By: Kylan Watson
The Philadelphia 76ers continued their early west coast trip in Los Angeles as they faced the Clippers in their new arena (The Intuit Dome) for the first time this season. Both teams traded blows throughout this game, but the Clippers were able to use a third quarter explosion to beat Philly 110-98.
The Sixers finally got their offensive rhythm to show up early during a contest this season, they were able to make their first couple of shots and take an early lead in this contest. Paul George (18 points) looked extremely comfortable in his second game with the Sixers, he looked more like his old self and was able to create multiple high-percentage shooting opportunities for his teammates.
It is amazing how much better the Sixers offense looks with one of their franchise cornerstones back on the floor. The amount of spacing that his presence created for everybody else on the floor was amazing and with Joel Embiid (serving three game suspension) returning on Tuesday. The Sixers need to start winning more games so getting Embiid out there to figure out the spacing and chemistry between their new trio of George, Embiid, and Tyrese Maxey. The return of their superstar should add another dimension to the Sixers offense.
Despite looking better on the offensive side once again the Sixers fell apart on the defensive end. They turned the ball over 20 times and that created multiple scoring opportunities for LA’s offense, and before the Sixers knew it the Clippers offense was back in rhythm and running away with this game. That led to a third quarter offensive explosion for the Clippers and the Sixers just had no answers for what LA was doing.
The duo of Norman Powell (26 points) and James Harden (18 points) combined for 34 of the Clippers’ 110-points. Powell specifically would make Philly pay during this contest for daring to give him any room to put a shot up. He had one of the hottest hands on the floor today and the Sixers just could not stop him.
When they did the ball found its way to Harden and he would make the shot. Philly has to value the ball and not turn it over because it gives their opponents multiple opportunities to put the ball in the basket and that costs the Sixers games. Philly has to value the basketball and have to keep their turnover numbers in the single digits, it cannot be 20 times like it was tonight.
Philly has to start winning games even without Embiid on the floor they have enough talent to win games or at least stay competitive in the contest. The Sixers will now prepare to face the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night.
They will need to continue to use their ball movement to create high-percentage shooting opportunities for their teammates. The Sixers need to do anything they can to get their offense going early in games. On the defensive side they have to take care of the ball, turnovers happen but the ball cannot be turned over 20 times in one contest. In addition, Philly implementing these things into gameplan for Friday night they will have a great chance to win their second game of the season.
