GRADES: Philadelphia 76ers 125, Detroit Pistons 109
By Ashley Foltz
The Philadelphia 76ers dominated against the struggling Detriot Pistons with elevation from the forceful Tobias Harris.
The Philadelphia 76ers remain victorious against the Pistons for the fifth straight meeting between the two teams. The Sixers worked as a cohesive unit to defeat Detroit by16 points.
Early on we saw Ben Simmons attack both ends of the court. He helped to set a nice game tempo as he set people up with open shots and got himself into the paint to score. Just in the first quarter, the Sixers grabbed 14 rebounds against the Pistons’ five. It was great to see such a strong initiative to get the 50/50 balls.
Joel Embiid turned on his aggressiveness switch as soon as he was matched up with his long-time rival, Andre Drummond, who came off the bench tonight. Embiid was a beast around the basket with 13 points, four rebounds, and two blocks in just 15 minutes on the court.
The Sixers’ offense looked pretty solid with some impressive passes and decision making. Tobias Harris was an absolute force all around, shooting 2-for-3 from beyond for 15 points in the first half alone, and it only went up from there.
Straight out of the locker room the Pistons went on a 10-0 run but was broken up by none other than Tobias Harris with a simple layup to get the Sixers back on track. James Ennis followed in Tobi’s footsteps, helping to take control of the game. Ennis may not have had the points to show it, he did his part by rebounding, finding open teammates, and blocking shots.
Furkan Korkmaz, sporting some neon green kicks, registered a career-high 21 points. A late-game tiff occurred between Blake Griffin and Harris, which resulted in a double technical call. After the small quarrel, the Sixers cruised along for the rest of the game.
This game was hopefully the confidence boost the Sixers need before they take on the current best team in the NBA — the Milwaukee Bucks — on Christmas Day.