The Philadelphia 76ers missed a golden opportunity to create some more separation in the standings as the Miami Heat trampled them to the tune of a 10-point beatdown. The biggest culprit? Look no further than the gross discrepancy on the boards. They got outrebounded by the hosts 57 to 42, which was part and parcel why they were not able to mount a comeback.
Rebounding has always been one of the bigger issues surrounding this squad. So far this season, they are ranked 23rd in the league when it comes to rebounding percentage. If we go by the raw numbers, the numbers don’t look much better — the 76ers corrall just 43.4 boards a night, which clocks in at 17th among all teams.
The decision of the coaching staff to relegate Andre Drummond to third-string duty does not help, either. He is still inarguably their best rebounder, and with Joel Embiid having already conceded that part of his game in order to mitigate his injury risks, the veteran’s omission from the rotation definitely has an adverse effect on their team-wide rebounding.
The 76ers got badly exposed by the Heat on the boards
Miami racks up the third-most rebounds per outing in the league, so Philly getting outperformed on that end given the raw numbers is not surprising. However, that does not change the fact that it is a major issue that could make them that much more vulnerable come playoff time.
This is the price the 76ers have to pay given the current state of their best player, but the part that is imputable to them is their choice to veer away from Drummond. By taking him out of the normal loop, the team loses an enforcer on the boards which has the attendant result of making life more difficult for the other players to gang-rebound.
The 76ers still have some ground to cover if they want to snag an outright playoff berth, but with the race getting even tighter, opposing teams will be more deliberate in exposing the other team’s weaknesses. For Philly, that will definitely come in the rebounding department.
Hopefully, the coaching staff can design some ways to extenuate this weakness, especially if they remain intent on letting Andre Drummond ride the bench. So far, their Embiid-Bona duo is not doing them any favors on the boards, and barring any changes, there is no reason to expect the worm to turn on that front.