Underwhelmed: Key To Philadelphia 76ers Season Is Steady Improvement

Housekeeping matters

While only scoring seven points, Robert Covington led the rebound with seven rebounds, one better than Saric’s six for the evening.   Saric also hurled a pair of treys out of three attempts. With Bayless and Simmons out for the contest, Covington McConnell and Rodriguez were the only 76ers to see over 20 minutes in the contest.

However you anticipated it to play out, center minutes were distributed 12:57 to Joel Embiid, and 17:18 to Nerlens Noel.  Unfortunately, Jahlil Okafor was held out of the contest. But Embiid scored 6 points on 33.3 percent shooting, brought in four rebounds and put up two blocks. Noel scored 6 points on 60 percent shooting and pulled down three rebounds and dished out two assists and one steal.  The remaining center minutes were handled by various forwards rotating through.

Despite 18 minutes of playing time apiece, neither Nik Stauskas nor Hollis Thompson apeared on the scoreboard.  With the team’s roster boasting competition at all positions, this was a setback for each player in their bid to stick with the roster.

Players who did make strong cases for making the roster were guards Brandon Paul and T.J. McConnell.  Another player who made a small but might impact was Shawn Long.  When the Celtics had closed to within one point in the fourth quarter, he nailed his only three-pointer which kept the 76ers in the lead and was the winning margin.