybulle has also jumped off the screen with his activity. There were a lot of plays that stood out, but one in particular: with the Sixers leading 111-77 and the game well out of reach in the fourth quarter, Thybulle tore the floor down in transition and broke the Rockets’ attack, causing one to run the other way.
These are the kinds of plays made by guys who appreciate opportunities to get better, on whom you can bet to grow as the years wear on.
• Maybe it’s just because they’re playing a run-and-gun Rockets team and drinking at the moment, but I liked the aggressiveness that Tobias Harris and Josh Richardson had on the hunt. If you ask me, I would 100 percent rather live with the fact that these two are a little too trigger-happy, as opposed to conveying good looks and arranging me for disputed midrange shots.
As long as it does not come at the expense of Joel Embiid’s touch, these two should let it fly.
• The three-man triumvirate of Joel Embiid, Al Horford and Tobias Harris showed me everything they needed for a meaningless final in the regular season. In this lineup with new look sans Simmons, they take advantage of the increased opportunities they get. Let’s run through them really fast.
Horford looks better on defense with each passing game, and although he left a few guys on Friday night for easy layouts, his agility in space is as good as it has been all year. Offensively, we see with what he killed the Sixers when he played for Boston – reliable three-point shots, passing on short rolls and off the elbows, and even some quality post work jumped in.
Embiid had some ups and downs against Houston, but he did not waste much time driving to the perimeter and had in mind to get to the rim and either shoot enough attention or pay enough attention to his shooters liberate. We’ll see him stop against a scattered floor with the lineups the Celtics are rolling out of there, but beyond something grim with his wrist, a pretty smooth night.
And Harris has ruled in the scoring role the team needs him to fill the entire season, which is perhaps the most important development of all. He’s not yet a freehand drawing machine, but there’s been a pointed attempt to initiate contact over the last week or so and that’s a necessary part of every playoff scorer’s repertoire. The harder he makes guys like Tatum and Jaylen Brown in round one, the easier defense will be for the entire team.
• If Furkan Korkmaz hits a billion percent of three (all numbers approximately) in the playoffs, he will keep in rotation.
• Here’s something we could not say many nights this season – the Sixers were ready to ripen when the game started and took what was otherwise a meaningless game and tried to build something. It was not balls on the wall, 100 percent effort, but it was a professional display. Count your blessings with this group.
Offensively, this team looks as crisis as they have all year. That’s probably due to some changes with what they run, but the staff mix also makes a difference. With Milton in the starting lineup and Burks off the bench, they have more ball handlers on the floor than they have had at any other time.
And as we mentioned earlier in the example of the Celtics series, I like that they sprinkled in some show / hedging against pick-and-rolls recently. They will be in round one against some creators at high level, to say nothing as they progress, and they must have changes to throw.
Of course, Winston Wolf had a line about this in Pulp Fiction. If performances turned into meaningless games, Sam Bradford would be brought to the Hall of Fame. This group has a lot to prove in the coming weeks.
The bad
• As a thought experiment, I really enjoy the Houston Rockets. They take the way basketball has been for years and just take it to the logical end point, use big wings like their big men and just go spread out on the floor.
However, it does make it a little easier to go all-in on that kind of experiment when you are just allowed to hit on the wrists of other great men all game. The Rockets hacked and pulled and swung at Embiid every time he was in the game and tried to set up shop, and although Embiid had his own problems determining position, it complicates matters if the opponent is allowed to do what they are told. you want to stop.
Anyway, get off my lawn, etc.
• Josh Richardson should be roughly three times better than he has been on defense to give the Sixers a shot against the Celtics. James Harden had a field day attack on Richardson on Friday night, burning him off the dribble, hitting him on back door cuts, and forcing other Sixers teammates to fire him or take fouls all evening.
If you consider the night that Thybulle had against Harden, Richardson does not leave with many excuses for his night.
The Ugly
‘I took a reasonable position on this earlier in the week, and I will not return, but I will say this: if the Sixers looked as fierce officially with Embiid out of the lineup as they did with Ben Simmons out’ the lineup, there would be many more people ready to send out the big fella at the first opportunity.
There is a lot of space on the floor despite the post-up center occupying the paint. You should be blind to not notice this.
Follow Kyle on Twitter: @KyleNeubeck
Like us on Facebook: PhillyVoice Sports
Subscribe to Kyle’s Sixers podcast “The New Slant” on Call, Google, en Spotify
.
