PHILADELPHIA \u2014 A Tobias Harris jumper from nine feet out gave the Detroit Pistons a 12-11 lead with eight minutes and 47 seconds to play in the first quarter.<\/p>\n
A fairly inconsequential shot over the course of a 48-minute game. But it was worth earmarking on Saturday night.<\/p>\n
It was the first shot of the game that the Pistons attempted outside of the paint.<\/p>\n
Detroit’s first four shots of the game\u2014all makes\u2014came at the rim. The only other points on the board came from Harris free throws earned by driving a gap created by the Sixers being too slow to get back on defense.<\/p>\n
The game’s trend had already been established: Cuts, dunks, free throws and physicality.<\/p>\n
Detroit, without Cade Cunningham, put up 71 points in the first half.<\/p>\n
“We did a really, really poor job of handling their cutting,” Nick Nurse told reporters after the loss.<\/p>\n
“I think the first six baskets of the game were either right at the rim\u2014I think Tobias made their first non-layup about seven baskets in that was about a wide open 10 footer along the baseline. They cut us, they back-screened us, we missed a switch, we let the roller get behind twice. We came up from the corner and helped uphill and they back-cut us from the corner once. It was just really bad on the cutting.”<\/p>\n
Philadelphia got behind the eight ball early, conceding a 41-point first quarter due in large part to six Detroit offensive rebounds on 10 misses in what was otherwise a rather efficient quarter of scoring for the Pistons.<\/p>\n
The Sixers were outrebounded by seven in the first frame and two in the second quarter. The deficit stood at 11 by intermission.<\/p>\n
Detroit never looked back.<\/p>\n
It is possible that the Sixers could still see the Pistons in the first round of the playoffs. It would require the Sixers to tumble far enough back into the Play-In tournament that they’d have to play for the eighth seed in the East.<\/p>\n
The Sixers can point to it being the second night of a back-to-back without Joel Embiid if they’d like. Perhaps that Embiid never played the Pistons in the regular season is a wild card that favors Philadelphia.<\/p>\n
But it’s very easy to see that one team plays a more physical brand of basketball than the other does.<\/p>\n
“They play super physical. It’s probably an advantage they have on a lot of teams. It would be interesting to see how we could adjust to it if it turned into a playoff series and all of that kind of stuff,” Nurse said.<\/p>\n
At least publicly, the head coach believes the Sixers could challenge that.<\/p>\n
“But I think when you’re playing them over and over again, you got to figure out a lot more push-offs to get open, screens to get open. Much more change of directions to get open. Sometimes you got to grab and throw them to get open,” Nurse explained.<\/p>\n
“I thought what really hurt us to start the second is I thought they pushed us under on a couple offensive rebounds. We got a good stop and, the next thing you know, we’re kind of underneath the backboard and the ball’s back in there. I think they do a good job of starting to work you under early and that’s another thing you’d have to adjust to. Earlier block-outs, things like that.”<\/p>\n
But how exactly do you remedy that with this personnel?<\/p>\n
Player<\/p>\n
Defensive rebounding rate<\/p>\n
Offensive rebounding rate<\/p>\n
Joel Embiid<\/p>\n
16.3%<\/p>\n
6.7%<\/p>\n
Andre Drummond<\/p>\n
25.3%<\/p>\n
14.7%<\/p>\n
Adem Bona<\/p>\n
13.5%<\/p>\n
10.2%<\/p>\n
Dominick Barlow<\/p>\n
11.8%<\/p>\n
7.9%<\/p>\n
At least Embiid can rest on being an average defensive rebounder while carrying significant responsibilities on offense. Drummond, for his warts, is still one of the very best rebounders in the world.<\/p>\n
Bona does not rebound well enough on the defensive glass because of how often he chases blocks to protect the rim. It’s bad to be out of position on the glass. It’s somewhat justifiable when the reason is that you’re trying to protect the rim from shots up close.<\/p>\n
That leaves Barlow, whose status in the rotation should be increasingly precarious. The one thing that he does continuously offer is secondary rim protection. The hustle is always there.<\/p>\n