The two best teams from each conference went head-to-head on this night. The Sixers needed an extra period just to escape with a win against a very good Utah Jazz team.
When the ball tipped off, both teams tried to establish their offense with their signature systems. The Jazz ran pick-and-rolls and launched a ton of 3s. The Sixers posted Joel Embiid early and often. The difference was in the execution.
Despite an onslaught of Utah Jazz 3s, the Sixers were able to topple the NBA’s best team behind Joel Embiid’s MVP performance.
Bojan Bogdanovic and Donovan Mitchell could not miss in the first period. They took advantage of mismatches and scored inside and outside. The Sixers had no answer for them. When Philly tried to keep pace, they fed the ball to Embiid, who did score in a variety of ways. Yet, nobody else on the Sixers would contribute enough to keep the score close early.
Entering the second quarter, things got worse for Doc Rivers’ team. With Embiid and Tobias Harris on the bench, Shake Milton was relied on to produce points. He did hit his first two shots, but then, the offense struggled. The defense also struggled to contain Joe Ingles and Mike Conley as the onslaught of 3-pointers kept building the Jazz lead until the 76ers starters checked back in.
A nice run in the middle of the quarter, thanks to some good defense by Harris and Matisse Thybulle, led to some easy baskets in transition. Joel Embiid went back to work, attacking the basket and drawing fouls. Ben Simmons had a strong shooting half, missing only once in five attempts. Despite making only one 3-pointer compared to Utah’s 10, the 76ers went into the half down by nine.
Starting the second half, the Sixers’ offense woke up, but the Jazz kept nailing 3-pointers. Although Philly shrunk the lead to three in the first few minutes, Doc Rivers found himself calling timeout after another run by Utah. After a Sixers run with baskets from Curry, Simmons, and Embiid, the Jazz found themselves calling timeout as well. The lead see-sawed back to three.
The Sixers went on a 14-6 run, but Utah seemed to have an answer each time to slow Philly’s progress. With a continued barrage of 3-pointers and easy baskets by Joe Ingles’ lefty layups, the lead went back up double digits. If not for Ben Simmons’ stingy defense and steady offense, the 76ers would have been down by 20. Going into the final quarter, somehow, Philly trailed by only five points.
As the bench tried to close the gap, it took a Dwight Howard 3-pointer, steal, and huge block to energize the Sixers. They pulled within a single field goal as Embiid, Harris, and Simmons rested. A Korkmaz floater tied the game at 92 and caused Utah to spend a timeout.
The Sixers finally took the lead on a 3-pointer by Mike Scott after a Clarkson miss. The score went back and forth for several minutes. All of a sudden, Joe Ingles caught fire, and Seth Curry nailed two baskets. Embiid made a huge block on Gobert at the rim and hit a 3-pointer to retake the lead.
The Jazz ball movement and shooting appeared to be too sharp for Philly coming down the stretch. Embiid went into MVP mode to keep the game close, posting and scoring on Gobert. Both teams traded baskets, and just when the game seemed out of reach for Philly, Embiid hit a huge 3-pointer to tie the game and send it into overtime.
A boost of offense came from Harris in the extra period. His scoring carried the team as the Sixers tightened their defense. Simmons frustrated Donovan Mitchell as Philly maintained a lead they would never relinquish. Once Mitchell was ejected after his second technical foul, the game was in the bag for the 76ers.
As ugly as the win turned out to be, it was a huge victory against the best team in the NBA.
The Philadelphia 76ers play their next game Thursday, March 11 at 8:00 ET in Chicago against the Bulls. Until then, you can watch Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons play in the NBA All-Star Game on Sunday, March 7 on TNT.