Sixers Burn Out in South Beach

By Sean Kennedy (@PhillyFastBreak)

Miami 119, Philadelphia 108 – Box Score

If Sunday night’s game in Orlando didn’t do enough to convince you these aren’t your pre-deadline Sixers, then Monday night’s battle with the Heat screamed it in your ear like J.K. Simmons in Whiplash. For the second-straight game, the Sixers were remarkably dangerous from behind the arc, actually reaching historic levels of activity.

The Sixers finished with 13 threes for the second straight game. Amazingly, the franchise has never done that in consecutive games.

— Max Rappaport (@MaxRappaport) February 24, 2015

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsHowever, the darker timeline version of this alternate Sixers reality is that the team has sacrificed so much on the defensive end. The Heat were able to shoot 55% from the field and make 11-21 from three, even though Philadelphia committed just 12 turnovers (so it wasn’t about Miami getting easy points in transition). Luol Deng scored 29 points, hitting 4-5 threes while applying for a temporary residency visa to live unmolested in the short corner. Goran Dragic appears to have found South Beach to his liking, recording 23 points and 10 assists, serving as the catalyst of a 30-12 Miami run after the Sixers had taken a 6-point lead in the third quarter. Even veteran guard Dwyane Wade old-man-moved his way to 18 points in just 23 minutes of action. 

The problem is that for a team used to routinely having no one on the court smaller than 6’6″, the Sixers now find themselves always playing one, if not two, 6’0″ guards at a time. So they had become accustomed to switching everything along the perimeter, but now can’t do that as much because someone like Isaiah Canaan will just get bullied in the post by Luol Deng. Instead, there is a ton of confusion about how to defend the pick-and-rolls these NBA offenses will consistently throw at them, resulting in a slew of wide-open jumpers.

It didn’t help that the Sixers were without both Jason Richardson (resting on the back-to-back) and Jerami Grant (lower back contusion). Unfortunately, largely filling the void left by those two was newest acquisition Ish Smith, who reminds me of Tony Wroten, only about a half foot smaller and in the worst possible way. Smith appears to have all of Wroten’s poorer qualities (terrible shooter, out-of-control decision making), while lacking his better ones due to his size (not finishing well at the rim, not the long-limbed, pesky defender Wroten can be). Granted it was only one game, but I’m firmly standing a healthy distance away from the Ish Smith bandwagon.

Certainly, there were plenty of good signs from the Sixers despite the loss. Nerlens Noel continues to play inspired ball of late, as he went off for 18 points, 7 rebounds and 4 blocks. Noel was incredibly efficient, shooting 5-10 from the field and 8-10 from the foul line; the big man’s shooting has really begun to come around, as he’s now 70.4% from the charity stripe in February. It was also plenty enjoyable to watch the force of one of his swats send Mario Chalmers careening into the stanchion. 

Also, did I mention the Sixers hit 13 threes? Because that was pretty fun as well. Hollis Thompson’s sophomore slump is firmly a thing of the past, as he was on fire, scoring a team-high 22 points on 6-9 from three. Big Shot Bob Covington drained three treys, while also having himself a fine first quarter of thievery.

Robert Covington had five steals in the first quarter vs Heat, most in any quarter since Brandon Jennings had five vs Celtics in Nov. 2012 — ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) February 24, 2015

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Another guy recording three triples was Isaiah Canaan, who is now 7-16 from behind the arc in his two games as a Sixer. I think the whole Canaanball thing is getting overused, but he finally made an amazing play worthy of the moniker, sinking this ridiculous circus shot as the first-half wound to an close.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpuNB6FdUB8] Hopefully, with some practices together as a group, the defensive communication will improve and the Sixers can keep hitting bushel of threes while also preventing the opposition from doing the same. On the bright side, one more loss means better lottery odds and another Miami win represents a better chance the Sixers get the Heat’s first-round pick in the upcoming draft. As much as we like to agonize over each and every game, June is truly where the end game lies. Until then, we’ll just have to turn our eyes to Milwaukee Wednesday night.