Joint Tracking...Sixers (GM. 1 of 2 • 12/12-12/15)
SUBJECT: PHILADELPHIA 76ers (14-13)
GAME 1 OF 2
12/12 @ MIN • W, 118-112 • OT
BARO
Philly escaped with a hard fought, OT victory @ MIN this past Tuesday. Without starting forward Robert Covington, Brett Brown's group faced a (near) full-strength Wolves squad...pushing them to the brink before going away w/ a W in OT.
Joel Embiid's dominance is the key story - he played a career-high 39 min. and poured in a monster double-double: 28 pts, 12 boards & 8! dimes. The play of both J. Embiid & Ben Simmons is a main focus of the week. Simmons suffered thru a miserable night - 7, 8 dimes, 7 TOs - yet, the Sixers were still able to come away w/ victory.
Nights like these are encouraging - if you consider Simmons's poor play an aberration, which it is, winning despite him struggling is a positive*.
Embiid truly delivered as go-to guy, w/ clutch buckets both down the stretch of regulation & later in OT.
Trevor Booker, another player to watch, was very effective in his 19 min. - he disrupted MIN's flow, made hustle plays in the 3rd and provided a few buckets: finished w/ 12, 5 & 5 dimes.
*also overcame 24 team TOs!
FALC
Frontcourt: T. Booker clocked in at right under 20 minutes tonight shooting a highly effective 75% from the field with 12 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists. His versatility was well appreciated in Covington’s absence, but even when Covington returns, Booker should still provide solid value to the Sixers’ rotation. Holmes and Booker played pretty well together, providing plenty of energy down low which fueled a lot of important defensive possessions. Booker was especially active with 6 contested shots and 4 loose balls recovered, and 3 deflections; the making of a hustler out on the floor.
Rebounds: Although Philadelphia eclipsed Minnesota by a margin of two rebounds (52-50), they were killed on the offensive glass which played a factor in Minnesota’s ability to stay within reach a large part of the contest. There wasn’t a ton of boxing out by Philly’s frontcourt, which lead to easy putbacks by Towns and co. However, Philly’s best rebounding front court combo included Holmes, Embiid, and Saric at 27 combined when they were all on the floor at the same time. (Interesting to note, Philly is the number one rebounding team in the entire NBA, followed by Charlotte, then the Lakers. Minnesota is 19th overall.)
J. Embiid: With a little love from some OT playing time and a career high in minutes, Embiid snagged 12 boards in his matchup with Minnesota, right on par with his set prediction.
Turnovers: Philly had a ton of turnovers in this contest, with some pretty silly passes in transition and little mental mistakes that seriously could have cost them an otherwise hard-fought matchup. They coughed up the ball 26 times in comparison to Minnesota’s 10.So far, Philly is on par shooting 50% from the field.
QUICK NOTES
- BARO: PHI struggled to take care of the rock (24 TOs) but also moved the ball very well? (32 dimes)
- FALC: 11 threes on 26 attempts
- BARO: J. Butler (MIN) got off (38 pts), PHI had trouble checking him w/o R. Covington
- FALC: Big night from R. Holmes (15 pts, 11 rebounds)
- BARO: J. Redick's complementary scoring (26 pts) has been money all year
- FALC: 5 players in double figures (Embiid: 28, Redick: 26, Holmes: 15, Saric; 14, Booker: 12
Next: 12/15 v. OKC