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Sixers vs. Grizzlies: Embiid & George-less Philly Flails, McCain’s Play is Lone Bright Spot

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By Chip Bayless (click Howie for more Chip)

 

 

 

The real question is: in scenarios with Joel Embiid and Paul George sidelined, can the Sixers stay afloat and competitive in the East?

Coming into the game with only one win almost exclusively due to Tyrese Maxey dropping a 40 burger and being tied for Jokic for the most PPG during October, the 76ers needed this win about as badly as you can need a win this early in the season.

Facing Ja Morant and a talented and surging 3-3 Grizzlies team, the Sixers knew it wouldn’t be easy and it would likely take another Tyrese Maxey legacy game, or extreme team basketball.

Coming into the game, the Grizzlies were averaging 11 more points, four more rebounds, 13 more assists, and two more blocks per game than the Sixers. Memphis was also averaging more points in the paint and fast-break points:

In the face of two of the top three Sixers stars being sidelined and the aforementioned statistics, Kelly Oubre and Tyrese Maxey stepped up early as they each nailed two threes for the Sixers’ first field goals of the night, setting the score at 7-6 in Memphis’ favor after the Grizzlies got out to a hot start.

Oubre’s second deep three tied the score at 12 with six minutes remaining in the first quarter. He followed that right up with another three, topping a 7-0 Sixers’ run that gave Philly their first lead of the game as the score sat at 15-12.

Thanks to four Caleb Martin free throws after he caught defenders chasing on his speedy drives, the Sixers ended the quarter with a four point lead up 28-24.

The 76ers could thank their rebounding and three-point clinic for that early lead, as every Sixer who got on the floor managed to snag at least one rebound while the team shot a combined 50% from the arc while Memphis only hit a third of their threes.

Maxey and Oubre easily led in points, as Maxey had eight and Oubre led the team with nine in the first quarter while no other sixer had more than four points. Maxey also led in assists with three.

Eric Gordon had an incredibly impressive first half, hitting several beautiful floaters high off the glass to give the Sixers a three possession lead with nine minutes left in the first half.

Memphis cut the lead down to two points after an easy alley-oop thanks to what looked like a defensive miscommunication on the Sixers’ end which set the score at 45-43 with five minutes left in the second quarter.

Tyrese Maxey had one of the most insane baskets we’ve seen this young season a few minutes later, as he practically dove following a nasty spin move to loft a ball just over Zach Edey’s fingertips for an and-one that gave the 76ers a 51-45 lead with three minutes to go in the half.

That lead wouldn’t last for long though, as Memphis went on a 12-0 run over the span of two minutes and change and suddenly had a 57-51 lead, and the Grizzlies ended the half up 59-52 while it looked like Philly was searching for defensive answers.

Maxey, Gordon, and Oubre all had over ten points in the first half, with Maxey leading all Sixers with 15. While the Sixers managed to get off more shot attempts than the Grizzlies in the half, Philadelphia shot much worse overall as Memphis hit 53.5% of their field goals while Philly only converted 36.4% of their shot attempts.

Overall, in terms of shot selection what killed the Sixers were much fewer easy points in the paint in addition to a seemingly unquenching addiction to missing corner threes, as you can see in the shot charts for each team in the first half:

The Grizzlies also dominated second-chance opportunities and points in the paint in total:

The Grizzlies kept getting second chance opportunities as Drummond appeared to be laboring/wincing or at less than 100% while it looked like nobody except Caleb Martin and Kyle Lowry was interested in blocking shots or having any defensive awareness for a few minutes.

With 7:05 on the clock in the third quarter, the Sixers found themselves facing a 70-60 deficit while Oubre headed to the bench with his fourth foul.

Random Memphis players like their backup center kept raining threes while the Sixers repeatedly left seemingly everyone wide open around the arc.

The third quarter buzzer sounded with the Sixers down 92-75. The Grizzlies kept finding wide-open scorers and built up a 20+ point lead as the fourth quarter wore on.

One of the few positive notes of the quarter was Jared McCain showing tremendous speed, grit, and creativeness to manufacture his own positive scoring opportunities, and thanks to his first-ever NBA three and a quick steal the ensuing possession the Sixers had cut the lead back down to 106-88.

That moment was about as close as the game looked in the fourth quarter, as both teams emptied their benches with 1:27 left in the game.

The Grizzlies simply played better team basketball and shot better. Memphis ended the game with 21 more rebounds and 15 more assists than Philadelphia while shooting 15% better from the field.

They also bested the Sixers in points in the paint, second-chance points, and fast-break points, and the Sixers never had a lead in the second half.

Once again, McCain was really the lone positive takeaway from this game, as he played like this was a playoff game while scoring 19 points in only 17 minutes of play.

McCain averaged 1.12 points per minute when he was on the floor and ended the game second in rebounds among Sixers with four to only Drummond.

Right now, the Sixers rank among the bottom five teams in the league in points per game, field goal percentage, three-pointers made per game, three-point shooting percentage, assists per game, and blocks per game.

Will the Sixers turn things around Monday against Devin Booker and the Suns, or will we see another loss get added to the pile and further the narrative that this team simply can’t survive without its top-two veteran stars?

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