PJ Tucker, Sixers discuss rebounding struggles, need to be more physical
CAMDEN, N.J.–The Philadelphia 76ers had a pretty miserable road trip, to say the least. They were blown out in Cleveland to begin the trip, got outmuscled in Memphis, and then Houston ran past them to end the trip.
After dropping all three games, they got back to work at practice on Wednesday to begin preparation for a 7-game homestand and there is one glaring weakness that stuck out during the trip: rebounding.
Philadelphia was outrebounded 57-42 in the loss to the Grizzlies as Steven Adams pulled down 10 offensive rebounds by himself. Then they were outrebounded 51-39 by the Rockets in that double overtime loss as they were beaten off the dribble the entire night which led to Houston being free to crash the glass.
Being more physical
The Sixers brought in guys like PJ Tucker, De’Anthony Melton, Danuel House Jr., and others to help the team be more physical. However, that wasn’t the case in either loss to the Grizzlies and Rockets.
“We gotta be more physical. Period,” said Tucker. “We’ve kinda been saying that all year, but we gotta be more physical. We gotta hit first. We gotta be more aggressive on the box outs and helping each other. It’s not always the guy that’s actually boxed out. It’s like the help, the guy behind him, and just being on the same page, but we definitely gotta be more physical. That’s without a doubt.”
Being better defensively
It would help if the perimeter players could stay in front of their opponent. For example, in Memphis, Ja Morant was getting to the basket with ease which then forces Tucker and Joel Embiid to have to rotate over. That left Adams free to grab easy offensive rebounds.
Coach Doc Rivers stated: “Well, Steven Adams caused the Memphis one. That one is simple. The Houston one, they just crashed from the slots and we just didn’t have a lot of block outs. I still think, in both of those games, even Steven Adams, dribble penetration is what creates offensive rebounds because the big is helping, and against Memphis, if Joel goes to help, Steven Adams is getting the rebound. There is no other human on your team that can keep him off the glass. That’s why he’s so good. He’s a great offensive rebounder, in general, and he also plays with Morant who lives in the paint and bigs are off his body. The reason why you keep him off the glass is by staying on his body. When you do that, then Morant’s dunking all game. Then I thought Houston lived in the paint as well.”
Defending the quicker guards
It was the same issue in Houston as Jalen Green and Kevin Porter Jr. were beating Philadelphia’s guards off the dribble and getting into the paint with ease. That allowed guys like Tari Eason, Alperen Sengun, and KJ Martin to attack the glass and have success.
“Yeah, but I think honestly, keeping the ball in front of you will help,” Rivers added. “I thought Houston beat us off the dribble the entire game. The criminal is getting beat off the dribble. The crime, obviously, is the offensive rebounds.”
Gang rebounding
That then brings up the question of gang rebounding. Just send a bunch of guys to the glass.
“I just feel like we’re not boxing out enough,” Paul Reed added. “I feel like we need all five guys going in there crashing. A lot of the times, it’ll be Jo down there by himself trying to get a rebound. We need everybody. I think that’s one of the biggest things.”
The issue with that idea is that if you send all five guys to the glass, then the transition defense will struggle as nobody is there to get back on defense. Either way, this is an issue Philadelphia has to fix as they are ranked 29th in the league in rebounding at 39.9 per game only ahead of the Dallas Mavericks.
