RECAP: Washington Wizards 120, Philadelphia 76ers 115
By Luke Swiatek
The Philadelphia 76ers may have lost to the Washington Wizards in their season opener, but they showed the grit that should come to define their season.
Philadelphia 76ers. ROBERT COVINGTON. A. 29 min | 29 pts | 7 reb | 1 ast | 1 stl | 2 blk | 5 TO | 9-15 FG | 7-11 3PT | 4-4 FT | 4 PF | +10 +/- | Summary: As my roommate said about Covington’s statline, “That’s a point per minute!” Indeed, Samir,very astute observation. In all seriousness though, every three Covington takes just feels destined to fall in now, whereas I used to be nervous about every shot of his in the past. He committed costly turnovers and looked a bit flat on defense, which is out of character, but he also had 11 more points than the next closest Sixer, and got there efficiently.. SF
PF. Philadelphia 76ers. BEN SIMMONS. A. 34 min | 18 pts | 10 reb | 5 ast | 2 stl | 1 blk | 1 TO | 7-15 FG | 0-0 3PT | 4-6 FT | 3 PF | +3 +/- | Summary: Simmons did as well as could be expected in his regular season debut. He looked like a serious scorer – his main weakness – and managed to record a double-double and minimize turnovers. His defensive technique and awareness (giving up a few easy layups and offensive boards) are the only things really keeping him from an A+.
A-. 26 min | 18 pts | 13 reb | 3 ast | 0 stl | 1 blk | 4 TO | 7-15 FG | 0-4 3PT | 4-4 FT | 2 PF | +1 +/- | Summary: Guess that “16-20 minute restriction” was all smoke and mirrors, eh? Embiid made some mental mistakes (gambling for blocks, failing to make the extra pass) but he’s still a transformative talent who never fails to leave his imprint on the game at hand.. C. Philadelphia 76ers. JOEL EMBIID
32 min | 12 pts | 2 reb | 4 ast | 1 stl | 0 blk | 2 TO | 4-10 FG | 4-8 3PT | 0-0 FT | 4 PF | +17 +/- | Summary: Redick’s secondary playmaking skills were on display, getting four assists, including a nice feed to Embiid for a dunk after curling off a screen. He also lead the team in plus/minus, and just seems to usually know the right play to make.. SG. Philadelphia 76ers. J.J. REDICK. B+
F. 0 min | 0 pts | 0 reb | 0 ast | 0 stl | 0 blk | 0 TO | 0-0 FG | 0-0 3PT | 0-0 FT | 0 PF | +0 +/- | Summary: No typo here. Perhaps it’s a bit harsh to give Okafor an F when he didn’t get a chance to prove himself on the court, but that’s kind of the point – if he can’t even get on the court when Embiid has a restriction and <a rel=. C. Philadelphia 76ers. JAHLIL OKAFOR
Brett Brown went with a ten-man rotation tonight, and played Embiid far more than his allotted 16-20 minutes. That tells me one thing: he’s looking to win.
Gone are the days of playing Nik Stauskas just for development’s sake. We’re chasing that 6-8 seed and we’re chasing hard. The Sixers’ starters all actually had positive plus/minus ratings, so it’s just on the bench players to not let the other team outscore them so much.
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As much as I like the Sixers, I didn’t expect them to pull this out. It was a close game at the end but the Wizards have the same core group of veterans as last year, while the Sixers have one mainstay from last year in Covington, the 31-game Embiid, a rookie in Simmons, and two other veterans who essentially are playing their first regular season games with the team in Bayless and Redick.
I understand that it will take the Sixers a while to gel, and expecting them to pull off a clutch comeback on the road against the Wizards so early on would be unrealistic. Still, they played well together overall and I was very encouraged.
Small sample size hot take warning: this game showed that the 76ers can hang with the upper-echelon teams in the East. Maybe not win a seven game series necessarily, but we’ll fight and make it tough.
It’s the Philly way, after all.
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