Some thoughts and observations left over from the 76ers’ most recent game, a 98-92 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday at The Center.
Monday’s 98-92 overtime setback to the Los Angeles Clippers was the latest narrow defeat the Sixers sustained this season. The loss marked the 12th time the team has been outdone by a margin of six points or less. Even though the outcome left a sting, Brett Brown felt the experience will serve his young squad well down the road, when it encounters similar scenarios. “I think that in general, we played really good defense, and this team is getting better,” said Brown. The Sixers did hold their own defensively, keeping the Clippers in check for the better part of the night. Los Angeles entered the game tied for fourth in the NBA with a 46.1 field goal percentage, but converted just 36.8 percent of its tries on Monday. That mark was the Clippers’ second-poorest of the year. “I think both of us kind of climbed into each other,” Ish Smith said of the tilt acquiring a defensive tone. Like Los Angeles, the Sixers also found buckets tough to come by amidst various stretches of the game. The Sixers shot 50.0 percent from the floor before intermission, then managed to connect on only 13 of their 48 shots (27.1 fg%) taken after the break. Smith added, “We were aggressive, they were aggressive. They switched a lot of our pick and rolls. In the first half, they weren’t switching. I think it was a great game. It wasn’t the prettiest offensive game, but defensively, it was a battle. They just kind of made more plays.” Illustrating Smith’s point, the veteran Clippers went five for eight from the field between the final two minutes of regulation, and the opening three minutes of overtime. Their accuracy during that crucial stretch allowed them to not only tie the contest on a J.J. Redick three-pointer with 10.8 seconds to go in the fourth quarter, but also open up an eight-point lead in the extra period. The Sixers had a chance to prevent overtime, but Jahlil Okafor misfired on an elbow jump-shot with one second left.”You look at those players, they’ve played together, they know how to execute during crunch time,” said Brown, referring to Los Angeles. “I think it’s a wonderful lesson for our guys to be able to go back and look at the Redick three, how we could have done a little bit better with Jahlil’s catch. He got driven off the elbow about two steps further than we wish just to start with.””It is a hell of a way to lose,” Brown said. “We will learn from this. All over the place situations are fantastic for our guys to be able to look at and grow from.”
As Brett Brown mentioned in the above story, he and the coaching staff devised a game-winning opportunity for Jahlil Okafor on the Sixers’ final possession of regulation. The play resulted in the rookie being isolated on the wing with 2015 NBA All-Defensive First Team center DeAndre Jordan. Boasting a wingspan roughly 7’8″ wide, Jordan – at 6’11” tall, 265 pounds – was able to use his difference-making size and length to get his left hand up as Okafor’s 18-foot jump shot was released. Following the game, Okafor acknowledged that Jordan presented a challenge. “I had my mind made up that I was just trying to make sure I got a shot up in time, and I didn’t want to turn the ball over,” Okafor said. “He’s such a good defender. He’s so long. Those were my two keys when Coach drew the play up for me, was to make sure I got the shot up in time, and don’t put the ball out where he can block it and turn it over.”While Jordan has cemented his status as an elite rim protector over the course of his eight-year career, he’s enjoyed defensive success off the block as well. Jordan has allowed opponents to hit 35.9 percent of their field goal attempts taken beyond 15 feet from the bucket, which is 2.7 percentage points below the league average from that distance. Big men aren’t the only players affected by Jordan’s presence. “DeAndre is a heck of a defender,” said Ish Smith, the Sixers’ starting point guard. “A lot of those times me and Nerlens [Noel] crossed back, and I either got an easy jump shot or a lob, and they switched. Now, I’ve got DeAndre on me, and I’m dancing and taking a tough shot over him.” Such was the case on the play below. On this specific possession, the Sixers were looking to add insurance to their slender lead in the fourth quarter.Jordan finished the contest with 21 rebounds, 12 points, and three blocked shots in 43 minutes. That he, All-Star Chris Paul, and J.J. Redick emerged as pivotal contributors late in Monday’s match-up was no surprise to Okafor. “We competed really well,” said the third overall selection in the 2015 NBA Draft. “Even when we were up by 19 [points], we knew they would go on their run. They’re a really good playoff team. We were just trying to stay poised, and finish it off, but we came up a little bit short.”
Following Wednesday’ 7:00 PM EST pairing with the Sacramento Kings at The Center, members of the Sixers’ roster will disperse for the NBA’s annual All-Star Game break, which, for the Sixers, will run through Tuesday, February 16th. For some players, basketball will assume a more prevalent role during the upcoming hiatus than for others. Nerlens Noel and Jahlil Okafor, for instance, will be traveling to Toronto to suit up for the United States in the BBVA Compass Rising Stars Challenge, scheduled for 9:00 PM EST this Friday. While Nik Stauskas won’t be involved in any on-court All-Star festivities, he will have a roundball-related assignment in Toronto this coming weekend. “I’m actually going to be working for TSN [The Sports Network], and that’s like the ESPN of Canada,” said Stauskas, who grew up in Mississauga, Ontario. The town is located about half an hour west of Toronto. “I’m going to be doing a lot of stuff on TV, working on panels, working the red carpet for the celebrity game. It’ll be cool to kind of be on the other side of things, take [the media’s] job and interview everyone else, so it will be fun.”Sports media has been an area of interest for Stauskas for some time. He’s eager to have an opportunity to get more reps in the field. “They reached out to me, but I’ve had a good relationship with TSN for a while now,” said Stauskas. “They wanted me to help them with their broadcast of the ESPY’s [Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly awards] last year, but the ESPY’s were at the same time as the Vegas Summer League, and I was in Vegas. At that time, I had just gotten traded, and I didn’t feel comfortable leaving the team for summer league to go do the ESPY’s. I’ve kind of kept that relationship going with them, and hopefully if this goes well, then the ESPY’s will be something I can do this summer.” Following his TSN All-Star gig, Stauskas plans to spend a few days winding down, before he and the Sixers regroup for practice on Wednesday, February 17th.
