The 66ers swept past Joel Embiid and James Harden for a big win over the Dallas Mavericks on Friday night, breaking away in the fourth quarter to win 111–101.
That’s what I saw.
Good
• It’s hard to believe people were concerned about Joel Embiid’s ability to play hard pick-and-roll against James Harden. The second quarter of Friday night’s game was devoted to this two-man attack in center court, and the Mavericks, who had greatly improved their defense this season, were virtually powerless to stop it.
Just because Embiid isn’t a high-flying dunker, as it turns out, doesn’t mean he can’t succeed if he puts up a screen and has room in front of him. Since the Mavs were sending two players to Harden for most of the game, Embiid had to determine the location and intentions of the inferior man in favor of Dallas by attacking as a scorer or finding the gap created by the rotation. I’m not sure he ever did as well as he did in the second quarter on Friday night.
Every time Embiid found success in this place, Dallas overreacted and expected the same approach again, and Embiid read it in real time and won in a different way. As they rolled hard toward him, Embiid found Tobias Harris for a dunk under the basket. When Spencer Dinwiddie was expecting another possession pass later, Embiid stepped into the open and threw a spectacular dunk, putting fans on their feet.
Embiid adapted to this new style faster than many expected. The 6ers certainly haven’t given up on his off-post bread and butter and they’re happy to let him attack guys in one-on-one situations whenever they can, but it’s a blessing for Embiid and his team that he no longer has to constantly create from the spot so that they score.
Clearly, the second half of this partnership was critical to this success. I understand that Harden has a long and storied record of goalscoring, but I honestly don’t understand why teams give Harden two players on almost every possession. This is a written invitation to Harden to create a wide open view for a shooter or pass the ball to Embiid with space in front of him. Bounce passes, back passes, crosses, it doesn’t really matter how he’s supposed to get the ball there. He’s looking for his guys in space and all that’s left to do is finish.
For most of the game, Harden’s individual effectiveness was low, back triples never dropped, and his rim attacks weren’t overly successful unless he could foul them. But as the game hung in the balance to open the fourth quarter, Harden was the spearhead for Philadelphia as they opened that game wide. Between ring outs and stepback jumping, Harden was successful, which infuriated the Wells Fargo Center:
Whether a scoring drought matters will ultimately be determined by how teams choose to defend him in the postseason. If they continue to give him the respect he almost always gets, it almost doesn’t matter if he’s a prolific goalscorer. Fear is the biggest currency in the NBA, and the Mavs were horrified by Harden on Friday. Everyone around him has been able to benefit from the attention he has garnered before he even started skating, including DeAndre Jordan, who I’ve mentioned numerous times in this column so far.
One or two hits from Philadelphia were more than enough to crush the Mavericks on Friday night, and this game shows you why they wanted to go out and get a guy like Harden in the first place. He can set up the big guy, hunt down the weakest defender on the court, and create eye after eye for the rest of the guys on the team.
• Aggressive Harris has become a welcome sight of late, even if his aggression doesn’t pay off right away. Perhaps the reality of this situation has developed – if Harris does not take advantage of the opportunities provided to him, he may not get another one for some time. Whatever the reason(s) for this, Harris’ increased interest in shooting throw-and-throw triples goes a long way in Philadelphia if he makes a good chunk out of them.
The 66ers are getting enough from Harris at his best. When he moves to block and attack, it is when he has some pretty obvious mismatches with an opponent, like when he hooked Jalen Brunson on his hip while in possession in the first half. Generally speaking, Harris was causing damage by simply blending in and being where he needed to be, and the team’s two leading stars were confident that he got the ball exactly when and where he was supposed to get it.
There was a game in the fourth quarter that I think illustrates the difference between this version of Harris and the more passive shooter that disappointed the fans. Having received a cross-court pass from Embiid, whom he had to fight to keep out of bounds, Harris never guessed which decision was the right one. As soon as he was able to put his feet back on the ground, the shot went up and he took the third corner.
