2. Dee-fense, dee-fense!
The 76ers were not bad defensively last season, finishing third in team defensive rating. Who was first? The Boston Celtics.
When the two teams met in the Eastern Conference semifinals, that proved to be a problem.
While the Celtics were doing a good job limiting the Sixers’ offense, on the other end, Boston’s athletic forwards were making the Sixers defenders look like windmills. They also put out lineups with five outside shooters (five-out), which meant the Sixers only rim protector, Joel Embiid, had to leave the paint to guard his man.
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After the Sixers were eliminated, 4-1, by Boston, coach Brett Brown thought long and hard about his defense in that series. The assistant in charge of setting up defenses, Lloyd Pierce, moved to Atlanta to become head coach and Brown had Billy Lange, who had been in charge of offense, take over Pierce’s defensive duties.
Every person has his own viewpoint, and Lange has installed his vision for the Sixers defense.
Brown told NBA.com during training camp:
"“How do you keep the game in front of you? How do you not get beat on the dribble, and how do as much was as we can to get Joel at the rim, and cover him around that. That, to me, is playoff defense. That’s where we’re at.”"
How has the new defense looked so far? Not good.
After five games, the 76ers are 19th in defensive rating at 110.2 (Boston is first at 97.3).
More than statistics, the eye test shows the Sixers are just not playing good defense. Blake Griffin torched them for a career-high 50 points when they played Detroit and Fultz and McConnell on defense made Ish Smith look like Chris Paul. The next night, the Milwaukee Bucks hammered them for a franchise record 49 points in the second quarter.
Considering the 76ers have an NBA first team all-defensive player in Robert Covington, a second teamer in Joel Embiid and a player should be all-NBA defense this year in Ben Simmons, there is no reason for the Sixers to be this bad on the defensive end.
Brown warned in the preseason getting used to Lange’s defensive tactics will take time. Also, injuries to key reserves like Wilson Chandler, Mike Muscala and Zhaire Smith (noted for his defense in college) have not helped things.
Whatever the reason, the Sixers can’t keep having opposing players get career highs or teams be on pace to score almost 200 points in a game and have any hope of making the NBA finals.