By: Kylan Watson
After beating the Los Angeles Clippers yesterday afternoon, the Philadelphia 76ers faced the Sacramento Kings for the last game of their West Coast Road trip. Both teams traded blows throughout this game. However, a second quarter scoring explosion from Sacramento ended any hopes Philly had of winning this game, beating them 108-96.
The Sixers found their offensive rhythm early in this contest, their shots found the bottom of the net and that erased an early Sacramento lead. Tyrese Maxey scored 21 of his 29 points by half-time. He was responsible for the majority of the points Philly scored in the first half and that kept the Sixers afloat in this contest. Unfortunately, no one else in a Sixers uniform showed up to play in this contest and that was the difference in this contest. The Sixers cannot afford to play like they did tonight where they cannot buy buckets, grab a rebound, or get scoring from anyone else other than Maxey. That is a recipe for disaster for Philly and it showed itself tonight, until Joel Embiid returns everyone has to play beyond themselves and put out as much energy and effort as possible. Tobias Harris went from playing like an All-Star last night to playing like a benchwarmer tonight. An aggressive Tobias Harris opens up another dimension of the Sixers’ offense and creates high percentage shooting opportunities for his teammates. If Philly cannot get at least three players to score at least 20 plus points a night if they want to win games and stay out of the 2024 Play-In Tournament.
Despite the scoring explosion from Maxey, Sacramento battled back in this contest to re-take the lead late in the first quarter and never looked back after that. Additionally, they increased their advantage through a second-half scoring explosion that was the difference in this game. The trio of Domantas Sabonis (23 points, grabbed 13 rebounds, and had 10 assists), De’Aaron Fox (23 points), and Davion Mitchell (18 points) combined for 64 of Sacramento’s 108 points. Philly could not deal with Sabonis who got whatever he wanted from the field and found his teammates for high percentage opportunities. The Kings offense is one of the best in the league, and when Sabonis is putting points on the board through his scoring and passing abilities it is impossible to stop. As the Sixers found out in this contest, he overwhelmed them with his two-way ability. They played good enough defense to win this game, but when your defense is getting carved up by a big man with a high basketball IQ it is very hard to deal with. Combine that with the Sixers inability to grab a rebound and you have two biggest differences in this contest for why they lost in this contest.
The Sixers will fly back to Philly and prepare for a Wednesday night faceoff with the Los Angeles Clippers on their home floor. If they want to slow LA’s explosive offense down, they will need to stay attached to their man, and limit the Clippers to one possession on the offensive side. Additionally, the Sixers will need to cash in on the high-percentage shooting opportunities created off of their ball movement something they did not do tonight. The Sixers offense is at its best when the ball is moving, and the right shot is created. If they can implement these things into their game plan on Wednesday, they can get their 40th victory of the season.