March 05, 2024
Wendell Cruz/USA TODAY Sports
After a prolonged slump, Kelly Oubre Jr. is finding a rhythm -- right when the short-handed Sixers need his scoring most.
Looking to capture their first three-game winning streak since the middle of January, the Sixers traveled to Brooklyn Tuesday for a matchup with the struggling Nets. Unfortunately, the Sixers were even more short-handed in this one than usual after taking another tough blow. They were not able to steal a win one the road, falling by a score of 112-107. Here is what stood out from the tough loss:
The Sixers' All-Star guard suffered a head injury on Sunday night, when he fell onto the floor and hit his head against the leg of Mavericks wing Derrick Jones Jr., but after being checked out by Dallas doctors he was cleared to return to the game rather quickly. Since then, he has suffered from what the team is calling "mild symptoms," ruling him out for not just this contest, but also likely Wednesday night's home game against the Memphis Grizzlies.
Payne was previously absent due to an illness, but returned in this one — and it was much-needed. With Maxey out, Kyle Lowry would have been the team's only reliable ball-handler if Payne did not suit up. However, Sixers head coach Nick Nurse threw a curveball, starting Payne alongside Lowry to maintain the sort of small, two-point-guard look that he likes. Payne checked out just three minutes into the game — the earliest Nurse has substituted anybody all season long — so that he could assume backup point guard duties.
The Sixers had all three of their two-way players available for this game, which was not a surprise at all given the amount of injuries the team has sustained. What was a surprise, though, was Dowtin Jr. getting rotation minutes. Dowtin, 26, just signed his two-way deal with the Sixers last week after the team waived Kenneth Lofton Jr. Dowtin has 34 NBA games under his belt, with the vast majority of those coming last year as a member of the Toronto Raptors. Nurse's confidence in the inexperienced, 6-foot-3 combo guard was evident: not only did Dowtin receive playing time, but at one point the newest member of the Sixers got to run the offense.
Martin began to build some momentum in February as a viable small-ball center option due to his excellent athleticism and impressive strength, but then went down with an ankle injury. Martin only logged about four minutes in his return on Sunday night, but was reinserted into the rotation by Nurse as a small-ball center. As Martin showed last month, he has the tools to be a viable option there in a lot of matchups. Whether or not he can earn consistent run in that spot remains to be seen.
Lowry's primary skill is his playmaking and shot creation for his teammates. But with Joel Embiid and Maxey among the Sixers' unavailable pieces, he needed to be more assertive generating looks for himself. That is exactly what he did, launching triple after triple, willing to fire away from any spot on the floor beyond the arc and over Brooklyn contests. Lowry dealt with foul trouble for much of the game, but on the offensive end he was exactly the player the Sixers needed him to be given their limitations.
Oubre has had a season full of ups and downs, and the downs have been more prevalent in recent weeks. But he built off an impressive showing in the second half of Sunday's win in Dallas with an even better, more well-rounded performance in this one. With Maxey and Embiid sidelined, Oubre is just about the only Sixer who can single-handedly get into the paint and provide rim pressure — one of the more underrated qualities in today's NBA. Oubre's play can be extremely frustrating at times, but his infectious energy is critical in games like this one.
While moving Paul Reed to the bench has worked fabulously for Nurse, moving Bamba into the starting unit has not. Bamba has been serviceable at times, but sees very little action aside from the first few minutes of each half, and it is not hard to understand why: his offensive utility is difficult to find, his rebounding has been poor and his defense is not particularly impressive aside from the occasional weak-side block.
Until Embiid returns, Bamba's place in the rotation very well may be secure. But should it be? If Reed continues coming off the bench, is it entirely obvious that the team would not be better off opening games with small lineups that feature Martin or Tobias Harris and Nic Batum manning the middle? Martin may not have enough cache for that role just yet, but starting Batum and Harris as the team's biggest bodies would allow the Sixers to maximize their floor spacing on the offensive end as well as their versatility on the defensive end.
It appeared as if the Sixers had this game in the bag, leading by as much as 14 and thoroughly controlling the pace of the game. But in the fourth quarter, their offense became stagnant, and the Nets took advantage — and when it got down to the guts of the game, they simply could not buy a stop. Even with Maxey and Embiid sidelined, this version of the Brooklyn Nets is a team that the Sixers should have been able to handle. Instead, they came up short.
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