Pros and Cons: Sixers vs. Jazz
The good and the bad from Sixers-Jazz.
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.
After another road trip, the Sixers returned home to face last year’s top overall seed in the NBA in the Utah Jazz. Here’s what’s on my mind tonight:
Pro: Tyrese Maxey okay after injury scare
Despite there being many negatives tonight, the Sixers did win one battle: in the middle of the second quarter tonight, Tyrese Maxey drove to the basket to try to execute an acrobatic floater at the rim. He took an extremely hard fall and his head smacked against the hardwood.
Maxey was on the ground for multiple minutes, and quickly was taken to the locker room with what looked like a surefire concussion. But mere minutes later, Maxey returned to the scorer’s table and checked back into the game.
Clearly, Maxey avoided any serious injury, which is as important as anything else that happened tonight. It goes without saying that losing this season’s starting point guard would have been a massive blow to the Sixers -- and considering how enjoyable Maxey has been to watch this season, it would have been a bummer for everyone. Not a lot of positive came out of this game, but Maxey being okay is a major silver lining.
Con: Errant pick-and-roll coverage costs Sixers
For a long time, the Sixers have relied on “drop coverage” against pick-and-rolls -- where the center stays in the paint instead of immediately switching the screen. There are certain matchups where that is an effective strategy. Unfortunately for the Sixers, the Utah Jazz are not one of those teams.
The Jazz have many strengths, but on the offensive end, their biggest is their assembly of pull-up shooters — whether it was Jordan Clarkson, Mike Conley, Joe Ingles or Donovan Mitchell, the Jazz were able to get open looks from beyond the arc at an alarming rate.
Not wanting to alter some of the core philosophies that anchor their defensive scheme makes some sense from the Sixers’ standpoint, but this was a particularly unfavorable matchup for that defense.
Con: Furkan Korkmaz and the never-ending slump
Korkmaz’s start to this season was excellent, so much so that it was reasonable to say he was one of the team’s best offensive players. But for an extended period of time, he has struggled massively. And tonight, Isaiah Joe ended up taking many of Korkmaz’s typical second half minutes.
Korkmaz is shooting just 30.1 percent from beyond the arc since the beginning of November. I’ve been a Korkmaz enthusiast for a few years now, but his slump has been brutal to watch -- and there aren’t any indications that a return to old form is near.
Water always finds its level, so surely Korkmaz will once again become a helpful rotation player. But this slump has been brutal to watch, and with Joe waiting in the wings, Korkmaz falling out of the rotation isn’t impossible.