GRADES: Philadelphia 76ers 132, San Antonio Spurs 130
By Ashley Foltz
The Philadelphia 76ers battle down to the wire to get their first win in the bubble against the San Antonio Spurs.
It almost felt like a normal game in South Philly for the Philadelphia 76ers with crowd noise, Matt Cord announcing, and of course, a gut-wrenching back and forth game. The Sixers struggled to defend the San Antonio Spurs and to find open guys on offense. Joel Embiid, many times, was tripled-teamed and kept trying to step towards the basket and through the defenders.
Josh Richardson and Shake Milton looked much more confident than in the previous game. It was nice to see both of them taking smarter shots and exhibiting more aggressiveness.
Tobias Harris stepped up majorly in the first half, as he led the team with 13 points. He made some quick and savvy cuts to the net to receive the open pass from his teammates. We saw this with Ben Simmons a few times.
https://twitter.com/sixers/status/1290445704733822976
A+. <strong>31 mins | 25 pts | 6 reb | 4 ast | 1 stl | 1 blk | 3 TO | 10-17 FG | 3-5 3PT| 2-2 FT | 5 PF | +7 | </strong><p>In combination with Jo, Tobi contributed the most to the team. He was hitting a majority of his shots and was in touch with his defensive game on the other end of the court.</p>. PF. Philadelphia 76ers. TOBIAS HARRIS
A+. <strong>26 mins | 16 pts | 5 reb | 3 ast | 0 stl | 0 blk | 1</strong><strong> TO | 6-9 FG | 2-4 3PT| 2-2 FT | 3 PF | +3 | </strong><p>Shake shook off his horrendous and scoreless game against the Pacers and came back as the player we saw earlier in the season. He demonstrated his aggressiveness and quickness on both ends of the floor. Oh yeah, and he also hit the game-winning three with 6.1 seconds left in the game.</p>. PG. Philadelphia 76ers. SHAKE MILTON
<strong>34 mins | 19 pts | 1 reb | 2 ast | 1 stl | 1 blk | 1 TO | 5-15 FG | 3-8 3PT| 6-6 FT | 3 PF | -1 | </strong><p>Richardson hit his stride during this game and quieted the voices that were trashing him after the Pacers’ loss. He did a great job of moving the ball and moving to an empty spot on the court for an easy open shot.</p>. SG. Philadelphia 76ers. JOSH RICHARDSON. A
A+. <strong>31 mins | 27 pts | 9 reb | 5 ast | 1 stl | 0 blk | 4 TO | 9-17 FG | 0-2 3PT| 9-12 FT | 2 PF | – 3 | </strong><p>Jo started the game sort of nonchalant but picked it up big time in the second half. He played bully ball like nobody’s business and made sure everyone knew how big he was when they tried to go up on him.</p>. C. Philadelphia 76ers. JOEL EMBIID
<strong>25 mins | 8 pts | 2 reb | 5 ast | 1 stl | 1 blk | 2 TO | 4-6 FG | 0-0 3PT| 0-0 FT | 6 PF | – 3 |</strong><p>Ben was the only starter in single digits. This was due to the fact that he got into foul trouble early on and had to be pulled out in the third quarter. Even when he entered the game he had to play mostly hands-off defense in order to no foul out. He ended up fouling out as soon as the Spurs went up.</p>. PF. Philadelphia 76ers. BEN SIMMONS. C+
Right when we thought that the Sixers were controlling their turnover rate this game, they accumulated a handful towards the end of the fourth quarter. The Spurs came within one, 119-118, which clinched the fists of every Sixers fan.
Next. Spike Eskin joins The Sixer Sense Podcast. dark
As soon as the Spurs took their first lead of the second half, Ben fouled out and the Sixers were in major trouble. But then our savior stepped up. Shake hit an enormous 3 that sent the whole city of Philadelphia to their feet, putting the Sixers up 131-130 with 6.1 seconds left on the clock. A huge defensive stand helped to cap off a 132-130 win by the ever so stressful Philadelphia 76ers.