3 observations after Sixers scrape by Magic for overtime win originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The Sixers just about forced their way across the finish line Sunday night in Orlando.
Their performance was full of flaws, but the bottom line is the team moved to 41-25 with a 116-114 overtime win over the Magic.
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On the Sixers' final possession of regulation, Orlando double teamed Joel Embiid on the right wing. He passed the ball out to Tyrese Maxey, who missed a long three-point try.
The Sixers trailed 113-109 after consecutive Cole Anthony threes in overtime but managed to avoid a disheartening defeat. James Harden drove and threw a kick-out pass to Tobias Harris, who made a long-distance shot with 31.7 seconds left to give the Sixers a 114-113 lead.
After some further drama and missed free throws by both teams, Anthony couldn't sink a game-winning three from the right wing at the buzzer.
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Embiid's 35 points, 16 rebounds and seven assists led the Sixers. Harden and Harris scored 26 points each.
Magic big man Wendell Carter Jr. had 23 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks.
The Sixers will host the Nuggets on Monday night. Here are observations on their narrow victory over the Magic:
Yet another dreadful start
The Sixers’ early-game woes persisted.
On a positive first-quarter note, Harris began the night well. He scored seven of the Sixers’ first eight points, knocking down a short jumper off of a designed play, a catch-and-shoot wing three-pointer, and a driving layup.
Almost everything else about the opening period was negative for the Sixers, though. The team's transition defense and overall energy were big problems. Jalen Suggs got two effortless transition layups and the Magic posted the first 17 fast-break points of the game. Carter put Orlando up 57-40 with a thoroughly unbothered top-of-the-key three.
Coming off of an abysmal home loss Thursday to the Nets, the Sixers’ inability to exhibit anything resembling solid defensive execution early on was baffling. The Sixers appeared especially slow in Sunday’s first half, and that’s not all about insurmountable personnel deficiencies or Orlando being a young team with plenty of athletic, versatile players.
Of course, things look worse for the Sixers when their All-Stars don’t convert the contested shots the team relies on them making. Harden followed up his 3-for-17 performance against Brooklyn by going 1 for 8 before intermission and missing a step-back three at the buzzer. Embiid started 4 for 16 and took no foul shots in the first period.
The Magic’s bench decisively outplayed the Sixers’, too. With head coach Doc Rivers returning to a nine-man rotation (Isaiah Joe was back in the mix), Georges Niang scored 16 of the Sixers' 19 second-unit points in the game. Orlando's bench posted 51 points.
No immediate solutions with Thybulle
After Saturday’s practice, Embiid talked at length with Harden and assistant coach Sam Cassell about finding better ways to use Matisse Thybulle and force defenses to guard him.
The early returns on that front weren’t remotely encouraging. Thybulle cut often into the paint when Embiid posted up, but his off-ball movement didn’t meaningfully open anything up for the Sixers. Embiid couldn’t thread a pass through to him after one first-quarter cut. The Sixers tried having Thybulle flash to the high post on a Harden-Embiid pick-and-roll, but the team doesn’t yet appear to have consistently good answers for how to handle those situations. On a third-quarter possession that concluded with Harden misfiring on a tough step-back three, Thybulle and Harris both somehow ended up in the right corner.
Thybulle’s general offensive awkwardness increases the difficulty of placing him in productive positions. He’s hurried and unrefined as a finisher outside of dunks. When he handles the ball for longer than a second or two, he seems in serious danger of turning it over, as he did when Markelle Fultz swiped a steal from behind in the first quarter. The Sixers want Thybulle to maintain confidence, shoot when open and chip in offensively while playing outstanding defense. However, there are undoubtedly legitimate reasons to question whether he can pull that off.
Thybulle picked up his third foul early in the second quarter on an Anthony turnaround jumper attempt. In his 18 minutes, he had no points on 0-for-4 shooting, two rebounds and a steal. With the exception of brief late-game stints where Thybulle was used as a defensive substitute, Niang played over him in the fourth quarter and overtime.
Hiccups aplenty, but star-centric style works
The Sixers showed signs of life in the third quarter.
Harden and Harris made early threes, Embiid started drawing fouls like he usually does, and the team’s transition defense improved. That last item was a low bar to clear.
Fultz (eight points, 11 assists) restored a 10-point advantage for the Magic with a triple early in the fourth quarter, though, and an irritated Rivers called timeout.
Thanks to shotmaking from Harden, Embiid and Niang, the Sixers kept pushing Orlando. When Harden and Embiid hit back-to-back threes over Franz Wagner to give the Sixers a 101-98 lead, it seemed the team was on the verge of being bailed out by its big names.
Ultimately, the Sixers were fortunate that their stars' crunch-time mishaps didn't result in a loss. Among the plays to fall under that umbrella were Harden being beaten for an offensive board by Wagner with a little under two minutes remaining in regulation, an 0-for-2 Embiid trip to the foul line (he finished 15 for 17), and a blown layup by Harris following an effective baseline out-of-bounds play.
The assist to Harris for the go-ahead bucket was an example of Harden creating offense for others simply by attracting attention and being a high-level passer. But there were many instances in which the Sixers lacked ball and player movement as Harden sized up his matchup and wound down the shot clock. He deserves those chances to take tricky, important shots, but the Sixers were sometimes stagnant and rather one-dimensional. Maxey again had few opportunities in half-court offense when next to Harden and Embiid.
The Sixers still won, however, because that duo is very hard to defend even when below its best. Embiid and Harden combined to shoot 14 for 47 from the floor and 28 of 32 from the foul line.
