By Sean Kennedy (@PhillyFastBreak)
Atlanta 104, Philadelphia 72 – Box Score
Things couldn’t have started out any better for the Sixers. On the very first possession of the game, Dwight Howard apparently didn’t get the memo about Joel Embiid’s range and the rookie center casually canned a triple. In the next minute, Embiid would also deny an alley-oop attempt to Howard, and score a bucket in transition. Add a three-pointer from fellow rookie Dario Saric and the Sixers led 8-0 before you had even finished your brunch.
Unfortunately though, Embiid struggled to stay on the floor, getting a few questionable foul calls against him and sitting much of the first half with 3 fouls. Without the big guy out there, things fell off a cliff faster than the pound post-Brexit vote. In his 15 minutes total on the afternoon, Embiid had a -3 plus/minus, which means that if I consult the ol’ calculator function in Windows, the team was a -31 without him on the court.
Defensively, rim protection was largely non-existent without Embiid, as people like Mike Muscala were able to shoot 7-8 from the field. Paul Millsap was steady as always with 17 points, and Kyle Korver was somehow left open often enough to hit 3-4 threes on his way to 15 points.
On the other end, the Sixers shot 35.0% as a team from the field, and committed 20 turnovers as compared to just 12 for the Hawks. There were plenty of culprits to point the finger at concerning the team’s shooting woes, but you could start with Robert Covington and Gerald Henderson, who were both 0-5 from the floor. Dario Saric also struggled with his shot again, ending the day 2-9 after hitting his first shot.
Aside from Embiid, the lone bright spot offensively was Sergio Rodriguez, who logged 14 points and 5 assists. El Chacho has shown a great ability to penetrate the lane and both feed his teammates and put up an array of floaters. Considering the Sixers are still struggling to move without the ball, Rodriguez’s play-making has been crucial to the team’s competency offensively, which the numbers have borne out.
Sixers' offense in 35 min. w/ Sergio Rodriguez off the floor (sin Chacho): 67.3 points scored per 100 possessions: https://t.co/J4RZJx8S74
— John Schuhmann (@johnschuhmann) October 29, 2016
As for the main bright spot, let’s set everything else out of our minds because Joel Embiid is the real deal. I mentioned his range from the outside, which set him up beautifully to put one of the NBA’s best defenders in Paul Millsap through the spin cycle.
Phenomenal weak side help from Joel Embiid. https://t.co/CBHNvQi3AI
— Jake Hyman (@JakeHymanTTP) October 29, 2016
Final line for Embiid: 15 minutes, 14 points, 2 blocks, countless hearts stolen.
Ultimately, Embiid once again flashed his franchise player potential, which is the team’s main concern until Ben Simmons gets back. Getting any production from the wings, having Saric find his comfort zone, and finding any sort of playmaking outside of Sergio are all secondary issues compared to Embiid and his health. We still can’t trust the Sixers to knock get blown out on a given afternoon, but it’s becoming more and more clear that we can trust the man calling himself the Process.
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