October 24, 2019
With 10:46 left on the clock in the fourth quarter, Joel Embiid bowled over Celtics guard Kemba Walker to pick up an away-from-the-play foul. More importantly, he picked up his fifth foul of the night, prompting Brett Brown to pull him to the bench to protect him from potentially fouling out.
In years past, this would have been a death sentence for the Sixers, who were holding on to an eight-point lead when Embiid hit the pine. Put the likes of Boban Marjanovic, Jonah Bolden, or Amir Johnson through the defensive blender, and all of a sudden the game is tied, and Embiid is forced to come back in the game too soon and walk the tightrope.
But in this moment, on this team, there are no such concerns. The lead held, and with Al Horford and Kyle O'Quinn manning the pivot for the rest of the fourth quarter, the Sixers pulled away for a 107-93 victory over the Celtics without Embiid ever having to leave the bench again.
The thing that should make Philadelphia feel best is that all of this feels repeatable, and their plan to keep Embiid fresh for the playoffs looks like it's off to a good start.
Holding the fort down without Embiid doesn't mean bringing in a like-for-like replacement for his production. That'd be nearly impossible to find. But the Sixers have failed on two fronts in years past — their backup bigs have been subpar, but their perimeter players have also been unable to pick up the slack.
Not only did the perimeter guys do that on Wednesday, but they were actually the guys who propelled Philadelphia's defensive performance against the Celtics. The two-man combination of Ben Simmons and Josh Richardson set the tone for Philly with Embiid struggling to find his footing early. Other Sixers players have grown accustomed to seeing this in practice during the preseason, so it came as no surprise.
"We just put our practice into the games and things went our way this night, so it looked like we schemed it perfectly," O'Quinn said. "Most definitely, Josh really stepped up to the challenge, and he took on a big challenge in Kemba [Walker]. Rightfully so, he got to ring the bell."
A season after lighting the Sixers up for 37 points per game, Walker was held to just 12 points on 4/18 shooting against Philly on opening night. He was not the only guy Richardson personally tortured before the night was over — Richardson blocked Gordon Hayward's shot on multiple occasions, including one memorable moment early in his first game, when he flexed for the crowd after packing Hayward's shot and drawing a foul immediately after.
Though Richardson said after the game he believed his size advantage on Walker was the key to bothering him, that feels like it is underselling the difficulty of the assignment. Keeping a quick, shifty guard (a "waterbug" in Brett Brown parlance) like Walker in check isn't easy for anybody. Richardson's ability to emerge unfazed by screens, a trait Brown has compared to Bruce Bowen, helps set him apart from the pack.
But it starts with something even simpler than that, a desire to compete and be great on defense. Richardson doesn't just get fired up to try to shut guys down himself, he is invested in the team's overall success on that side of the floor. He was just as fired up to see Matisse Thybulle block a Walker shot in the third quarter as he was for any of his own individual moments on Wednesday.
Perhaps he is just excited to be playing in front of a crowd that understands a 7:30 tipoff means you're supposed to be there by 7:30.
"They were on time, that was great," Richardson joked. "We've got 17 guys who can contribute who are tough players, who are hard-nosed players, that's Philly. I think they'll appreciate that."
What did the man who used to help slow down Simmons think of his opening night performance?
"Ben was unbelievable," Al Horford said Wednesday. "Just his pace, getting to the basket at will, tough finishes, very, very tough finishes around the basket. He really just carried us tonight, that’s how I felt. Making the right play every time."
The passive Simmons we've seen against this Celtics team in the past, the guy who was held scoreless in a playoff game two seasons ago, that guy was nowhere to be found. Philadelphia got the hard-charging, downhill version of Simmons against Boston, and guess what, they're going to need a lot more of him.
We can be honest and say that replacing Horford with Enes Kanter in Boston's lineup helped nudge Simmons in this direction. After all, Simmons is not always going to get an open runway to the hoop like he did on a thunderous dunk he punched in at the end of the first half.
But at the end of the day, he did what had to be done. The Sixers were stagnant on offense for long stretches of the night, out of sorts with a new-look lineup that will take time to come together. Instead of allowing himself to become part of that problem, Simmons took it upon himself to make up the difference.
The way Simmons plays on one side of the ball tends to bleed into the other, and while that can be a problem on some nights, it was to Philadelphia's benefit in the opener. His aggression led to some fouls that he'd obviously like to have back, but for a team that wants to play bully ball, that's simply the cost of doing business.
"I think that's who we want to be known as, a physical team, and it starts on defense. That's why we have guys like J-Rich, Al, Jo, who can get out there and play. And Tobias has really been stepping up," Simmons said. "We just tried to make it tough on them every trip down."
Matisse Thybulle had one of the most visible 1/5 performances I can remember a player having. It was hard to miss him when he was on the floor, with Thybulle picking up five fouls, two steals, a pair of blocks, and some of the loudest cheers the Philly faithful gave out all night. And his coach isn't going to stop anyone in the stands from latching onto the young man's effort on defense.
"I think he’s incrementally earned the confidence of me and for sure his teammates," Brown said. "You don’t find many rookies that can come into a team that we aspire to be, amongst people that can win a championship. It’s rare air for someone to come into and find minutes. A rookie has done that and he deserved it."
Outside of James Ennis, who had an absolute shocker of a performance, the other players who came in off of the bench all contributed something to the win. Furkan Korkmaz hit a huge three with the lead dwindling in the fourth quarter to keep Boston at an arm's length. Mike Scott couldn't get it going from deep, but he got on his horse and got buckets as a cutter instead of letting things stagnate.
And Kyle O'Quinn, on ice until the 6:58 mark of the fourth quarter, had perhaps the most surprising performance of all, nailing a triple on his first touch of the game. It is only his 25th made three since entering the league in 2012, and it equaled his output from deep for all of last season on one attempt.
When it was all said and done, the five bench players who got in the game contributed just 20 points to the starting lineup's 87, a distribution that feels like it could be common this season. But with Embiid and Simmons leading the way, the Sixers have never needed a bench who can win the game all by themselves.
They seem to have what they've always needed — stability, toughness, and a pinch of athleticism. Embiid's lower limbs have to be thrilled.
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