Some thoughts and observations left over from the 76ers’ most recent game, a 114-89 win over the Portland Trail Blazers at The Center.
Jahlil Okafor has delivered a number of strong showings through his first 38 outings as a professional. There’s a good chance, though, that Saturday’s performance against Portland will end up being one of his best by the time his debut NBA season comes to a close. From the start, Okafor was dialed in, depositing the Sixers’ first field goal of the night. Within four minutes, the rookie had churned out 10 points. After a modest scoring lull, Okafor turned it on again down the stretch of the opening period, connecting on three more buckets. In all, he buried his first seven shots, and eight of nine overall in the frame. His 17 points first-quarter points were equal to the total number of points that nine Trail Blazers had generated. “We got off to a hot start. We were able to get stops, and run our offense,” said Okafor, reflecting on the first quarter. “It feels good when your teammates are telling you on the bench that they’re hyped. They continue to motivate me, give me confidence, and it’s a lot of fun.”As impressive as Okafor’s scoring was in terms of sheer volume, so too was the manner in which he manufactured his field goals. There was a foul-line leaner. A jab-step fadeaway. A spinning jump-hook. A jumper from the elbow, and then later, a bank-shot from the baseline. Portland had no answer for Okafor’s array of shots that came primarily off the block. Entering Saturday’s contest, Okafor had converted over 63.0 percent of his field goals from inside of five feet of the rim. Against the Blazers, however, Okafor knocked down his first eight buckets beyond that distance. He almost even knocked down a three-pointer. Had his right toes not been on the arc on a 23-foot jump shot in the fourth quarter, Okafor would have been awarded the first triple of his career. Here is a look at Okafor’s shot chart from the game:”The baskets didn’t come from traditional, how we see Jahlil scoring at a post and so on. It came from a lot of 18-foot jump shots, tough jump shots,” said Brett Brown. As encouraged as the head coach was by Okafor’s efforts, he was also pleased that Nerlens Noel, playing alongside Okafor, had an effective evening as well, particularly on the defensive end. “I think that Nerlens and Jahlil co-existed perhaps the best they have…when they were on the floor,” Brown said. “It was good. Nerlens with four blocks and four steals. And Jahlil at the start of the game just getting us going, and starting well. He had an easy 25 [points] and 10 [rebounds].”According to stats.nba.com, Okafor and Noel were on the court together for a little more than 14 minutes Saturday. The Sixers notched 31 points and 15 rebounds during that time.As for a couple additional statistical footnotes on Okafor’s night, his double-double was the ninth of his rookie season. He’s now posted at least 10 points in a career-high 11 contests in a row, and paces all rookies with 16 20-point games.
As Brett Brown noted, Nerlens Noel provided the Sixers with an impactful defensive presence. The four steals he swiped matched his second-highest total of the season, as did his four blocks. His per-game averages in both of those statistical categories have increased over the Sixers’ past 11 games.”I think he’s just playing good basketball post-Christmas,” said Brett Brown. “I think that he’s playing Nerlens Noel-type basketball, where he’s doing it with energy, he’s doing with A-plus athleticism. All those things translate into deflections, steals, blocks.”Noel ranked tenth in the NBA in steals and eighth in the league in blocks a year ago en route to first-team all-rookie honors. Brown feels the timing in the spike of Noel’s defensive production is no coincidence.”I just think he’s got a new bounce to his step,” the head coach said. “I think the Ish [Smith] arrival is a good connection to why. I feel like we’re getting better and a little more comfortable. I always want it quicker rather than later, with Jahlil [Okafor] and Nerlens [Noel] together. I think all those reasons add into him just feeling better about himself and doing stuff that relates to athleticism, blocking shots, steals, deflections.” Prior to the Sixers reacquiring Smith on Christmas Eve, Noel had tallied 26 blocks in 25 games. Since the trade, the power forward has swatted aside 26 shots, and, for the first time in his career, has registered at least three blocks in four consecutive contests.
The Sixers’ 25-point win over Portland represented their largest margin of victory since leveling Detroit by the same differential on March 29th, 2014. In summing up the outcome, Brett Brown praised the group for a “very good team effort” in which contributions came from across the roster. After logging nearly 40 total minutes over his previous five games, Isaiah Canaan returned to the starting line-up Saturday, and netted 14 points in 31 minutes. “I give Isaiah Canaan a lot of credit,” Brown said. “Came in a really give us a boost.”Brown also singled out Richaun Holmes for having “an excellent game as well.” The Sixers’ first selection in the second round of last June’s NBA Draft played three minutes in three games leading up to Saturday’s pairing with Portland. “What you want to do is you don’t want anybody to rot,” said Brown, explaining how he manages playing time. “You always, in the back of your mind, you haven’t played in a few games, and you keep him alive. And so Richaun came in, we keep him alive, and he produced.”
Holmes finished with 17 points, six rebounds, three assists, and one block in 27 minutes, his
