PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers had lofty goals to begin the 2022-23 season. Among them were being the No. 1 seed in the East and having the best defense in the league.
At the time, those goals made sense. However, the prospects for success weren’t looking so good a couple weeks into the season.
They started 1-4 and looked hapless on the defensive end. It appeared they would never get to the point they wanted to be regarding either of those goals. Instead, they have turned their season around. They are 19-12 and rank second in team defense behind only the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“I feel like it’s overlooked, but it’s fine,” Joel Embiid said. “We’ve been doing our job. Everybody on the team has been following what they need to do. Guys coming back from injury everybody buying in, that’s been the key. Just everybody buying in, everybody being on the same page, everybody just being physical.”
The defense Embiid and the Sixers played in the second half of Friday’s win over the Los Angeles Clippers was essential to their rally from 20 points down. The big fella was protecting the paint, and he led the charge on the defensive end.
“My job obviously is to control everything whether it’s to protect the rim and call plays,” Embiid added. “That’s what we need to keep doing. We got a long way to go before actually being the best defense in the league, but being second is not bad.”
Of course, the additions of PJ Tucker and De’Anthony Melton help on that end of the floor. Both have reputations for being elite defenders, and the Sixers are leaning on them.
“Probably the progression of just keep playing,” Tucker said of their improvement. “A lot of times early on, stuff would break down, and it would just break down. Now, you got guys doing second, third, fourth, fifth efforts to be able to get stops. I think that’s the biggest difference probably.”
#DidYouKnowFlow: The #Sixers are second (108.3) in the NBA behind the Cleveland Cavaliers (107.2) in defensive rating. Philly also ranks third (8.6 per game) in steals and fourth in three-point percentage defense (.383). pic.twitter.com/9JTNvWsJYg
— Keith Pompey (@PompeyOnSixers) December 24, 2022
As the Sixers embark on a four-game road trip, they are looking for continued improvement on the defensive end. That is what’s going to propel them in the Eastern Conference.
“I think Jo said in the beginning of the year, we’re going for the No. 1 defense,” Melton…
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