Philadelphia 76ers: Ranking possible first-round playoff opponents
Easiest: Detroit Pistons
Season series: 3-1, Sixers
The Sixers match up better with the Pistons than with any other possible team they could play in the first round. Two bigs in Blake Griffin and Andre Drummond anchor their team, falling right into the hands of Philly’s oversized starting five.
Detroit ranks 29th in the league in field goal percentage, hitting 44.1 percent of their shots, and while they sit in the top 10 in threes made and attempted, they’re just 19th in the league in percentage at 34.9. Thanks to Drummond and his league-high 5.2 offensive rebounds per game, the Pistons pull down the eighth-most offensive boards in the league, yet in defensive rebounding and total rebounding, they sit in the bottom half of the league.
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Philly, on the other hand, rank 11th in the league in offensive boards, third in defensive boards, and fourth in total boards, and they have a spread-out distribution: while Embiid corrals 13.6 per game, five players average over five rebounds in each contest. The Sixers’ strong defensive rebounding and general size across the board should neutralize Drummond and Griffin, the only Pistons who average over five boards.
Even more condemnatory evidence against the Pistons in their case against Philadelphia in a possible first-round meeting: Dwane Casey’s squad sits in the bottom 10 in pace, assists, blocks, and steals, meaning they do not stay active on defense or move the ball well. The Sixers sit in the top 10 in all those categories except for steals, and they have fallen victim to aggressive defenses in the past, so the NBA’s 25th-highest scoring team would have a hard time against the Sixers’ five-man offensive juggernaut.