Sixers vs. Spurs: 3 takeaways from a near-collapse

The Sixers overcame yet another shaky performance to get a victory on Monday night.

One thing is abundantly clear through two games in Orlando: the Sixers are still very much the Sixers. For better or worse, not a lot has changed. Their success still depends too heavily on Joel Embiid, and the offense — while improved, to some degree — is still a mess of ill-fitted parts.

The Sixers managed to win their second game inside the bubble despite every effort to give it away. The Spurs dominated the fourth quarter, and even dominated the glass despite being massively undersized. The Spurs had Jakob Poeltl, Drew Eubanks, and Cody Zeller challenging Embiid. DeMar DeRozan was the starting four. There is no excuse for Philadelphia to lose the rebounding battle.

And yet, the Sixers’ shakiness was absolved by the heroics of aptly named Shake Milton, who bounced back from his abysmal opener against Indiana. The second-year guard scored 16 points, including a game-winning 3 with six seconds left on the clock. He and Joel Embiid even hyped it up on Twitter after the game, a promising show of brotherhood after Saturday’s brouhaha.

The Sixers were also the “home team” in this game, so it’s only natural that Philadelphia was able to pull out the win. The Sixers will “travel” to face Washington on Wednesday, so be prepared for Troy Brown Jr.’s career night and vast retrospectives of what could have been with Ish Smith.

Here’s what you should take away from Monday’s W.