Pros and Cons: Sixers vs. Mavericks
Three takeaways after Sixers-Mavericks.
Adam Aaronson, whose legal name is Sixers Adam (@SixersAdam on Twitter), covers the Sixers for The Rights To Ricky Sanchez. He believes cantaloupe is the best food in existence, and is brought to you by the Official Realtor of The Process, Adam Ksebe.
The Sixers returned home tonight for a matchup with the Dallas Mavericks, one of 2022’s best NBA teams. Here’s what jumped out to me tonight:
Pro: James Harden reintroduces Scary Hours
After a pedestrian first half performance, Harden dominated during the second half, particularly early in the fourth quarter when Joel Embiid was on the bench.
Harden thrived as a scorer and a playmaker simultaneously in a manner that I’m not sure he’s done at all over the last couple of weeks.
It all starts, of course, with his trademark step-back three, which he nailed a couple of to give the Sixers a significant lead. He was then able to leverage the threat of that shot to draw the defense’s complete attention from beyond the arc, before getting to the rim and scoring, drawing a foul or dumping it off to a teammate for an easy bucket.
This is who Harden has always been, so I wouldn’t characterize this as a surprise. But as he deals with the mini-slump he’s in on offense recently, this is a chance for him to turn the corner and get back to the player we saw in his first few games as a Sixer.
Pro: / Con: Matisse Thybulle giveth and Matisse Thybulle taketh
Thybulle was given the tall task of defending superstar Luka Doncic tonight. He continues to be the best option this team has to offer against the league’s many prolific perimeter players.
And when Thybulle was in the game tonight, he did a solid job on Doncic, making every play difficult for Dallas’ brilliant point forward, who only shot 5-20 from the field tonight.
The only issue was, Thybulle wasn’t always available to be on the court — he only played nine minutes in the first half because of foul trouble.
Now, foul trouble occasionally comes with the territory of being the kind of aggressive risk-taker Thybulle is. And despite this being an issue, it is worth noting that Thybulle’s steal and block numbers prove he is still a massively-impactful defensive player.
But Thybulle did struggle with foul trouble in the first half tonight, which has been a trend of late: including this game, he has committed at least three fouls in seven of his last 11 games.
As the season continues and the playoffs near, it’s imperative that Thybulle finds the right balance of being aggressive and, to an extent, careful. With Ben Simmons in Brooklyn and Danny Green aging, he is this team’s lone reliable defensive stopper on the perimeter.
Pro: Team defense? Team defense!
The Sixers’ defense has struggled a bit of late, particularly when it comes to communicating and halting transition opportunities. Tonight, however, they looked like a completely different team on that end.
Once again, Thybulle deserves a lot of credit for the job he did on Doncic, who is at the center of everything Dallas does. But I thought this rather impressive defensive showing started with Embiid, who was all over the place -- whether it was protecting the rim, reaching into passing lanes or switching onto guards around the perimeter, he did it all tonight.
But truthfully, this was the product of more than just two people -- it showed just how good any Embiid-charged defense can be when everyone on the floor is locked in and on the same page. As we’ve seen so many times, when Embiid is completely engaged on the defensive end, there is perhaps nobody better.
So, give a lot of credit not just to Embiid and Thybulle, but to the entire rotation, as well as the coaching staff that had a solid, diverse game-plan for Doncic and the Mavericks.