3 observations: Joel Embiid, Sixers bounce back in win over Thunder
The Philadelphia 76ers had themselves a tough night down in the bayou on Friday in a loss, but the NBA offers an opportunity to bounce back fairly quickly with the way the schedule is set up.
The Sixers hopped on a plane and landed in Oklahoma City ready to play and forget about Friday. They came out with the correct energy from the jump and they were able to knock off the Thunder on the road 117-93 led by Joel Embiid who had 27 points and nine rebounds.
Furkan Korkmaz had a big game with 20 points and a career-high five steals, Ben Simmons had 13 points, Seth Curry had 11 points and six assists as he was able to redeem himself after Friday’s disaster, and it was an overall good night for Philadelphia as they took advantage of an inferior opponent. Mike Scott also contributed 13 points, Shake Milton had 12, and Dwight Howard pulled down 13 rebounds off the bench.
Here are the three observations from the win:
Aggressive Simmons
This is something that will always be a factor for Philadelphia every single night. When Simmons is attacking and getting into the paint, that is when the Sixers are at their best on offense. From the start of this game, Simmons was attacking the younger and smaller Thunder and making it tough on them to defend him and the Sixers all night. Simmons even pulled out a couple of mid-range jumpers to show off other parts of his game. Simmons is at his best when he is attacking the basket and, really, getting out of his own way. When he sets his mind to it, nobody can stay in front of him because he has good size and he is so skilled. Some can say that it’s only the Thunder and that is true, they are not a good team, but this can be a good confidence type of game for him.
Free throws
Maybe it was due to his knee injury. Maybe it was the play of Steven Adams. Or maybe it was just the entire team being mentally weak, but Embiid and the rest of the Sixers were much more aggressive in this one than on Friday in their loss. The big fella attempted only four free throws all night on Friday, but he surpassed that number in the first half on Saturday against the Thunder with nine attempts. He finished with ??? on the night. The MVP candidate certainly settled for a lot of jumpers against the New Orleans Pelicans, but the Thunder do not have a guy like Adams to stop him. He had 21 points at the half alone after finishing with only 14 on Friday. This was a good bounce-back game for everybody involved.
Others step up
With the Sixers missing both Tobias Harris and Danny Green in this one, Philadelphia needed others to step up and replace their production. Korkmaz and Matisse Thybulle got the start in their place and they both played well. Korkmaz was able to show off other parts of his game such as putting the ball on the floor a bit and he made a couple of shots while moving off the dribble. Thybulle played his usual great defensive game while also knocking down a corner triple. Another guy who stepped up and played well was Curry. The team’s sharpshooter missed all seven shots he took on Friday as he went scoreless for the third time this season. On Saturday, he was not hesitant, he was able to focus on just scoring, and he played well. This was a solid night for him and the rest of the team.
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