Back at it on Wednesday in Milwaukee. pic.twitter.com/BzOkDMMrLN
— Philadelphia 76ers (@Sixers) November 3, 2015
In the midst of a seemingly endless rebuild, Sixers fans might have glimpsed a new vision of the futrue of this team tonight.
The Sixers came out hot tonight, dominating the first 16 minutes of the game with a great mix of post play and shooting en route to taking a 15 point lead over the reeling Cavs. Then Lebron James said "Yeah, uh, no," turned on the rocket jets, and went off for 22 points, 11 assists, 9 boards, 4 steals, and 2 blocks. Oh, and for good measure he scored the 25,000th point of his career on a lob from Matthew Dellavedova, becoming the youngest player ever to hit that milestone. He good. Honestly, once Lebron decided to play for keeps, the Sixers stood no chance.
(Lebron was also quoted before the game as presumably trusting the process. Suck it haters, the King is down with 8 second rounders!)
The Sixers were lead by Jahlil Okafor's 24 points, while Nerlens Noel had 14 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 swats (although Nerlens had 12 and 5 at the half). After falling behind by 21 points in the 4th quarter, the Sixers managed to close the gap only because the Cavs benched their starters.
The Twin Towers were able to operate so efficiently in the 1st half in part due to both Robert Covington returning to the starting lineup and Nik Stauskas making the first start of his career. Big Shot Bob had a pretty rough night while trying to knock the dust off (4 points on 1 of 9 shooting), but his mere presence spread the floor and steadied the offense. Sauce on the other hand tied his career high with 15 points, hitting a trio of threes and consistently driving into the paint, something not many Sixers currently seem capable of doing.
Bob and Sauce in with the starters is that glimpse of the future I mentioned. Now obviously all bets are off with Hinkie, but one would have to think that Noel and Okafor will be on the team for a while. Covington isn't going anywhere for at least 2 more years after this one due to his super cheap contract, and Stauskas has to much upside to be shipped out any time soon. Taken together, that means the starting lineup tonight might have contained four Sixers who will be tenured for quite some time.
Just the sheer notion that we're seeing a lineup that might stick around for a while is fairly exciting (how low is the bar these days …), but then throw on the fact that they looked DAMN GOOD and we might as well throw a freaking parade. The spacing, inside-outside ball movement, and continued dominance of Big Jah on the offensive end were all worthy of excitement. Hope you got good odds on that Jah for ROY bet, because at the pace he's going it's a lock.
In the past 30 years, only 5 players had scored 60 points in their first 3 games on 50+ FG%. Jahlil Okafor’s the first since Iverson.
— Max Rappaport (@MaxRappaport) November 3, 2015
If that was a close to a real starting lineup for the Sixers, the one glaring hole remains at the PG spot. Isaiah Canaan continued to make a solid case for him being nothing more than an undersized shooting guard, as his handle, court vision, and passing continue to leave a ton to be desired. TJ McConnell, however, may have put himself into the conversation for a starting lineup role. He finished with 12 dimes (Canaan has 5 ON THE YEAR), and most importantly fed the big dog in the post, consistently getting the ball to Jah in his spots, something Canaan seemed incapable of doing. He's obviously not a long term solution, but Brown should start McConnell simply to help everyone learn what basketball can and should look like. Plus, with Sauce and Bob starting, Canaan's shooting might better serve the squad from the bench.
While the return of some shooters and the subsequent play of Jah and Nerlens were keys to the Sixers good first half, no less important was how few turnovers the squad had (McConnell had zero TOs to go with his 12 dimes). Part of that is simply by starting Bob and Sauce you then do NOT have to start JaKarr Sampson and Hollis Thompson, neither of whom have great handle. The Sixers have been killed by live ball turnovers off the dribble in the last two games, leading to countless run outs and completely demoralizing their defense. Hopefully as Bob gets warmed up and the squad builds familiarity, we'll see at more consistent and stable offense.
It was a loss of course, but there were glimpses. Glimpses I tell you! After that terrible shellacking from Utah on Friday, Sixers nation is limping. So I'll take as many glimpses as I can get right now just in an attempt to keep hope alive.
