March 27, 2022
The Sixers had a double-digit lead in the first half and hung around against Phoenix for most of Sunday's meeting, but the Suns threw a late haymaker in their 114-104 win.
Here's what I saw.
• All you could have wanted out of this game (aside from a Sixers win, I suppose) was a sign that the Sixers are built to hang with teams like this when the playoffs start. I doubt they could have done a better job proving their merit on the offensive end in the first quarter, where their two stars were firing on all cylinders early.
Like many teams have since the All-Star break, Phoenix frequently sent two defenders at Harden and tried to force the ball out of his hands, ultimately leaving the ball in the hands of other Philadelphia decision-makers. Most often, that was Joel Embiid getting the ball inside the arc, and he was on fire in this one early, basically going shot for shot with Devin Booker before the latter went completely crazy in the back half of the period.
Once the game settled down a bit, Embiid was the far better player of Philly's two co-stars in Sunday's tilt with the Suns, no surprise given the MVP form he has been in all season. It was an excellent display of what makes Embiid such a dangerous offensive player, with the big man exploiting mismatches all over the floor. When Harden saw two players, Embiid drew fouls or scored on the roll. Isolation scoring was elite as it usually is, though the Suns didn't often allow him to work against a solo defender on the block.
To me, the opening quarter is something the coaching staff should emphasize with Embiid over and over again because he was able to get a ton of touches and easy scoring opportunities by simply making the smart, simple reads and not forcing everything up. The Suns sent doubles in his direction almost as often as they did for Harden, and Embiid got the ball to the open man quickly whether he was on the move or set in the post. Even when his teammates didn't immediately make a shot, Embiid was able to get good positioning for potential offensive rebounds, scoring an easy putback in the opening period after releasing out of the post to start the danger.
Every time Phoenix gifted Embiid a favorable matchup down the stretch, Embiid did the early work to seal off his defender and score quickly around the basket. Jae Crowder was hanging on for dear life when he drew Embiid on cross matches, not that it did much good against the much bigger and stronger player.
The other high mark of Embiid's night was on the defensive end, where I thought he was one of a small handful of guys who acquitted himself well. Off-ball deflections and activity have been a bigger part of his game recently, and the Suns are a team that stretch bigs out and force them to do things they're not comfortable with. Embiid took on that challenge, showing some good discipline against Devin Booker in space to force the ball out of his hands.
For most of 48 minutes, this was great spectacle and a taste of what Embiid's Sixers vs. Booker/Paul's Suns might look like in a Finals matchup. Fingers crossed we get the chance to see it.
• Tobias Harris being a willing attacker in a medium-sized role with the starters is probably the most important thing he can contribute to a potential Finals run. If Harris can somehow find a way to win bench minutes as the scoring leader of a bench unit, that's going to be a huge bonus, and it gave the Sixers a great chance to win this one on the road in Phoenix.
From the start of this one, it was clear Harris was in the mood to do some damage against the Suns, with one play jumping out above all the rest. After a hit-ahead pass found Harris in the corner without a ton of space to work with, Harris used a quick pump fake to create separation, and rather than trying to get to the basket off-the-dribble, he stepped into a three with his newfound space. How often have you seen him do something like that in a Sixers uniform?
It got even better when he was the de facto leader of the bench to open the second quarter, Tyrese Maxey still a bit off the pace and everybody else following his lead. Using DeAndre Jordan's screens in the middle of the floor — credit Jordan for creating a bit of extra space for Harris, certainly — Harris tortured the Suns' backups, pushing the Sixers out to a comfortable lead with their two best players on the bench.
I wish I could figure out what exactly Harris needs to get going, because he often wins out of the same sort of looks on his good nights that he struggles with on his bad ones. His first points of this game came in a mid-post iso against Jae Crowder, a rugged defender who is better equipped than a lot of guys to stand up Harris. But he made light work of him in that spot, and it was on from there.
• Danny Green missing a corner three, coming up with his own offensive rebound/stealing it from Chris Paul, and then somehow making the fading corner three from the opposite side of the floor was one of his highlights of the season.
• After playing one of his best games in their previous outing against the Clippers, James Harden came back with a rock-solid start against a much better team on Sunday. His feel for what the Suns were throwing at him and when/how to exploit that was excellent, because the moment they got slightly comfortable leaving him in isolation against switches, Harden began punishing Phoenix as a scoring threat.
