Now ‘actually holding our ground,’ Sixers aim to keep impressive trend rolling on defense originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Over the team’s gruesome 3-14 start, the Sixers had no unequivocal strengths. They were abysmal offensively and mediocre defensively.
Lately, they’ve been among the NBA’s best teams on defense. According to Cleaning the Glass, the Sixers rank second in the league in defensive rating outside of garbage time since Nov. 30. While they’ve played several bottom-10 offenses (the Hornets, Magic and Pistons), it’s still been an impressive stretch. In the half court, the Sixers have conceded just 83.0 points per 100 plays during their 4-1 run.
“Guarding the ball,” Kelly Oubre Jr. said after practice Thursday. “Communicating. Defense, that’s obviously a team possession, right? All five of us are getting more and more connected, whoever’s out there on the court.
“And we’re being more physical. We’re not getting punched in the face like we used to. We’re actually holding our ground and punching others.”
Sixers head coach Nick Nurse has been been more inclined to vary his schemes, too. In their mini-series vs. Orlando last week, the Sixers played effective zone defense and even mixed in a box-and-one with KJ Martin on Franz Wagner.
“We’re doing a lot more switching, probably (more) than we have in a long time,” Nurse said. “And just trying to understand that switching, everybody ends up in every spot, so just making sure that everybody’s ready to cover. And our menu of the defenses we’ve played here recently is growing.”
Oubre’s been glad to do it all.
“I don’t care,” he said. “I love guarding. Switching, you keep your man in front easier because there’s always somebody in front of them. But no matter what the coverage is, I love to do it. I love to bust through screens, rock my shoulders and all of that stuff. Just getting stops is my main priority.”
After a subpar start to the season, Oubre has produced consistently the last few weeks on both ends of the floor. The lefty wing has posted eight consecutive double-figure scoring games (with better shooting numbers) and recorded a steal in 11 straight contests. Oubre, Jared McCain and Guerschon Yabusele are the only Sixers to have appeared in all 22 of the team’s games.
For Friday night’s meeting with the 10-15 Pacers, the Sixers will be down Caleb Martin (right shoulder impingement) and Adem Bona (left knee tendinopathy). Nurse noted Wednesday that Martin’s “got all kinds of things going on” physically and has been playing despite being “not anywhere near 100 percent.” He thought Bona would be able to return to practices “soon.”
“I think it’s taking a little bit longer than we’d hoped at this point, so I think it’s day-to-day,” Nurse said Thursday of the rookie big man.
In terms of available centers, Joel Embiid is on track to start his sixth game of the season.
Though Nurse said he was unsure whether Embiid will have a firm minutes limit against Indiana, he doesn’t plan on giving him a giant workload regardless. Embiid played 33 minutes on Sunday in the Sixers’ win over the Bulls and everyone will continue to keep a close eye on his all-important left knee.
“I don’t think I’m in a position where we’re thinking super crazy minutes ever anyway,” Nurse said. “So I wouldn’t say that’s a restriction, but it’s kind of just common sense.”