Sixers Forget to Pack the Defense in Trip to Atlanta

By Sean Kennedy (@PhillyFastBreak)

Atlanta 127, Philadelphia 106 – Box Score

Among the diehard Philadelphia 76ers community, a divide is forming between those that believe Jahlil Okafor is the better building block going forward and those that favor Nerlens Noel. Ignoring the more rational viewpoint that we’ve had about 20 games to judge whether they can play together, Wednesday night was a definitive win for Team Nerlens.

With Noel out again with a corneal abrasion courtesy of Kyle Lowry, Okafor was left to spread his wings as the lone big man in the middle. His supporters will point to Big Jah’s 19 points on 7-12 shooting as evidence he’s the answer, but the fact is that he was absolutely horrendous defensively against the Hawks. His post defense (where he’s actually usually solid) was not great, his reaction time to come off his man and help was non-existent, and there was just a general lethargy about the prospects of getting a stop which was very off-putting.

Due in large part to having no paint presence on the defensive end, the Sixers allowed Atlanta to shoot a sparkling 61.5% from the field for their 127 points. Both figures were season-highs for the Hawks and season-lows for Philadelphia. When you’re hitting a low in a season where the team is 1-26, you know it is a bad night.

You could go up and down the Atlanta roster to point out good performances, but the Hawks were led by Paul Millsap, who had 21 points on 7-8 shooting. Despite the Sixers’ 24 turnovers, that really wasn’t the problem with the defense, as the Hawks held a relatively slight 30-20 advantage in points off turnovers. Half court defense was the problem and a lot of that falls on the guy playing center for 30 minutes. I realize nearly everyone else was awful defensively too, but if Okafor is the guy the team is supposedly building around, he is the one I’m worried about and judging most harshly.

Let’s shift gears to positive aspects of the 21-point loss (this will be quick). I like Richaun Holmes’ game more each day, as he finished Wednesday night with 12 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 blocks, while going 1-2 from three. Holmes was the most exciting player on both the offensive end:

RICH HOLMIE CHAUN https://t.co/2IdMpZ43Hr

— max (@MaxOnTwitter) December 17, 2015

and the defensive side of the ball:

Richaun WHOA-lmes 👀 https://t.co/PdRxVE7job

— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) December 17, 2015

More Richaun Holmes please.

Also, Isaiah Canaan had one of his best games of the season, dropping 24 points on 6-8 shooting from behind the arc. It’s instructive to note that this was the first game both Tony Wroten and Kendall Marshall played in, so those two and T.J. McConnell were all available to man the point guard position, shifting Canaan to the two-guard spot full-time. I can get behind Canaan as a streaky shooter two-guard off the bench. Bury point guard Canaan underneath the foundation of the new practice facility.

The Sixers will be back in action Friday for the Philadelphia home crowd’s first look at Kristaps. Nerlens Noel is expected to return for that contest. Hopefully, also returning are the days when the Sixers played competitive basketball games.