NBA Hoops

Embiid dominates to lead Sixers past Clippers in LA: Likes and dislikes

Embiid dominates to lead Sixers past Clippers in LA: Likes and dislikes

Joel Embiid and James Harden talking under basket during free throws; photo by Austin Krell/TPL

The Sixers (27-16) visited the Los Angeles Clippers (23-22) on Tuesday. Philadelphia aimed to extend its winning streak to three games. Los Angeles wanted to build on Sunday’s victory over the Rockets. Joel Embiid scored 41 points to power the Sixers to victory, 120-110.

Before we get to what I saw, some notes.

Contextual Notes

The Sixers were without the services of Louis King and Julian Champagnie, who are on Two-Way G-League assignments with the Delaware Blue Coats.

Doc Rivers started James Harden, De’Anthony Melton, Tobias Harris, PJ Tucker, and Joel Embiid.

The Clippers were without the services of Luke Kennard, who has a sore right calf. John Wall missed the game with a sore abdomen.

Brandon Boston Jr. is on an assignment with the Clippers’ G-League affiliate and was unavailable. Moussa Diabate is on a Two-Way assignment with the Clippers’ G-League affiliate and was not with the team.

Tyronn Lue started Terance Mann, Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, Marcus Morris Sr., and Ivica Zubac.

Likes

Not that anything the Sixers did on defense was particularly inspiring, the Clippers scoring 13 points in about two minutes, 50 seconds after a frigid start. But, I did like that they switched on pick-and-rolls when Zubac was the screener. He’s not a perimeter threat, and so you’re not concerned with him being guarded by a smaller defender outside of the paint. Switching made sure a defender was connected to ball-handlers like George and Leonard through the action. So, there wasn’t any creating rhythm into pull-up jumpers or dribble penetration out of the screen. Embiid prefers to defend in drop coverage, and the switch concept was a good starting game plan.

It’s no secret that Tyrese Maxey has struggled a bit since returning from the foot injury. The two obvious possibilities are that he’s still trying to get comfortable after such a long layoff. Alternatively, there’s something of a book out on the under-sized shooting guard. Teams take him more seriously after the leap he made last season, and some of the things he did as a second-year guard are being taken away this year. It’s probably a little bit of both. But, I’m inclined to think it’s a bit more of the former than the latter. After all, the lasting memory of Maxey before the misstep that sidelined him for more than a month was scoring 24 points in the first half…

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