GRADES: Philadelphia 76ers 97, Sacramento Kings 91
By Ashley Foltz
The Philadelphia 76ers continue to earn their victories in lively South Philly as they remain undefeated at home after fighting off the Sacramento Kings.
The Philadelphia 76ers came back home, after a massively disappointing loss to the Toronto Raptors on Monday night, to take on the Sacramento Kings. Without De’Aaron Fox or Marvin Bagley III, the Kings had to fight even harder and even came neck and neck with the Sixers due to the home team’s sloppiness. But ultimately the Sixers were the much better team.
Right off the bat, Joel Embiid showed that he had something to prove after his scoreless game in Toronto. He scored the first four points of the game, two of them coming from a dunk over process Sixer Richaun Holmes. Josh Richardson also came into the game hot as he hit an early three and went for seven total points in the first quarter.
The Sixers let the Kings back into the game in regular Sixers fashion by allowing the Kings to score 15 points off of their ten sloppy turnovers. The second quarter started off on the positive note as Embiid earned a double-double in his 12 minutes of play. Ben Simmons ended the quarter with only four points but he showed growth as he hit his second bucket of the game with a fadeaway baseline turnaround jumper to put the Sixers up 10, his elbow tucked in and everything.
The Kings’ bench scored 17 points in the first half and made the Sixers’ bench look silly as they went completely scoreless until the very last second of the game. Raul Neto hit a timely floater off a pass from Simmons to advance the Sixers ahead at the half, 47-46.
MATISSE THYBULLE. A. <strong>21 mins | 15 pts | 3 reb | 1 ast | 4 stl | 2 blk | 2 TO | 5-5 FG | 3-3 3PT| 2-2 FT | 3 PF | +4 |</strong><p>The rookie had himself a game shooting 100 percent for 15 points which created his new career-high. His defensive game was also on point as he hustled all over the court looking to make a steal or a block. He was given the spot after Richardson left, and Furkan was benched, and he took full advantage.</p>. SG. Philadelphia 76ers
A. <strong>32 mins | 33 pts | 16 reb | 1 ast | 0 stl | 2 blk | 3 TO | 10-19 FG | 1-4 3PT| 12-14 FT | 0 PF | +5 |</strong><p>Embiid had a HUGE comeback game to prove he moved past the previous game. 33 points AND 16 rebounds immensely helped the Sixers in their victory. He definitely wanted to silence the people saying he should be traded or benched after his career-low game.</p>. C. Philadelphia 76ers. JOEL EMBIID
PF. Philadelphia 76ers. MIKE SCOTT. F. <strong>23 mins | 0 pts | 2 reb | 2 ast | 1 stl | 1 blk | 0 TO | 0-0 FG | 0-0 3PT| 0-0 FT | 0 PF | – 10 |</strong><p>With his worst game of the season, Mike Scott followed in Embiid’s footsteps going scoreless this game. Only three bench players scored tonight, and the Sixers could have used some buckets and plays Scott.</p>
Philadelphia 76ers. BEN SIMMONS. B+. <strong>37 mins | 10 pts | 14 reb | 5 ast | 2 stl | 0 blk | 5 TO | 5-11 FG | 0-0 3PT| 0-0 FT | 3 PF | +/- 0 | </strong><p>Ben had a pretty stand-out passing game making tricky bounce passes down court and from opposites sides of the arc. He also made some impressive turnaround jumpers, but I would have liked to see him put up a few more points in the 37 minutes he was out on the court.</p>. PG
AL HORFORD. C+. <strong>32 mins | 14 pts | 7 reb | 5 ast | 1 stl | 1 blk | 1 TO | 5-9 FG | 0-3 3PT| 2-2 FT | 0 PF | +11 |</strong><p>Horford had a pretty “eh” game. He was scoreless from beyond and had little contribution on defense. His passing and shooting overall looked very fluid and smooth.</p>. PF. Philadelphia 76ers
Simmons started off the second half with back-to-back fast-break buckets which doubled his points from the first half. Furkan Korkmaz started the half for Richardson, who went out with right hamstring tightness, but was benched (and clearly upset) just four minutes into the third for Matisse Thybulle. Thybulle was making a point of why he needs to be put back into the rotation. He hit the second three for the Sixers off a Simmons bounce pass down court to put them up 10 as the Center erupted.
Mike Scott looked off the entire game leading up to the fourth quarter making some pretty poor shot and went scoreless in 23 minutes of play. Thybulle went for his career-high in the final quarter and shot the ball like a mad man going for 100 percent from beyond and field goal range. He was a stand-out not only for the bench players but over all the players, except Embiid, tonight.
Next. Josh Richardson has been Sixers best player. dark
The Sixers will head to Madison Square Garden to face the New York Knicks on Friday for part one of back to back games.