The Sixers held a 26-point lead at halftime in their first Orlando scrimmage game, Ben Simmons attempted several triples, and the Philadelphia bench players would eventually lead them to a 90-83 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies. After all, a successful first game after a long hiatus.
This is Wach. It’s good to be back, you guys.
The good
• Ben Simmons attempted a three contested from the corner, which many would say is the most important thing that happened in Friday’s game.
This is not even the kind of attempt Simmons has been asking people for. Kyle Anderson is playing relatively close and he even has a decent contest. Simmons decided to let him shoot anyway, which is a quantum leap for him.
Simmons had an encore performance later in the game, this time nailing a three from the corner. The paradigm shift Brett Brown talked about this week? Perhaps that is something real. It is not as if Simmons has been unable to make shots, so if the mindset has really changed, look to hell.
But let’s put shooting aside for a second. Simmons may not have been the point guard, but the Sixers ended up running a ton of their offense through him anyway, predominantly with Simmons receiving the ball at the elbow. It’s a place they generally like to play in, but getting Simmons the ball is a game changer. He sprayed the ball all over the floor to the tune of nine assists from the first half, and any team trying to pin him down in the paint could easily make him turn on them.
Most importantly, he looked healthy after recovering from a back injury and going through a long rest.
• Shake Milton passed his first test with great success on Friday, looking directly home in an starting lineup that he had never played together outside of a practice setting. Taking Al Horford out of the starting lineup only means something if the new group can make the most of it, and they are off to a good start.
Comfortable is probably the best word to describe what Milton looked like on Friday. Not only was he the point guard in name only, he launched a major offensive through pick-and-pops with Embiid, and the two showed decent chemistry for the guys who have spent so little time together on the floor. Sprinkle a solid defense of three and you couldn’t have asked for more from him.
Brown has said he has every intention of trying to make this group work, and Milton is facilitating it so far.
• We weren’t able to see Joel Embiid’s dominant and postweight antics that were promised to everyone. Frankly, he was not at his best when he got the ball in the low block, and he will have to get going quickly. But if you are looking for someone who will crush you for shooting a lot of bridges, you know how to look elsewhere.
When Embiid is just throwing a bunch of three lazy trails, it’s worth discussing, but he was involved as a coach in the pick-and-pop game and two men, using his large frame to create clearance for the ball handlers, which often leads to open gazes. . It is a style of play that he has been reluctant to engage in at times, but is critical to his evolution into a multifaceted weapon.
Defensively, outside of perhaps one or two wandering possessions, Embiid’s readings were sharp and he used his size to make it difficult for Memphis to find space in the painting. That’s ultimately more important than his offensive efficiency, and his spine was strong around the edge.
• While we were on the defense issue, these guys were clearly ready to chase him as a unit. The cohesion was not always there, which is understandable after a four-month layoff, but the activity and effort were excellent from the jump, from its best players to the boys at the end of the rotation.
Embiid and Simmons led the charge for the headlines, Josh Richardson made life difficult for Ja Morant, Matisse Thybulle came in and became disruptive, even Furkan Korkmaz, often crushed as a defensive responsibility, had a great move to create Grizzlies. rotation in transition.
The Sixers have talked extensively about coming to Orlando with the right mindset and competitive fire that they’ve had in practice, and they don’t seem to be fuming.
• You may have underestimated Alec Burks’ chances of getting minutes in the playoffs. With the team running more pick-and-pops with their big boys, Burks is a natural beneficiary, and found himself looking good for himself without much fuss on Friday. Good first game.
Really, most of the guys competing for bench minutes (except maybe Mike Scott) looked solid in the opening game. Thybulle was the highlight, in part because of its highlights, but mainly because it was as active and disruptive as everyone remembers in defense.
They don’t have a shame of riches behind great weapons, but they do have NBA talent, which is not something they have always been able to say in recent years.
• I don’t have a lot of comments to add to these plays, but please enjoy a poster by Matisse Thybulle and a balloon from Simmons to Tobias Harris:
• One last thing: good minutes from Norvel Pelle in the second half, including his first three. If he sees the apartment for Philly in any environment other than trash time, something has gone wrong in Orlando, but good for him.
The bad
• They went up 26 points in the middle when all their headlines were playing, do they really want me to become hypercritical?
Okay, you’re right.
• On the bright side of Al Horford, he looks much better physically than the last time we saw him. Horford went up and down the floor well in transition, put his fingers on a couple of innings pitched at Jaren Jackson Jr., and he should Settle into a good role with the second unit.
However, even with those enhanced explosions, Horford’s ability to explode and finish was simply not there. He smoked a couple of relatively simple layouts, the Memphis greats pulled him out of his place too easily, and let’s be frank, Jaren Jackson Jr. passed it like he was standing in quicksand sometimes.
It’s a game, but since this should be the healthiest, all of these boys will be, and the youngest Horford will ever move forward, seeing all the old issues in a new environment is a bummer.
By the way, we saw Horford and Embiid share a frontcourt together, and it didn’t seem like a total mess. But you did see why playing together doesn’t make much sense: Horford was basically not involved in the offense in those minutes, and on the only touch he received, he committed an offensive foul. He’s not spacing the floor and he’s mostly just taking up real estate with these looks. We’ll see if they disappear in the playoffs.
The ugly one
• The microphone setup that NBC Sports Philadelphia was using for this game was … interesting. Leaning into the sounds inside the arena is one thing, but hearing loud noises every time the ball is haggled? No good
(Courtesy of the NBC folks, this could be an NBA decision as far as I know. Anyway, this is not the noise of the game that nobody wants to hear.)
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