Backed by a phenomenal effort Ben Simmons on Aussie Heritage Night, the Philadelphia 76ers got the win they needed against the Chicago Bulls.
Ben Simmons really took Australian Heritage Night to heart. He certainly earned a Four Twenty or two. He looked like a completely different player than on Monday. He attacked with reckless abandon. He had eight points and 10 rebounds and five assists in the first quarter alone. He finished only two assists shy of a triple double at halftime, but got his triple double by the end of the game
Another Philadelphia 76ers Rising Star, Dario Saric shone bright tonight. He was the other engine of the offense beside Ben Simmons. He had the three ball going, making his first three shots from distance. He even had a sweet step back over Lauri Markkanen in the second quarter. He also found Justin Anderson by launching a Nick Foles-like deep ball to end the half.
The most important development in Dario’s game tonight was clearly the lack of a mustache. Let us all hope it returns to us sooner rather than later.
We saw tonight truly the impact of the Sixers’ recent improvement on defense. Ben Simmons, Robert Covington and the amalgam of Justin Anderson and TLC gave the Bulls’ guards and wings trouble all night. The Bulls really struggled with the length and quickness as the Sixers could switch seamlessly.
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Robert and Ben’s footwork in particular allowed them to stay front of the likes of Zach Levine, Jerian Grant and Justin Holiday and make their lives very difficult. The Sixers held the Bulls to 32 percent from the field through two quarters and 38 percent for the whole game. The defensive contributions along with Ben and Dario’s offensive spark led to a 14-point half time lead.
Given the recent struggles with holding leads, every Sixers fan thought, well, how are they going to cough up this one? But after some back-and-forth, the Sixers were able to extend the lead. It reached as high as 25 points in the third quarter.
As in the first half, the Sixers’ defense created the necessary separation on the scoreboard. Ben Simmons took on every possible defensive match up and came out victorious. In back to back possessions in the third, he held his own against Chicago’s pair of seven footers. He wouldn’t let either MArkkenan or Robin Lopez get the better of him down low highlighting Ben’s physical strength.
Despite a push by the Bulls, the Sixers still maintained an 18-point lead going into the fourth. The Sixers caught some hot shooting to start the fourth quarter, but the Bulls were able to cut the lead to 15 points after a 10-0 Run.
Robert Covington was able to end the Bulls surge by nailing a tough mid range shot, and JoJo put the final nail in coffin with the ane-one, which got the Sixers lead back up to 20 points. They never looked back from there. After the dismal effort on Monday, tonight was a great bounce back performance to get the win to put the Sixers at 6-2 in the month of January.
Replacing J.J. and T.J.
On the offensive side of the ball early in the game, the Sixers still did not look in rhythm coming off of the loss to the Grizzlies. They were definitely feeling the effects of not having J.J. Redick and T.J. McConnell. The lack of shot creation outside Ben Simmons made for an uneven performance. As such, an intriguing trend to follow throughout the night was how the offense would look without Ben Simmons on the floor.
Usually it’s abysmal without Joel Embiid on the floor, but when you are running out Larry Drew II as the back up point guard, the Sixers’ lineup sans Ben were just as problematic. The Sixers lead dropped from 11 to fiveimmediately after Ben left the court the first time in the first half.
The home team did not score a single point during that stretch in fact. I was surprised that Brett chose to also leave Dario on the bench with Ben on the first rotation. It would seem that Dario would be able to replace a little of what Ben can do.
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The first stint without Ben was so abhorrent that Brett Brown did not rest Ben until the start of the fourth quarter. Luckily, by that time the Sixers had a big lead and could handle his absence. It did not hurt that TLC got also hot in the 4th again, knocking down two threes without Ben on the floor. As far as ball handling in this stretch, it was a team effort to create shots
In terms of replacing J.J. Redick, Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot definitely cooled off a bit to start the game, but he got the three working late. He was the best part of the wing rotation besides RoCo. TLC maintained discipline on defense, played within the offense.
Justin Anderson added some bounce, adding two dunks. James Young also got some run, but looked a little out of sorts on defense and committed some quick fouls. This would be a trend that hurts his chances to get extended minutes in the future.
Overall the Sixers cannot complain with the scoring output by the back up wing rotation thus far without Redick and Jerryd Bayless. They managed the load in this contest for sure. Lets’ hope it can hold up as the 76ers are about to hit the road for the next four games.
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