Sixers Are Annoying Me…

Sixers Are Annoying Me…

Sixers just get destroyed by Miami. They had 58 rebounds compared to the Sixers 46. Khalo Wear in that first quarter really set the tone. He had eight points, eight rebounds, almost a double double in the first quarter. He finished the game with 20 and 16. No one was stopping him and he was a team high plus 26. No answer for him. Norman Pal was ridiculous all game long in terms of shot making. 32 points. He had four threepointers. Nobody could stop him. And of course, if you notice, Norman Pal has a Michael Jordan whistle. He always gets those ticky tac calls. Always finding a way to get fouled on the three-point shot. He’s one of those players that just quietly knows how to get calls. Like, he has a superstar whistle. And then in the second half, the Sixers just could not guard Jame Hawz while getting destroyed on the glass. He had 12 points and four assists. He was taking advantage of the smaller guards like Jarro McCain. The Miami Heat were, you know, playing this matchup like a playoff game. The intensity was just on another level compared to the Sixers. A lot of exotic zone defenses where the Sixers were just dribbling out the shot clock because they were like, are they running zone or are they in man or are they in man in zone? Also got to shout out Miami’s defense. I mean, they were just locking up Tyrese Maxi in terms of keeping him in front. There was times where Bamabio had him on a switch and he kept him in front. DaVon Mitchell probably one of the worst matchups in the league for Maxi because he’s small and quick. And I thought Maxi after he got that shoulder injury or whatever early in the game, he really just wasn’t himself the rest of the game. He wasn’t as aggressive downhill and things of that nature. And everyone’s wondering why do the Sixers run so much ISO ball. I think a big reason for that is because their screening is not very good. It’s very easy to blow up actions and against the good teams, most of them have defenders that can pretty much switch on to everyone and it stagnates the offense. For example, in this lineup, their point guard is Drew Smith and he can take Trendan Waffer, the power forward. That’s not a mismatch. And then you got Jame Hotz who does a perfect job on Jarro McCain. On top of that, Sixers have nonf floor spacers on the floor. Dominic Barlo here, they don’t care about him. So, I don’t really think it’s one thing. I think it’s execution, personnel, for sure. But also, I think throughout the game, they just get tired and it’s easier to run iso ball rather than run something when you’re trying to preserve energy. And because, you know, bodies aren’t available. Nick Nurse is running Maxi to the ground cuz he has to in order to stay in games. VJ as well. Andre Drummond too, he’s been racking up the minutes lately. I also think they’re just not really a great passing team. And honestly, I don’t expect this problem to go away until, you know, the two Max players show up and actually play big minutes consistently. And let’s just be real, that’s probably not going to happen. I’m not too mad at this loss, though, because I believe the Heat have been arguably the best team in the Eastern Conference so far this season. Obviously, Detroit has the record, but I just think the way they’re playing this uptempo offense, everyone is eating for them. They’re still missing Andrew Wiggins, Tyler Herro. I mean, realistically speaking, when healthy, they can be a top 10 offense and a top 10 defense. And then you got the mastermind Eric Spolstra, who was just completely dominating this game with his exotic zone defenses, just taking Maxi pretty much out of the game in that second half. Another thing that just destroyed the Sixers is Paul George only plays 20 minutes because he’s on a freaking minutes restriction. That’s what really allowed Spo to, you know, take Maxi out of the game because you got Dominic Barlo as a four spacer, Trendan Watford, Andre Drummond. You don’t really have to guard them off ball. And there was a lot of double big lineups from the Sixers in the second half because they couldn’t rebound. That’s why Nurse went to that. I think he still should have had McCain out there early in the fourth quarter because he was the hot hand. I know he was getting picked on defensively at times, but honestly, no matter who they throw out there, they’re going to get picked on defensively. They’re just not a great defensive team at this point. Jerem Kane is definitely looking better, but to me right now, he’s strictly an offball player. When he gets on the basketball trying to operate in the pick and roll, he can’t shake loose elite defenders. And the way they’re utilizing him, it’s very easy for him to get lost in the shuffle. Like most of the time, he’s just a floor spacer and then when he sets a ghost screen, he’ll be open and his teammates just don’t look for him. And then when he finally gets the ball, it kind of feels like he has to press the issue because he doesn’t know when he’s gonna get it back. I think they can do a way better job just having Jeremy Kane run around. I feel like he should never be standing. I don’t know. This game really kind of put in perspective how ahead Eric Spolstray is from Nick Nurse to be honest. I mean, the difference between our zone defense and Miami’s is comical, and I understand it’s personnel related, but at the same time, why are we running heavy zone? It was just giving up wide open looks. On top of that, they just couldn’t grab a rebound in it. Also, Justin Edwards has been a very, very tough watch on both ends of the floor. And Nick Nurse deploys him like he’s Herb freaking Jones. I don’t think he’s a bad defender. I just think he’s not capable of ball pressuring 24/7 and not getting cooked consistently. My thing is I think we got to look ourselves in the mirror. Are we capable of pressuring the basketball or are we just going to consistently give up driving lanes? Also, switch Justin Edwards’s role defensively to Quinton Grimes. You just seen him lock up James Harden. Have him guard the best player and pressure as much as possible. his best year with the Knicks. That was his role. I think the Sixers can get more out of him defensively. But man, oh man, these minutes restrictions are just handicapping the Sixers. Like 20 minutes from Paul George, there was no way for him to ever get in a rhythm. He’s naturally going to press if he’s only playing 20 minutes, so he’s going to chuck up bad shots and miss. It’s just a shame because the Sixers won his minutes by two points and their best lineup was Maxi McCain, Watford, Paul George, and Andre Drummond. but he can’t play the fourth quarter. It’s like, what is the point? My last video was on Paul George and I basically, you know, was saying he he looks great offensively and defensively. My only issue is the minutes restriction just handicaps the team. And I’m going to be real. If Paul George ever starts playing 30 minutes again and he gets on a good run before the trade deadline, I’m pulling the trigger on whatever I can get back because quite honestly, it just seems like he’s never going to get out of this cycle of coming back. Minutes restriction, then you up the minutes, he gets injured and then he comes back and he’s on a men’s restriction again. 2 days of freaking rest for the Sixers and he plays 20 minutes. Like, what are we even doing at this point? Maybe a bit dramatic, but I’m just over minutes restrictions. Abolish minutes restrictions. Trended Watford had a very nice game play finishingwise. The Sixers were actually doing a good job for a stretch. You know, Maxi was doubled. He would make a pass, quick one more, and then Watford would have a favorable matchup and he would take care of business. It was impressive that the Sixers stuck in this game. Definitely last season they would have got blown out. It felt like a game where Nurse could have played Maxi the whole entire second half and maybe they would have got a better chance. But again, I think he took him out because Maxi just didn’t feel the same. He kind of had that fluke second quarter where he hit that incredible fading away shot at the end of the shot clock. It kind of gave him some energy, but physically he he looked tired out there. And as you guys know, despite him playing large minutes, a lot of the times he still looks like he has a ton of energy. And I think uh Miami deserves a lot of credit for that. I’m not going to lie, I I’m feeling a bit nervous for the next couple games. I mean, we barely, you know, squeakaked past the Giannis Bucks. I know it was a backto-back, but still, they could have blown them out and they just blew it. And I I just think Maxi needs to be so good for them to beat good teams. That’s why Paul George finding his groove is so important, but it just seems impossible for him to do that when he’s getting these types of minutes. Let me know your thoughts below, though. That’s all I got. Do you agree?

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