I’d say Harris deserves equal, if not more, respect for his defensive commitment lately, especially given how rambling and uninterested the Sixers have looked overall. He’s had bad moments like anyone else against Dallas, but he’s been a surprisingly solid defensive end lately, taking on everything from Luka Doncic to Brunson to Dwight Powell on Friday night. Defending off the ball can be an adventure, but he finds ways to contribute and they need everyone else on the roster to take the same approach.
• The 66ers have often fallen victim to the zone defense, but we rarely see them play it themselves for long periods of time. They decided to go up against the Dallas Mavericks, not thrilled with the idea of anyone other than Matisse Tiboul performing Doncic’s single.
For a team that doesn’t use the zone much, they didn’t look too bad in it, although they admittedly lost a few open threes to Dallas because of it early in this game. Embiid was able to intercept the ball during one possession in the first quarter, roaming the shaded area, translating his instincts in their traditional covering into a defensive style he said he had not enjoyed much in the past.
There were possessions where they just got away with the playing area, and some were reassuring because of their ability to get things done. For example, when you can complete possession when Powell hits a free throw jumper, that’s a big win over this team from Dallas.
With so many potential weak links in Philadelphia’s defensive chain, it’s not hard to imagine a playoff streak that relies heavily on zone effectiveness to win at the highest levels. If they can keep the playability of certain guys while minimizing the impact of their weak individual defense, they might just be able to get away with lineups that will buff their offense.
• Justice is justice – if I’m going to kill Jordan for a bad game, he deserves credit when he makes a positive contribution. One thing that separates Jordan from many backup centers in the league is that he understands what he should and shouldn’t do on offense, and if he gets into a spot where he shouldn’t shoot or pass, he’s fast. to knock the ball out of your hands.
That’s fine with Harden, because all he needs from Jordan is to get to the rim with enough running lane to get up and score the ball. Jordan’s performance was better in this game, he had more success around the rim, and he looked like the guy I’m sure the Sixers were hoping for when they caught him after he left the Lakers.
• Taibule had a perfect evening from the field, with two of his three shots coming from long range. This is something you don’t often see, so enjoy the feeling. Dallas completely ignored him and he made them pay.
Badly
• Generally speaking, I think the 66ers did a good job with Doncic about 90% of the time he was on the floor. Unfortunately, they bailed him out at the last minute on many of those plays by committing stupid fouls and gambling for no reason, allowing him to keep up the attack on the free throw line while his jumper struggled to catch up.
Philadelphia defensemen have been committing rough fouls frequently lately, and this bad habit has wiped out much of their best work. If you play well defensively within the 20 second shot clock, you need to be sure that your good position will be enough to win the ball.
A good example from the game against Dallas – Harris did an amazing job to stay ahead of Doncic and get the Mavericks to burn almost all shot time during possession in the first half, and I thought he was badly hurt by the foul. . when he reached out as the time for the throw was running out. But that reach wasn’t necessary to begin with, and if Harris had just let Doncic take a mean look as he fell from the basket, he’d have had a moment to hang his hat.
• I think we’ve come to the point where someone needs to talk to Embiid about his transition game. Embiid’s ability to handle the ball and pick up the pace was a big boost in itself at the start of this season, and it’s still great to see him actually being able to do it. But lately there have been too many headless chicken attempts and they no longer need him to do everything himself.
When Furkan Korkmaz sometimes played point guard, you let the big man do what he wants. When one of Maxi or Harden is constantly on the floor, just throw the ball to your lead guy on the perimeter and start running towards the hoop.
Ugly
• One of the Sixers from Unit 76, who runs around the court during TV time-outs, was proposed during the game, and judging by the tears streaming down her face, she seemed to be flustered by the matter. I am not an arena proposer and I certainly doubt the very idea behind proposing to someone who is in the middle of their job, but welcome the couple despite my Scrooge leanings.
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