Suns Prove That the Sixers Are Dangerously Close to Title Contention But Not Quite There Yet

Listen, the 16 hours where I was the one seed was the time of my life. I’m never going to forget these 16 hours as the one seed, it was a hell of a run. The Sixers fell to the Suns as their time as the Kings of the East was short-lived. But, the main takeaway from the unfinished business in Phoenix was that you could easily sign us basketball fans up for seven games of THAT! 

Here are some more thoughts on where the Sixers stand after coming up short against the NBA’s best:

Joel Embiid vs Devin Booker In an Obvious “MVP Statement Game” Battle:

It was pretty funny how evident it was that these two came out early and were looking to put a stamp on well deserved MVP campaigns. The Sixers lost Booker a few times early and he got hot, and here is a bold take coming, but he is one guy you don’t want getting hot early. He had 13 points about halfway through the first quarter and 22 overall in the quarter. With that tear going on, Embiid steadied the Sixers as always. The pick and roll in the flow of the offense early was perfect and allowed Embiid to get looks without double-teams coming. After Deandre Ayton came out of the game, Embiid just flat out attacked Bismack Biyombo.

But once again, Embiid’s best case for MVP comes when watching the Sixers without him. He checked out of the game after stepping on Booker’s foot and rolling his ankle. The Sixers were up two at that point, and lost by 10.

That is an incredible Suns team and there is a reason they have 61 wins. All it takes is a quick slip-up for them to go on a 10-0 or 12-0 run in the blink of an eye and change the game. That precise moment came when the Sixers were forced to go with Deandre Jordan (more on him later) when Embiid rolled his ankle and the Suns never looked back.

But it was just another constant reminder of Embiid’s value to this team.

No Doubt About It, I Am Ready to Get Hurt By Tobias Harris Again:

Tobias Harris over the past week has been playing some of the best basketball I have seen him play from a confidence standpoint. The goal with Harris is to always take the thinking out of the game. Right now, he is shooting and driving to the basket without any thinking involved. He paced the Sixers with 15 points in the early going and led an early 2nd quarter run that put the Sixers up double-digits.

A bench-unit is supposed to tread water on a basketball court until their stars check back in. For the majority of the season, the Sixers bench unit has not exactly been treading water. They’ve looked like that viral video of the baby taking a “floating test” where the kid is just tumbling under water. On Sunday, they actually extended the lead with Harden and Embiid resting, with Harris doing the heavy lifting.

They went up double digits early on the Suns with Harris dropping 15 first half points. In a win over the Lakers on Wednesday, he chipped in 20. With no Embiid and Harden on Monday against Miami he had 14/8/6.

There is one common denominator to the Sixers offense clicking at its highest level: it’s Tobias Harris playing aggressively and providing them a dependable 4th option. It needs to continue.

God Save Me From the Back-Up Center Minutes: 

A special shoutout to my mother, a huge supporter and now an avid Sixers fan. She may have crossed over to the point she is now a bigger fan than I am. After the loss to the Suns, she showed me a stat that the Sixers are now dead last in offensive rebounding percentage. Although, it’s fairly evident this team doesn’t rebound well, I was unaware it was THAT bad.

Part of the reason is the Sixers have had a few issues this year with transition defense. One of the easiest ways to solve that issue is to make sure everyone is getting back and having no one crash the boards. Hey, if it works, it works.

But another reason for being dead last is this team doesn’t bring any high energy bigs off the bench. Well, they could, they just don’t use him.

Paul Reed is the exact type of player who comes into a game, yanks down two offensive rebounds, and kicks it out to James Harden for a walk-in three pointer. It would be his only role.

In Friday’s walloping of the Clippers, B-ball Paul checked in the fourth quarter and made an immediate impact. He finished with 8 points, 2 steals and a block. Albeit in garbage time, his energy is still undeniable.

It’s valid logic to play a veteran because young guys make dumb plays and commit dumb fouls which could be the difference in a playoff series. But the Sixers are at the point that you might be able to tolerate Paul Reed fouling out on dumb fouls if it means he plays over Deandre Jordan. He would give them some semblance of rim protection, high energy, and a rim runner for James Harden to throw lobs to.