Game 34: Sixers @ Pelicans 8:30 pm ET The Return of Mad Max Game Thread

[ExplosionsInDaSky]

I don't know...I look at The Pels tonight...Short handed without Ingram (God help the league when he gets fit), young team, guys are still learning. No true point guard to speak of, but they've got a foundation with Zion and CJ. They have good role players with Alvarado, Murphy, Marshall, and Jones. They have a solid center who is very underrated in Jonas...Even with all that, they don't have the talent that we have. What they do have is structure and coaching. I've supported Doc because of his resume and longevity in this league, but I'm about done. It's more times than not this year I'm actually questioning his decisions. I compliment him when he does make the right pivot during games, but he really is a dinosaur at this point and I'm not sure how much longer the guys are going to fight for him.

[phillynative]

The offense doc draws is give it to Embiid and everyone spread out. The whole teams chances are riding in him either scoring and not turning it over. I can see why the harden to Houston rumoured thing is a thing. He has become a role player in this offense

What should the offense be ? And don't say Harden step back 3 or turnover...

idk maybe have BOTH OF YOUR GUYS involved in some sort of action.

as is teams just set up for the obvious Biid iso that he will either make or turnover. Its predictable and because no one can block the jumper, no help comes and thus no passing lanes.

Love Biid but just because he can hit tough shots...doesn't mean that has to be the whole offense down the stretch. At least get the ball closer to the rim because the moment he catches from the 3pt line, thats too much ground for him to cover and due to his size its too easy to strip away. It works closer to the rim because its less ground to cover and harder for defenses to collapse.

Again I am no expert but its not that hard but we make it so.

But again who gives a ****....nothing is going to change. We will get away with it enough some games to keep going at it anyway.

Question directed to Harden fan . Was looking for Harden fan answer not genuine 76er fan answer.

[phillynative]

[quote="NYSixersFan"]What is this team actually good at?

Shooting? passing? Rebounding? dribbling?

I know they are in the top 10 in defense, but are they actually a good defensive team? I don't see it most nights.[/quote]

They are good at pretending to be contenders But I think the gap is being formed.

[phillynative]

Every night a player has a career game against us. It's every night it seems. We lost this game because we could not get a single stop on defense at all...all night long. PJ was no match for Zion...I'm not sure anyone in the league is, but I think we should have had Embiid guarding him. Problem with that is Jonas V is a thorn and a monster of a man at center in his own right. mismatches all over the floor, they are more athletic than us, but Doc stuck with PJ and Harrell. Thybulle was the only one that was able to put the clamps on CJ tonight and Doc didn't stick with him long enough in my opinion. I think this was also a Paul Reed game if there ever was one, but again, it was Harrell's show tonight. They just outclassed us at the end. Technical fouls, refs doing what the refs do, and1 three pointers for players like Henangomez and Jaxon Hayes...Just no excuse for that stuff. CJ and Zion were great! They're going to be on most nights. We have the players to stop them, but we didn't see that at all tonight. I think Embiid on Zion would have been helpful and again...Thybulle on CJ. This was the most frustrating game I have watched us play in a long time. OKC isn't exactly a pushover team either. We got them tomorrow if I'm not mistaken. Josh Giddey career night incoming! Lugentz Dort gonna hit 9 threes against us. "OMG, this never happens! Lu Dort! Where did this come from?" Alaa Abdelnaby with your turning point of the game "Here you see Lu Dort leaking out in transition, SGA finds him wide open in the corner and BANG...A three from Dort...Number nine for him tonight Kate...A new career high!"

This sounds about right. Looking forward to seeing this happen 2marrow or something similar

[Jhawk03]

Every night a player has a career game against us. It's every night it seems. We lost this game because we could not get a single stop on defense at all...all night long. PJ was no match for Zion...I'm not sure anyone in the league is, but I think we should have had Embiid guarding him. Problem with that is Jonas V is a thorn and a monster of a man at center in his own right. mismatches all over the floor, they are more athletic than us, but Doc stuck with PJ and Harrell. Thybulle was the only one that was able to put the clamps on CJ tonight and Doc didn't stick with him long enough in my opinion. I think this was also a Paul Reed game if there ever was one, but again, it was Harrell's show tonight. They just outclassed us at the end. Technical fouls, refs doing what the refs do, and1 three pointers for players like Henangomez and Jaxon Hayes...Just no excuse for that stuff. CJ and Zion were great! They're going to be on most nights. We have the players to stop them, but we didn't see that at all tonight. I think Embiid on Zion would have been helpful and again...Thybulle on CJ. This was the most frustrating game I have watched us play in a long time. OKC isn't exactly a pushover team either. We got them tomorrow if I'm not mistaken. Josh Giddey career night incoming! Lugentz Dort gonna hit 9 threes against us. "OMG, this never happens! Lu Dort! Where did this come from?" Alaa Abdelnaby with your turning point of the game "Here you see Lu Dort leaking out in transition, SGA finds him wide open in the corner and BANG...A three from Dort...Number nine for him tonight Kate...A new career high!"

