Preseason G1: Sixers @ Knicks 10/2/25 12pm ET NBATV - Dunking in the Desert (Abu Dhabi Game)

[76ciology]

What I saw countless times is after the initial point of attack, the kick out goes to a teammate whose defender is already shading toward the ball. Once he receives it, two things usually follow.. either he jacks up a 3 and bricks it (Justin Edwards does this a lot), or, after missing a few, he loses confidence, turns down the open shot, and drives into a closed lane. That sequence often ends with the ball swinging to one of our lower skilled/IQ wings like Oubre or Walker, who are then forced into a 2 man game with the shot clock running down.

The offense would look much cleaner with Grimes alongside Maxey. Off Maxey’s initial drive and kick, Grimes can actually shoot with confidence or create off the dribble. If that’s denied, he can swing it to George, who is far more capable of running a late clock action than Walker or Oubre, before finally having Embiid as the ultimate bailout option.

The challenge, though, is how we run this offense at less than full strength and with poor spacing. One adjustment I’d like to see is giving VJ more chances to initiate. His drives create gravity, which opens up catch and shoot looks for Maxey or forces the defense into tough rotations where Maxey can capitalize. Another wrinkle is running more 3 guard units with Gordon to push the pace and more spacing, something we’ve tried in spurts.

Still, spacing remains the glaring issue. Whenever we go small, we get out rebounded, and when we go big, the floor gets clogged. Maybe I’m wrong, but it feels like the offense shouldn’t be running so much through our forwards. We should look to score on the first or second action through our guards Maxey, VJ, Gordon or Edward and avoid over relying on wings who can’t consistently create.

[76ciology]

Game 2 game thread?