Sixers’ Offense Caves to Cavs

By Sean Kennedy (@PhillyFastBreak)

Cleveland 87, Philadelphia 86 – Box Score

One of the main arguments for the need to have a superstar player is that when it’s late in a close game and the defenses ratchet up the intensity, you need someone who can create points out of practically nothing. Sunday afternoon, the Sixers and Cavaliers proved that you can have the top superstar in the world, or nothing close to the sort, but you’re still fully capable of playing inept offensive basketball.

After Robert Covington’s three brought the Sixers within one point with 3:57 left in the game, neither team scored so much as a single point the rest of the contest. Cleveland’s offense basically devolved into LeBron James and Kyrie Irving trading possessions trying to break the defense down in isolation mode. Neither was able to find much success as all thoughts of execution and team basketball were thrown out the window, as much the fault of Coach David Blatt as anyone on the floor. Both stars’ final lines reflected that sort of high usage, low efficiency exemplified in the final minutes. LeBron finished with 20 points, 11 rebounds, and 6 assists, but shot just 8-24 and committed 5 turnovers, while Kyrie recorded 17 points on 7-18 shooting and also turned the ball over 5 times.

Meanwhile, the Sixers managed to bungle things in a less straightforward manner. Their final minutes were characterized by a slew of missed shots by Ish Smith, while Jerami Grant and Covington combined to shoot 0-4 from the foul line. On the team’s final possession, the Sixers turned to Nerlens Noel, who worked the ball down low for a great look, only to see his short hook from the middle of the lane rattle in and out. Even when you execute to get a solid shot at the basket, things can conspire against you.

In the end, it was the 16th straight home win for the Cavaliers, while the Sixers remained one behind in the win column from the Lakers. So you might say the outcome was the best for all parties involved, despite temporarily setting the offensive evolution of the game back a bit.

More interestingly, we saw Coach Brett Brown shift Nerlens Noel back to the power forward position, moving Furkan Aldemir into the starting lineup at the center position. Reportedly, Coach Brown wants to get a longer look at Noel at the 4 to know how to best utilize him when he plays alongside Joel Embiid next season. At least on Sunday, the results seemed somewhat mixed, although Noel and Aldemir both had moments where they played well individually and off one another.

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Aldemir certainly benefited from the increased playing time, tallying a career-high 11 points on 5-6 shooting and 10 rebounds, despite not taking the floor in the fourth quarter; his absence late in the game was possibly because Kevin Love left the game due to back spasms early in the period and from then on, the Cavaliers went with a smaller lineup. More importantly, Noel did seem to be affected from being taken further away from the basket. He was off the mark offensively, shooting just 4-12 for 8 points and only grabbing 1 offensive rebound (he did have 11 boards total). Defensively, he recorded zero blocks (in fact, the entire team failed to have a block on the game), as he was out defending Love on the perimeter more than protecting the paint the majority of the contest. Still, the Sixers played very well defensively, especially given the competition, so maybe it was all for the best.

The other notable Sixer on the afternoon was Robert Covington, who carried the offense with a team-high 19 points on 7-13 shooting, including 5-9 from three. His only blemish on that end were the two potential go-ahead free throws he missed with a minute left, but the team wouldn’t have even been in that position without his much-needed perimeter shooting throughout the game. Defensively, he continues to struggle with personal fouls, having 5 on the game. His 22.1 PF% on the season is higher than you would want from a perimeter defender who typically receives the easier defensive assignments (although he did spend some time against LeBron versus the Cavs).

All and all, it was good to see the Sixers play competitively with a true title contender, especially while going outside their comfort zone in regard to the lineup with an eye toward the future. They’ll have just about the opposite problem on their hands Monday night, when they face the Lakers in what is arguably the most important tanking game of the season.