The Sixers (29-16) visited the Sacramento Kings (26-18) on Saturday. Philadelphia wanted to cap a five-game road trip out west with a fifth win. Sacramento intended to extend its winning streak to seven games. Tyrese Maxey scored 32 points to lead the Embiid-less and Harden-less Sixers back from a 21-point deficit to win, 129-127.
Before we get to what I saw, some notes.
Contextual Notes
The Sixers were without the services of Joel Embiid and James Harden, who were both under maintenance for their respective foot injuries suffered previously this season.
Louis King and Julian Champagnie are both on Two-Way G-League assignments with the Delaware Blue Coats and were unavailable.
Doc Rivers started Maxey, De’Anthony Melton, Tobias Harris, PJ Tucker, and Montrezl Harrell.
The Kings were without the services of Neemias Queta and Keon Ellis, who are on Two-Way assignments with Sacramento’s G-League affiliate.
Mike Brown started De’Aaron Fox, Kevin Huerter, Harrison Barnes, Keegan Murray, and Domantas Sabonis.
Likes
I can’t say anyone took over the game for the Sixers in the first half, the bell going mostly unanswered in the first 24 minutes of play on a night when both Embiid and Harden were unavailable. But, Harris deserves his credit for being the one to lead Philadelphia’s charge. The outside shot has failed him in recent weeks, and the first half wasn’t an improvement on that. But, he was very aggressive in knifing through traffic as he fought downhill. The Sixers forward maneuvered his way into a handful of complicated baskets around the rim.
One of the best things he did was recognize that attacking Sabonis head-on wasn’t in the best interest of getting points on the board for a team that struggled to find offensive identity in the first half of this game. So, he attacked across the lane, challenging Sabonis to rotate away from sealing off the dunker. That mindset isn’t the same thing as fading away from contact or not attacking the basket aggressively. Rather, Harris knew he had more favorable chances of getting all the way to the rim if he attacked from a different angle. Once Sabonis was no longer the obvious helper on a drive, Harris attacked for scores against the likes of Barnes and Murray.
But by now, you know Harris usually isn’t going to go on a scoring rampage on most nights. Even when he’s higher in the pecking…
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