The Sixers earned a comprehensive 121-90 win over the Thunder on Monday night, taking advantage of a more complete lineup in Ben Simmons' return game. Joel Embiid led Philly in scoring with 21 points.
Here's what I saw.
- MORE ON THE SIXERS
- Instant observations: Undermanned Sixers routed by Bucks as Eastern Conference battle tightens
- Report: Sixers believed there was 'traction' on Chris Paul trade in offseason, but Paul wanted elsewhere
- The defensive issues at the heart of Sixers' loss to Milwaukee Bucks
The Good
• A tip of the cap to the Sixers' bench, because the starters did not do their job and blow this game open right out of the gate. Thanks to some leaky perimeter defense from Philly, the Thunder were right in the game as the first wave of subs came in, and you never want to give young guys hope no matter how big the talent gap is.
Good on the second unit for snuffing out any optimism quickly, with each guy playing their part to change the game.
First up was George Hill, who has given the Sixers a level of guard play off the bench they have not had in recent memory. Smart reads have been his calling card on both ends, and he helped shore up Philadelphia's point of attack defense in the first half. Once he helped the Sixers win the ball back, he created open looks for teammates with ease, hitting corner shooters on pick-and-rolls and big men with baseline drop-offs as if it was the easiest thing in the world.
Dwight Howard didn't exactly need the looks spoon-fed to him by Hill. The undermanned Thunder aren't exactly beefy in the paint, and Howard absolutely feasted on the offensive glass against Oklahoma City, turning second (and sometimes third) chances into buckets, fouls drawn, and even some made free throws.
No one could forget Matisse Thybulle, obviously, as he continues to cement his status as the most disruptive bench defender in the league. The combination of tools, effort, and instincts are enough to kill possessions and trick offensive players into seeing ghosts, even on the rare chance that he doesn't leap at full speed for a block or steal. His defensive play to end the first half helped send the Sixers into halftime on a high note, and it provided a statement dunk for Ben Simmons in his first game back:
(If Thybulle is able to sustain his recent shooting uptick...nevermind, whenever I write something nice along these lines he falls off a cliff and I regret jinxing him. Just keep shooting, young man.)
And in case you think I forgot Shake Milton, he was probably the best of the bunch. Milton has been a target in this column quite frequently as of late, but after a nice bounce back on the road in Milwaukee, he looked sharp again on Monday night, creating out of the pick-and-roll while finding his rhythm as a shooter. He had one three retroactively wiped out because of a foot out of bounds, but it's even nice to see him make shots that don't count after his cold start to the year from deep.
Maybe Mike Scott's absence was all they needed to be more competent? Nah, that's too harsh to Scott. But this group took care of business, and that's something for Philly to be thankful for.
• Joel Embiid is simply too big and too strong for this Thunder team to hold him down. His first half wasn't his best — Embiid had two ghastly turnovers that marred an otherwise very good effort — but it was a methodical, dominant performance that allowed him to get rolling while the team absorbed a few more important faces in the lineup.
It's quite fun to watch Embiid dismantle teams like the Thunder this year while barely needing to break a sweat. Every bad habit you expect young defenders to have is punished, with Embiid using up fakes, power, and finesse to dictate exactly where he wants guys like Moses Brown to go.
(Give this to Moses Brown, however — the kid has certainly mixed it up with Embiid a bit across their two meetings this season. Brown punched a putback home in the opening minutes of the game, and maybe that woke Embiid up a bit tonight.)
I feel like I've been spending a lot of time on Embiid's passing lately, but his play has warranted that focus quite often. The crosscourt pass over traffic is becoming second nature to Embiid, and he might have thrown the best pass of that sort we've seen all season, hitting Furkan Korkmaz right in his shooting pocket for a made three. It's one thing to make the right read and get the ball there, but if Embiid can deliver those passes on the money with any sort of regularity, he goes up another notch on the danger scale.
• In the opening minutes, you could tell it was Ben Simmons' first game back after a stint on the shelf. Darius Bazley was getting by Simmons basically at will, and given the season he has had on defense to date, I'm okay excusing that as the product of finding his legs again — especially because it changed pretty dramatically after that.
Even as he tried to find his place, Simmons' defensive instincts still allowed him to make several possession-changing plays in the first half alone. And he was able to use a trick that teams often use to slow him down to make life difficult for the Thunder — with Oklahoma City employing a bunch of non-shooters (or ignorable shooters), Simmons was able to help into the paint constantly, walling off the rim for most of the night. That was a huge part of the Sixers' dominant night on D, with Philadelphia coming up with a whopping 22 steals, only two short of a decades-old club record.
On the offensive end, his burst in transition was a sight for sore eyes. The very first make of the game for the Sixers was a Korkmaz jumper created by Simmons, with the Turkish forward a beneficiary of the attention his teammate drew with his speed. The Sixers can win slow, methodical games with Embiid at the center of their gameplan, but the change of pace Simmons offers in starting groups and backup units provides them with something different and necessary.
Seeing him grow into the game over time was a great sign for a guy coming off a layoff. Here's hoping he's able to remain healthy and active the rest of the year.
• This was one of the better two-way games Tobias Harris has played in a bit, even if that's partially because he has been in and out of the lineup recently. With Simmons putting pressure on the Thunder on and off the ball, Harris was able to jump into some passing lanes and apply pressure of his own, ultimately leading to four steals on Monday night.
Was some of it beating up on a young, bad team? Of course. But with as chaotic as things have been for the Sixers/the Sixers' lineup recently, you take your momentum-building performances where you can get them.
• It's nice when the Sixers are so good that "garbage time" gives some of their young, underdeveloped prospects time to shine and get some game reps in. Starring in the fourth quarter were Tyrese Maxey and "B-ball" Paul Reed, who happen to be the two guys fans constantly demand to see more of. You all got your wish.
Maxey's burst has been evident even against starting-caliber players, but this shell of a Thunder team had absolutely nothing to throw at him. He is beginning to find his way out of pick-and-rolls, and Maxey's willingness to get all the way to the rim instead of settling for floaters has him on a different level compared to the start of the year. In the non-drive division, seeing him can a pull-up three out of a pick-and-roll with Reed goes down as one of the most encouraging plays of the night from a long-term perspective.
Reed, on the other hand, still has a lot of moments where he's just a tangled mess of limbs trying to figure out how to get all the parts on the same page as his head. But he impresses on the defensive end of the floor basically every time he gets extended burn, and he just straight up outworked the Thunder every minute he was on the floor Monday night. The Sixers' low-minute group has drawn praise for their hard work and commitment this year, and seeing them punctuate a blowout win with that sort of effort had to feel good for the guys resting on the bench.
(Hell, even Anthony Tolliver contributed a bit in limited minutes. That's how you know it was a good night for Philly.)
• You have to love a game where the fans go home with free Frostys. Appreciate the little things in life.
The Bad
• They kicked the crap out of a team they should do that to. No complaints from your boy.
The Ugly
• I appreciate the effort the Sixers have put into game ops despite the pandemic weirdness hanging over this season. And I certainly am all for people remaining employed during a time of great financial uncertainty.
That said, the very loud "THAT WAY!" chant the Sixers are trying to make a thing when the home team gets awarded possession of the ball? Please, kill it with as much firepower as is necessary.
• Love him or hate him, there are very few guys like Dwight Howard:
Follow Kyle on Twitter: @KyleNeubeck
Like us on Facebook: PhillyVoice Sports
Subscribe to Kyle's Sixers podcast "The New Slant" on Apple, Google, and Spotify