sixes Bell Ringer Regular Season Ranking:
Joel Embid: 31
Tyrese Maxey: 16
Seth Curry: 8
Tobias Harris: 6
Andre Drummond: 3
Matisse Thybulle: 3
Jacob Harden: 3
Furkan Korkmaz: 1
Charles Bassey: 1
Paul Millsap: 1
It was actually a showdown between two ones on a Sunday as the Philadelphia 76ers (leading in a tie with the Miami Heat for first place in the East) took on the red-hot Phoenix Suns. Devin Booker’s squad has been pretty much the best team in the NBA all season. They are elite on both ends of the floor. Chris Paul bounced back in his second game after missing more than a month with a broken thumb and CP3 looks to be mostly the ground general we’re used to again.
The Sixers had their chances in this game but were eventually overwhelmed. They fell 114-104 and faded the stretch in a game that seemed closer than the final score would suggest.
Let’s set up our ringtone.
Joel Embiid: 37 points, 15 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, 2 blocks
Photo by Barry Gossage/NBAE via Getty Images
Each team’s MVP nominee came out swinging as Embiid’s Sixers and Devin Booker’s Suns offensively traded Haymakers from the vault.
Embiid played almost the entire opening frame and was a problem for the Deandre Ayton-Bismack Biyombo duo. Joel finished the first with 15 points and four boards. He ran it inside and out, finishing some in fabulous ways:
Embiid had an unusually poor first half on the strip. He was only 5 out of 9 at the break. But then he got it.
Scary moment to keep in mind. With 1:36 left in the third quarter, Embiid limped off the floor. A game or two earlier, he found himself all alone under the rim, completing a layup when Booker may have settled under Embiid’s landing pad. Booker came over to check on him and stated it was pure accident. But Embiid was seen grimacing on the bench and winced after landing hard on one of his echoing blocks upon his return. Hopefully it doesn’t swell because this man is on an absolute mission. It’s a shame he didn’t have a little more help, as the future MVP played well enough to claim another Signature win.
Tobias Harris: 17 points 2 assists, 8 rebounds
Photo by Kate Frese/NBAE via Getty Images
Harris struggled a lot in the team’s early games with The Beard. But he returned to the defensive end of the field and suddenly his offense has started to improve as well.
Harris lost five of his first six shots to Phoenix, got buckets in half over smaller players, made good reads, and folded for finishes as well.
There might be something to that desert air, as Harris was in his pocket in the first half, hitting the spin and then the scoop:
Harris was great in the minutes that Embiid sat in the second quarter as the Sixers kind of went up 15, although DeAndre Jordan was out there too. Tobi had 15 points at half-time and Philly led 64-60 at half-time.
Unfortunately there was a break and he couldn’t keep it up in the second half. He finished the rest of the ball game with two points.
James Harden: 14 points, 9 assists, 7 rebounds, 2-11 from the floor
Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images
After a game against the Los Angeles Clippers in which Harden dominated, this was a huge disappointment. Sigh.
It hurts because Harden just wasn’t playing well and didn’t look right health-wise.
We’re putting Harden in here, not because he’s worthy of being the ringtone. But unfortunately it’s because we just have to talk about it.
The worst news of the weekend is that Alaa Abdelnaby found The Beard grabbing his hamstring area about eight and a half minutes before the end of the show. And he was. He didn’t get out of the game, but he looked pretty limited out there.
Prior to that point, it was a mixed bag at best for Harden and ultimately another very disappointing performance for him against an elite team. It’s something that’s all too common for him in 2021-2022 and both Nets fans and Sixers fans can tell you about it now.
Doc Rivers said The Beard’s hamstring “isn’t there yet,” but the team hopes it will be by playoff time. He’s working with a specialist to try and get that right but it’s possible he had a setback on Sunday. We will also keep an eye on that.
Difficult stretch: The Sixers were in the second 15th with 7:21 to go. Harden missed a three, Chris Paul hit one, then Harden had a surefire layup, but looking for a follow-up, he turned an easy two or three into a flagrant foul for Philly by elbowing former sixer Landry Shamet. The Suns nailed their free throw and a three and boom, it was a six or seven point swing. It seemed like a major turning point in the ballgame and reminded me of when the Sixers recently took a big lead against the Denver Nuggets and then quickly let that team back into the game.
That started a 13-0 run for Phoenix that cut the lead to four at the half.
Harden makes such effortless pocket passes on his pick-and-rolls with Joel Embiid, but too often he lets defenders catch up to him when he’s looking to finish around the trophy.
Tyrese Maxey had one of his toughest games in a long time. We just mention him here, as well as a not-so-honorable mention. But that’s not really shocking for a player who just turned 21. It could be an ominous reminder that this team depends on a player so young who has been great for most of the season but with all the highs we’ve seen can continue to have occasional lows.
With a showdown against the Bucks on Tuesday and eight games to go, we have to hope for sanity before anything placement or seeding matters.
Who was the ringer on Sunday?