3 observations after Sixers come back to win first in-season tourney game originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The Sixers are 7-1 and have their first NBA in-season tournament win under their belt.
They can say that thanks to a second-half comeback Friday night at Little Caesars Arena, where the Sixers ultimately notched a 114-106 victory over the Pistons.
Joel Embiid had 33 points and 16 rebounds. Tyrese Maxey posted 29 points, 11 assists, six rebounds, three steals and no turnovers.
Tobias Harris scored 24 points.
Detroit’s top scorers were Killian Hayes (23 points) and Cade Cunningham (21 points). Jaden Ivey, Alec Burks, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Joe Harris, Isaiah Livers and Monte Morris were all sidelined for the 2-8 Pistons.
With the win, the Sixers moved to 1-0 in East Group A of the in-season tournament, which includes the Pistons, Pacers, Hawks and Cavs. Both the Eastern and Western Conference have three groups. The winner of every group and two “wild card” teams — the top second-place finisher from each conference — will qualify for the NBA Cup quarterfinals.
Here’s the Sixers’ remaining group play schedule:
• Tuesday, Nov. 14 vs. Indiana, 7 p.m. ET
• Friday, Nov. 17 at Atlanta, 7:30 p.m. ET
• Tuesday, Nov. 21 vs. Cleveland, 7:30 p.m. ET
Before that upcoming in-season tournament game against the 6-3 Pacers, the Sixers will also host Indiana on Sunday night. They’ll enter the two-game mini-series with a 5-0 record at Wells Fargo Center and an NBA-best seven-game winning streak overall.
Here are observations on their victory Friday over Detroit:
A dreary first quarter
Embiid matched up against 19-year-old Pistons center Jalen Duren. Neither he nor the Sixers began sharply.
After Embiid missed an early top-of-the-key jumper, Duren sprinted out and slammed in a dunk. A minute or so later, Embiid sealed deep in the paint but Harris didn’t give him the ball. Harris wound up turning it over and No. 5 overall pick Ausar Thompson scored a fast-break layup off of the giveaway.
The Sixers had a similarly cold jump shooting start as in their win Wednesday over the Celtics, opening 0 for 5 from three-point range. Meanwhile, Cunningham drained four mid-range jumpers inside of five minutes, finding the soft spot with Embiid in drop coverage.
Sixers head coach Nick Nurse decided to keep Embiid in after he picked up his second foul with 2:48 left in the first quarter. Embiid at least made it through the rest of the period without any further foul trouble, but the Sixers’ first quarter was sparse on silver linings.
A wide-open Marcus Sasser jumper at the first-period buzzer put the Pistons up 33-21. It’s rare to see the Sixers be so comprehensively outplayed when Embiid’s in for an entire quarter. Many of the energy-related fundamentals that had been strong for the Sixers over their first seven games such as transition superiority and consistent pursuit of offensive rebounds were absent. No Sixer besides Embiid had any first-half offensive rebounds.
Morris struggles, second unit looks better after halftime
Robert Covington sunk a transition three on his first touch. The Sixers’ bench was otherwise largely ineffective in the first half, though.
Embiid played at the end of the first quarter next to four second-unit players. One of them was Marcus Morris Sr., who received his first meaningful minutes since being traded to his hometown team.
Morris couldn’t generate anything positive. Embiid tried to get the 34-year-old forward a post-up early in the shot clock, but the reigning MVP threw the ball out of bounds. Morris’ stint included two personal fouls, a technical foul, and a layup conceded to Duren after he switched onto the big man and allowed him to cut behind.
Unlike Nicolas Batum in his debut game, Morris didn’t fit intuitively, knock down jumpers or showcase defensive versatility. Adapting to a new team isn’t as easy as Batum made it seem, but Morris will clearly need to be much better than he was Friday to earn a regular rotation spot.
Though Detroit’s bench outscored the Sixers’ 17-3 in the first half, Nurse’s post-intermission changes helped.
Morris didn’t enter in the second half and Jaden Springer played over Patrick Beverley. Batum played the whole fourth quarter until garbage time and continued to appear quite useful in a variety of ways. He’s capable of handling guards, wings and some interior players defensively, so there’s no reason to hesitate about including him in lineups that switch everything or switch one through four.
Covington’s role wasn’t as major, but he absolutely lived up to the “3-and-D” label, picking up four steals in just 14 minutes.
Two stars forcefully lead the comeback
The Sixers’ low point came when they went down 49-33 on a Marvin Bagley III transition dunk.
Their collective physicality and attention to detail improved from there, although the Pistons still held an eight-point halftime lead. The Sixers shot just 31.7 percent from the field over the first two quarters.
To no one’s surprise, Maxey and Embiid remained the Sixers’ top offensive options, grew more efficient and led the team’s comeback push. Embiid popped after screening for Maxey and drilled a three to knot the game at 60-all early in the third quarter.
Embiid’s 14th made free throw finally pulled the Sixers ahead for the first time late in the third. Detroit didn’t have Duren for the final 17:42 because of a right ankle injury, which meant handling Embiid was even a bit more challenging.
Oubre and Batum were among the Sixers’ main defenders on Cunningham after halftime. The team was significantly more aggressive in its defensive approach against the 2021 No. 1 pick following his comfortable start, blitzing some ball screens and shading harder help Cunningham’s way. Those adjustments were logical and worked well.
Yet again, Maxey’s lack of turnovers impressed along with his creative finishing, defensive activity and raw speed. Eight games in, Maxey’s recorded 60 assists and eight turnovers.
As a team, the Sixers had a 27-5 advantage in points off turnovers. Even on nights when plenty goes wrong for the Sixers, Maxey’s scoring and safe decision-making now seem very reliable. He’s posted at least 18 points in every game and only committed more than one turnover twice.