Don't focus on McCollum's night as the reason they lost they werent going to win this game. If McCollum had his average someone else would have made up the difference. I'm so happy I didnt watch any of it just put on post game live until I got sick of Mark Jackson telling me how well they played because they shot a good percentage from the field. When you look at this team what good wins exactly do they have this year? The Clippers, Kings, and Utah are there best wins im thinking. This team is going nowhere.

I disagree with this, McCollum had a career high shooting night from three. You can not make up that difference.

[M2J]

The way I read this game was 2 situations. I thought Willie Green was out there coaching like the playoffs. Some nice adjustments and it seems his guys have bought in. Sixers initially slowed Zion with a wall and Embiid. Then they went from CJ being the point guard to Zion being the point, or focusing on CJ attacking the drop coverage. But the main thing was them taking Zion to anchor their team vs the smaller bench.

I think it would change in the playoffs, but Doc seldom adjusts his stars minutes to other stars in the regular season and that's annoying in these showdown games. But, I would only really care in the playoffs. Embiid should've been matched with Zions minutes. One could say play Paul Reed (I would say they should've gotten Drummond)...Reed would've fouled Zion ever possession.

Offensively the turnovers. When teams pressure Joel's loose handles, and attack that pass from James to Embiid while trapping James.... They need to run more sets allowing other players to get involved with the overplaying of those 2. Tobi, Melton and Maxey are capable. I think even getting PJ involved in more screens can free up Harden to be more aggressive with less attention as Joel isn't involved.

[Kova]

Pels are really good. Credit to them.
But the officiating was hideous.
Obviously Maxey is rusty and will need a few games to find his spot in the offense. What we have to do is improve our defense. No matter how good and talented we are offensively, we need to be able to make multiple stops more than once per game.

[rocketsfan100]

What should the offense be ? And don't say Harden step back 3 or turnover...

idk maybe have BOTH OF YOUR GUYS involved in some sort of action.

as is teams just set up for the obvious Biid iso that he will either make or turnover. Its predictable and because no one can block the jumper, no help comes and thus no passing lanes.

Love Biid but just because he can hit tough shots...doesn't mean that has to be the whole offense down the stretch. At least get the ball closer to the rim because the moment he catches from the 3pt line, thats too much ground for him to cover and due to his size its too easy to strip away. It works closer to the rim because its less ground to cover and harder for defenses to collapse.

Again I am no expert but its not that hard but we make it so.

But again who gives a ****....nothing is going to change. We will get away with it enough some games to keep going at it anyway.

Question directed to Harden fan . Was looking for Harden fan answer not genuine 76er fan answer.

And funnily enough he agreed with me.

[Bum Adebayo]

Is there a reason as to why Harden is relegated to giving it up to Embiid and just chilling lol.

Embiid scored 37 PTS on 70% TS, that's why, he is just an incredible scorer.

[Bum Adebayo]

I'm seeing more blame directed towards Embiid again, supposedly for 'late game turnovers'. He scored 37 PTS on 70% TS, maybe it's other teammates fault for not stepping up on offense?

[Kolkmania]

Zion outplayed us, Tucker and Harrell were no match for him. Thought that Embiid did the best job in defending him one-on-one. Frustrating that Reed once again had a DNP, while he is actually someone who can provide some help-defense and block shots when Zion goes in the paint.

Despite Zion and CJ's shooting, the Sixers got the better shots for the majority of the game. The Embiid and Harden P&R is just such a powerful weapon. Pelicans adjusted by rotating really aggressive from the weakside. Often leaving one or even two man wide open on the weakside, their length made Embiid a bit hesitant in his passing though. Some off ball screens or better positioning (weakside players were often too close together) could have resolved that problem imo.

Agree with the general feeling here that it is just mind boggling that we went to Embiid playing 1-on-1 from the 3pt line in the 4th quarter. That's on Doc, but also on Embiid failing to recognize after all these years that it is limiting the Sixers.

