Pros and Cons: Sixers vs. Celtics
Pros and Cons after a bizarre edition of Sixers-Celtics.
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 two intense home games, the Sixers are once again on a road trip, which opened tonight in Boston with a matchup against the Celtics. Here’s what jumped out in tonight’s game:
Pro: Revisiting the Al Horford and Josh Richardson trades
This wouldn’t be The Ricky if we didn’t find something to relitigate every now and then.
With the Sixers playing against the Celtics, they faced off against two former teammates in Al Horford and Josh Richardson.
When Daryl Morey became the Sixers’ President of Basketball Operations, his first few moves included shipping out Horford and a first-round pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Danny Green, and sending Richardson and a second-round pick to the Dallas Mavericks for Seth Curry.
It goes without saying, both of these trades -- especially the Curry / Richardson swap -- were massive successes for the Sixers. In one night, the Sixers took what was a disastrous, space-less team and made it one that was impressively-crafted to cater to the strengths and weaknesses of their best players.
Curry and Green both have their frustrating nights -- for example, Green’s inability to control the ball and Curry being a liability on the defensive end. But all in all, this is a team that is built so much better than it was when Morey took over. And for that, it’s worth giving the Sixers some credit.
Now let’s get to the game.
Con: Joel Embiid, Tobias Harris, Tyrese Maxey struggle offensively
Maxey entered tonight shooting a brutal 31.3 percent from the field in his last four games, and tonight he missed at least 10 field goal attempts for the fifth consecutive game.
Maxey’s adjustment from being the guy for an extended period of time to returning to his prior role as more of a table-setter seems to have been difficult to navigate. He’ll be fine long-term, but he’s hit a bit of a wall here. It’ll be fascinating to see how long it takes for him to figure things out.
Harris had the classic Harris frustrating performance. He posted up way too much and disrupted the rhythm of the offense with ball-stopping. He failed to capitalize when having a size and strength advantage.
For Embiid, though, I’m not sure if the process (no pun intended) was particularly off-base, but the production just wasn’t there. Embiid had what anyone would call an “off night,” but I wasn’t too disturbed by the shots he was taking. There was perhaps a few too many jumpers, and his offense lacked real diversity, but this wasn’t a performance that causes me worry beyond tonight. His matchup with Clint Capela on Friday night will be fascinating.
Pro: Shake Milton’s big night
Early on tonight, the Celtics took a 13-4 lead. It felt like many Sixers games have over the last several years: like they were toast from the minute the game tipped off.
Enter Shake Milton.
Milton is solely responsible for the Sixers not getting their doors blown off early on, scoring 12 points on 5-5 shooting in the first quarter alone. While Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Tobias Harris dealt with major struggles on the offensive end, it was Milton who stepped up and kept his team afloat.
Shake has struggled quite a bit of late, especially as a self-creator. Him excelling tonight could be a major development as the Sixers seek a more dynamic offense.