After recording two dismaying losses, the Philadelphia 76ers went on the road and tallied an impressive win over the Detroit Pistons. While this is only their fourth win of the season in 18 tries, this dub should boost their confidence as they aim to conjure some actual momentum in the win column.
While a win over Detroit would usually not be as impressive as it seems, this year’s Pistons team is a ton more competent. Philly imposed its will right from the get-go, banking on a very strong showing in the first quarter and never looking back.
However, as impressive as the 76ers looked last night in arguably their best win of the season, head coach Nick Nurse pulled the trigger on a move that sent many fans disappointed, if not angry at the champion tactician — one that could have big repercussions if allowed to continue.
Nick Nurse commits grave mistake amid impressive 76ers win
Before Saturday night’s tussle, Nurse made a big switch-up in the starting unit. With Paul George returning from injury, he opted to move Rookie of the Year frontrunner Jared McCain to the bench and went with Kelly Oubre Jr. on the opening group.
In all fairness, the move panned out well, at least for this game. Oubre posted one of his better games this season, playing fallback to George, who continued his disappearing act this season from a shooting standpoint.
However, Nurse’s decision to bench McCain after two subpar shooting games prior to matching up with the Pistons is a bad look. McCain has been one of the extremely few bright spots for the 76ers this season, and pinning him as the piece to willingly tinker with when he has already proven that he should be a staple in the starting lineup makes little to no sense for the long term.
If anything, this is yet another indication of Nurse’s headstrong preference to go with veteran commodities. This is what jettisoned him away from Toronto. Hopefully, Philadelphia does not experience a repeat of that grave mistake he did.
The bigger hope, however, is that this move does not affect McCain’s confidence moving forward. The 76ers cannot afford a slowdown from one of their most reliable scorers, and Nurse’s latest decision doesn’t exactly inject a lot of confidence on the electric guard’s ability to work his way through shooting slumps and expected bumps early on.