[ankle420breaker]

I'm seeing more blame directed towards Embiid again, supposedly for 'late game turnovers'. He scored 37 PTS on 70% TS, maybe it's other teammates fault for not stepping up on offense?

Late game Embiid turnovers and weak rebounding cost us the last two games. The criticism is justified. Give it a rest.

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[Bum Adebayo]

It's not on Embiid, it's always the coach that has to draw the game plan, and Doc hasn't been doing that lately.

[Bum Adebayo]

I'm seeing more blame directed towards Embiid again, supposedly for 'late game turnovers'. He scored 37 PTS on 70% TS, maybe it's other teammates fault for not stepping up on offense?

Late game Embiid turnovers and weak rebounding cost us the last two games. The criticism is justified. Give it a rest.

Sent from my SM-S901U using RealGM mobile app

That's not it though, those were just isolated plays and few instances overall. It's not his fault that Maxey had game-worst +/- because he is a traffic cone on defense, nor is his fault that we have such trash bench.

[ankle420breaker]

The franchise player gets the praise as well as the blame. Neither of these are first offenses.... when it comes to turnovers he's a habitual offender. He's also been weak on the boards for awhile and is actually regressing as a rebounder. Those isolated plays were in pivotal 'winning time' moments where Joel himself demands the ball.

I like Joel, but we obviously have different expectations when it comes to MVP caliber players. The cream rises to the top in the playoffs and we're on a set course to another 2nd round exit at best.

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[Jailblazers7]

That was such a bad game lol. Embiid looked rattled playing against a hostile crowd, Tobi was over dribbling and indecisive, Harden looked out of it near the end, and Doc was sending out his dumbest lineups. Just a complete team collapse where every individual reverted to their worst habits.

I don’t have a problem with losing because it’s a long season. But the reason we all pile on Embiid is that games like this where he folds in the clutch are way too predictable.

[youngcrev]

I don't know how you don't go to Thybulle more while CJ is lighting us up like that. That block from behind was the one point in this game that he looked unsure of himself.

Zion was beasting, but you could have lived with him and Jo going back and forth.

[phillynative]

idk maybe have BOTH OF YOUR GUYS involved in some sort of action.

as is teams just set up for the obvious Biid iso that he will either make or turnover. Its predictable and because no one can block the jumper, no help comes and thus no passing lanes.

Love Biid but just because he can hit tough shots...doesn't mean that has to be the whole offense down the stretch. At least get the ball closer to the rim because the moment he catches from the 3pt line, thats too much ground for him to cover and due to his size its too easy to strip away. It works closer to the rim because its less ground to cover and harder for defenses to collapse.

Again I am no expert but its not that hard but we make it so.

But again who gives a ****....nothing is going to change. We will get away with it enough some games to keep going at it anyway.

Question directed to Harden fan . Was looking for Harden fan answer not genuine 76er fan answer.

And funnily enough he agreed with me.

Lol

[phillynative]

I don't know how you don't go to Thybulle more while CJ is lighting us up like that. That block from behind was the one point in this game that he looked unsure of himself.

Zion was beasting, but you could have lived with him and Jo going back and forth.

This. Whats the point of that one dimensional scrub if not to use his only skillset defensive chaos. Deanthony was getting cooked had a hard time fighting over screens and of course Embiid hesitant to step up because that's an automatic offensive rebound for the opposing team.

[mjkvol]

That was such a bad game lol. Embiid looked rattled playing against a hostile crowd, Tobi was over dribbling and indecisive, Harden looked out of it near the end, and Doc was sending out his dumbest lineups. Just a complete team collapse where every individual reverted to their worst habits.

I don’t have a problem with losing because it’s a long season. But the reason we all pile on Embiid is that games like this where he folds in the clutch are way too predictable.

It's interesting and very telling that all of the Sixers' usual bad habits emerge once again in our first road game in a while against a really good team. I can't blame this on any single player, even Embiid (although I don't disagree with your comment about him in the clutch) - this has to fall on the guy who is more known for big game fold jobs than anyone in the organization (hell, the league), and that's the coach.

This team has zero shot of getting any further than the second round (again!), if that, as long as Rivers remains in charge - period, end of story. It's so painfully obvious that a change is needed, and unless Morey and ownership have the balls to finally pull the plug on this guy it will be another wasted year. And the Embiid-Harden pairing does not exactly have time on its side.