March 30, 2019
The Sixers had to do it the hard way — because they are the Sixers — but they went on the road and got a win over the Timberwolves without Joel Embiid. Thanks to big nights from Ben Simmons and Jonah Bolden, the Sixers started their brief road trip off with a 118-109 win over Minnesota.
Here's what I saw on Saturday night.
• There are a few different ways to respond to your organization benching its best player to rest down the stretch. With the Sixers up against a trio of teams outside the playoff picture on this road trip, it wouldn't have been a shock to see them let their guard down against the Minnesota Timberwolves. But instead of mailing it in, the Sixers came out guns blazing on the road.
That hot start was led by a trio of players, and while you expect Tobias Harris and Ben Simmons to get theirs every night, Jonah Bolden's first quarter was a sight to behold. After spending the last few weeks mostly out of the rotation, Bolden took advantage of a rare opportunity to start, coming up with eight points, four rebounds, two blocks, and a whole lot of energy in the opening period.
Bolden has struggled to stay out of foul trouble in the past, so I was impressed with the fact that he didn't try to do too much in his return to the rotation. He showed the change of pace he can give you as a big man off of the bench, offering a lot more high flying than you're ever going to see from Boban Marjanovic:
Here is Jonah Bolden eating Towns’ lunch. Like he did for the entire first quarter. Eat up KAT 👇 pic.twitter.com/dyBr19UUrv
— Thiago (@TScabbia) March 31, 2019
I give Bolden a lot of credit for staying ready in a tough situation. Sometimes you need young guys in the rotation just to simply keep the energy levels up during down periods of the season, and Bolden was a catalyst for Philly. If not for the night Simmons had, he would have easily been the player of the game for Philadelphia.
(Of course, after avoiding fouls early, Bolden was a foul machine in the second half, so it really was the ultimate Jonah bolden performance.)
• As for the big performers for Philadelphia on Saturday night, Harris and Simmons are basically impossible for Minnesota to match with their personnel. Every option is basically either too slow or too weak to guard them. So it was great to see both guys put their stamp on this game early, powering Philadelphia to a hot start.
The matchup combined with more early touches allowed Harris to break out of a mini-funk, with his offensive versatility proving difficult for Minnesota to deal with. Without Embiid on the floor camping out around the lane, Harris was able to do more work around the basket, and he used some of those possessions to hit open shooters and keep the ball moving. And of course, he was the great finisher everyone knows he can be, finishing the night with 25 points to lead the way for Philly:
Tobias Harris (15 PTS) paced the @sixers in the first half in Minnesota!
— NBA TV (@NBATV) March 31, 2019
Catch the second half on NBA TV 📺 #HereTheyCome pic.twitter.com/oN4a2drvu0
Simmons, on the other hand, just absolutely shredded Minnesota with his passing. There are times when his desire to get flashy can hurt the team, but when he's in a zone (and playing a bad defense, in fairness) he pulls off some of the prettiest passes in the league. Floating passes off of one foot, bounce passes through traffic, interior dimes, he really can do it all there.
He also was ready to play defense from minute one in Minnesota, and the Sixers needed that without Embiid on the floor. Simmons was a little overzealous trying to jump passing lanes, but he also stonewalled the Wolves all by himself on a couple possessions, including one where Andrew Wiggins looked to have a path to take off for a dunk. Instead, Simmons beat him to the spot, knocked the ball loose, and Minnesota had to recycle the possession.
Philadelphia's point guard was a +18 at the end of the first half, and that felt like an accurate representation of how good he was.
• One more note on Simmons — with the Sixers nursing a comfortable lead coming out of halftime, it was Simmons who came out and led by example in the early minutes of the second half. He may not be some super vocal, rah-rah guy as a leader, but he is one of the team's tone setters and I don't think he always gets the proper credit for that.
• With losses by the Celtics and Pacers on Saturday, the Sixers are now 4.5 games clear of both teams with six games left on their schedule. Barring a spectacular collapse, they are going to have the No. 3 seed locked up mathematically quite soon, which is a great outcome for a team that at one point looked to be in danger of drawing Boston in round one.
There will be no easy outs, but the Sixers have begun to cement themselves as a fixture near the top of the conference. For a team that underwent a dramatic rebuild just a few short years ago, they're in a great place.
• I'm not sure if it was the early back issue slowing him down or if Butler was just a little too jazzed up to face his old teammates in Minnesota, but he was absolutely horrendous on offense. Some of the bad habits he has developed, like passing up an open corner three to dribble out the clock for a long, contested two reemerged against the Timberwolves. Add that on top of a lot of ineffective hero ball, and it was simply a brutal night for the former Wolves player.
On a more positive note, I thought this game provided evidence of how Butler can be an impactful defender even when he's not blowing up plays on-ball. Butler's tendency to cheat away from his man to dig for steals can burn the Sixers at times, but he sent well-timed help at Minnesota's players, particularly Karl Anthony-Towns.
And even though Butler's shots were not dropping, he didn't use that as an excuse to quit on plays. He was a force on the offensive glass all throughout the night, and if every "bad" Butler performance looked like this one, there would be a lot less concern about paying him the max for the next five years.
• It gets very tiresome watching the same script play out over and over and over again. The Sixers jump out to an early lead, slowly allow their opponent to get back in the game, and eventually, it's a dogfight in the final period. Doesn't really matter how good or bad the team is, that's how this goes.
The Sixers (and other less than impartial sources) have highlighted the teams record in "clutch games" this season, which I think is a load of nonsense. They end up in these games because they wither in second halves, and their efficiency numbers are not particularly good in those moments, either. They end up winning because they build big enough leads to protect themselves from complete disaster.
Embiid or not, the Sixers have the talent to slam the door shut on teams like the Timberwolves in late March. But the moment their offense slows down, their defensive holes become so much more obvious. It's a lot harder to rely on just outscoring teams in the playoffs.
• No idea why Amir Johnson got any run in this game, let alone 10 minutes. If the Sixers are committed to seeing what Boban has to offer before the playoffs start, there's no better opportunity to let that play out than in a game without Embiid. But he did not appear in the second half after a pedestrian effort in the first half, which is sort of puzzling when the guy you go to instead is Johnson.
Brown stuck with him despite Johnson doing nothing to impact the game on defense, which is really the only place you're going to get any theoretical value out of him. I don't get it.
(And by the way, Brown was bailed out of a terrible decision by an inability to make a sub. He tried to bring Johnson back into the game late in the fourth, and he had been able to get Johnson in the game, who knows how the game plays out. Bad process afoot.)
• How the hell do you get called for an eight-second violation in the final minute of a game? I thought I was drunk when I saw that happen.
• I completely understand the urge Minnesota fans had to boo Jimmy Butler on Saturday. Booing the guy when he pulled up lame on a play in the first quarter and ended up walking gingerly to the sideline? That's bogus.
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