The wheels came off on this one in the second half, though, and there were some warning signs much earlier than that. Overdribbling became a problem in different spots throughout the game, with Harden rocking defenders back and forth (or at least trying to do so) with no real endgame in mind, leaving him with a very small window to attack late in the shot clock. With a guy like Landry Shamet on him, for example, Harden should be smelling blood in the water and getting to the cup relatively easily.
That sort of thing is excusable, as any bog-standard bad game would be. But with the game still there to be had in the fourth quarter, Harden was mired in a battle with the officials instead of worrying about his assignment. That ended up being costly, with Shamet canning a three on an inbounds play while Harden was still busy complaining about a call he could not get on the previous possession.
Rivers (understandably) called for an immediate timeout, and it should be made clear to Harden that it doesn't matter how long and impressive his resume might be when he makes a mental error like that. And by the way, if he's going to complain about guys passing up open threes when they come to them, he has to show an interest in shooting more catch-and-shoot jumpers. I wouldn't hold your breath on that, though.
Bottom line: 2-for-12 is not going to cut it, in either volume or efficiency. They need more from Harden.
• Sixers fans were delighted to see Maxey and a number of his teammates picking on Tyler Herro in crunch time recently. It was that bad, and perhaps worse, for young Maxey at the start of this game. Wherever he was on the floor, Devin Booker and Chris Paul tried to attack him, and they absolutely shredded Philadelphia's defense early with the younger, smaller defender in front of them.
This is one of the concerns for Maxey (and the team) heading into the postseason, where they'll be up against more teams like the Suns who can throw multiple high-level creators at you at a time. Switch-hunting becomes a lot more prominent when the games slow down and teams are preparing for just one opponent during a series, and Maxey's ability to hold up against the best of the best will be tested in a big way.
To get away with Maxey being an exploitable defender, he has to offer explosive scoring in his role alongside the big guns, and the touch was not there for most of a second consecutive game. The good news? Maxey perked up late and played a huge role in the run that gave them a chance to win down the stretch, repeating a one-game arc we've seen from him before. A resilient kid, that Maxey.
• Matisse Thybulle had a monumental task on the defensive end, so I'm not inclined to ding him too hard for his offensive shortcomings in this one. That being said, he left a lot of points on the table on his way to the rim, with Harden basically breastfeeding him looks at the basket that Thybulle could not finish. It's hard to make a living as an offensive player if you can't shoot, can't dribble, and your finishing at the basket can be an adventure if you're not in perfect circumstances. So it goes.
I am inclined to complain about his reckless approach on defense, because it keeps leaving him terrible positions in important moments of games. If Thybulle picks up a foul on a contested play at the basket or to stop somebody from picking up no-doubt points, great, that's something any coach will live with. But watching him fly into Devin Booker on a closeout to pick up his third foul is frustrating to see this deep into his career, when he should have a better sense of how to play his brand of aggressive defense with better game intelligence.
They need him to be the best of both worlds on defense. A big ask, I know, especially in a matchup like this. But he's capable of it.
• Not a banner night for the bench, I will say that. Georges Niang didn't hit shots and tried to do too much creating, Shake Milton struggled as the guy in the bench shooter role for the second unit, and so forth.
• Free-throw shooting is usually the least of Philadelphia's concerns with Embiid and Harden posting ultra-efficient lines on high volume at the stripe, but they left a handful of points on the board in this one. Phoenix is not a team you can afford to leave much meat on the bone against, and with this one close for basically the entire second half, can't ignore this as a factor.
• Half of the justification for playing DeAndre Jordan rests on his experience making him a bigger asset than a younger, more mistake-prone player would be in that spot. Jordan picking up an away from the play foul on an inbounds pass with four seconds left in the first quarter is exactly why that argument holds no merit, and is a great example of why they should roll the dice on one of the young guys. Not like they're getting a huge hoops IQ boost on defense by playing Jordan.
He simply can't help himself from making dumb mistakes. Jordan played well for a good chunk of this game, partnering well with Harris in the pick-and-roll to open the second, but he committed some terrible, unnecessary errors, like his moving screen early in the fourth. I'll give him this — the activity level was far superior to other recent games.
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