March 23, 2024
Kiyoshi Mio/USA TODAY Sports
The Sixers' offense came up small yet again in the team's loss to the Los Angeles Lakers Friday night.
Looking to rebound after a disappointing loss in Phoenix to begin their four-game west coast road trip, the Sixers headed to Los Angeles Friday night for the first of two matchups in the city. Up first: LeBron James, Anthony Davis and the Lakers. After hanging in there for much of the game thanks to an impressive defensive showing, the Sixers ran out of gas yet again, falling 101-94. Here is what stood out from the Sixers' second consecutive loss:
It was a valiant effort from the Sixers, but their offense was poor for most of the night, and that only escalated in the fourth quarter, when the Sixers scored just 18 points. Tyrese Maxey's second half performance was very good, but his support was nonexistent: Harris and Oubre each shot just 6-18 from the field, highlighting a dismal offensive showing from everyone other than the All-Star point guard.
While the Sixers dream of what things may look like when (or if) Embiid returns, things are crumbling in his absence. With every passing day, the team appears more likely to make its first ever appearance in the NBA's Play-In Tournament.
After missing three games due to an ankle ailment, Harris returned to action Friday night, replacing Nic Batum in the starting lineup. From the first possession and on, Harris was extremely aggressive as a scorer. Harris has never been much of a facilitator for others, but with that being said he was particularly assertive in seeking out his own looks early on, taking eight field goal attempts in as many minutes in just the first quarter. Harris only made two of those eight first quarter shot attempts, not a surprise given that he was already struggling mightily before missing time with his injury.
Even if one is to have gripes with a few of the shots Harris took -- which would be more than fair -- it is at least a step in the right direction that Harris was decisive. The worst version of Harris is a player who is constantly overthinking things, stagnating offense through their indecision. At the very least, this was not that.
The Sixers' defensive performance in Phoenix was lousy, so limiting the Lakers to 50 points in the first half on 37.5 percent field goal shooting was a major step in the right direction. D'Angelo Russell was just about the only Laker to shoot the ball well from beyond the arc, and while some of the Lakers' struggles can be attributed to their poor shooting, it is also worth noting that the Lakers looked visibly frustrated by the Sixers' perimeter defenders.
Kyle Lowry, Kelly Oubre Jr., Batum and Harris all did a tremendous job managing their defensive duties in the first half, thanks to a physical brand of basketball that bothered LA's ball-handlers. The Lakers' offensive-oriented backcourt pairing of Russell and Austin Reaves shot a combined 3-12 from the field in the first half, while LeBron James committed four turnovers and scored just seven points on 2-7 shooting from the field. In addition to their tremendous perimeter defense, the Sixers got some help on the back line: while Paul Reed only logged eight minutes in the first half -- largely due to foul trouble -- Mo Bamba swatted three of his former team's shots by the time intermission came around.
The most glaring hole the Sixers have with Joel Embiid sidelined, of course, is the more than 35 points per game that he was averaging before the back-to-back reigning NBA scoring champion and reigning NBA MVP went down with his meniscus injury in January. But Embiid has also long served as the anchor of the Sixers' defense, and their rim protection has been subpar ever since he went down, resulting in the team's overall defense largely cratering. The Sixers' first half performance on that end of the floor could serve as a major step in the right direction.
Maxey had a rare off night in Phoenix, scoring just six points in 29 minutes and shooting 3-13 from the field. Typically, Maxey quickly bounces back from those games with impressive scoring outputs. But Maxey still did not look like himself for much of this one. He scored just five points on 2-7 shooting in the first half, and only shot one free throw (he shot none in Phoenix, just his third game of the season without at least one free throw attempt).
Maxey is simply too good for a two-game dry spell to inspire serious concerns, but with Embiid out and the races in the Eastern Conference standings escalating, the Sixers cannot afford many more no-shows from their first-time All-Star guard.
So, it was a relief for the Sixers and their offense when Maxey got going a bit in the third quarter. He knocked down a masterful step-back triple over Russell after creating a comical amount of separation with the move that he has mastered, and started consistently getting downhill -- something few players can do on command the way he can thanks to his elite speed and first step.
Maxey has had trouble consistently drawing foul calls recently, but in this one he did not let that negatively impact his approach. He was still going hard to the rim and playing through contact. Maxey remains relentless in the face of adversity, which he deserves credit for.
Bamba knocked down two triples in this one -- marking six consecutive games in which he has connected from deep -- but his impact on the game was much greater than his shooting line would lead one to believe. He had the aforementioned trio of blocked shots in the first half, and was easily the Sixers' most effective center in the game. Reed struggled quite a bit against Davis and KJ Martin's crack at center minutes was short-lived after a few defensive breakdowns, making Bamba's well-rounded showing particularly valuable.
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