Sixers destroyed on glass by Suns to kickstart road loss

The young Sixers cut into a big Suns lead in extended garbage time, but a piss-poor start rebounding the ball doomed Philly in a 115-102 loss to Phoenix.

Here’s what I saw.

The Good

— A rare appearance for Nic Batum in the good books! I have probably underrated his defensive contributions lately because he has struggled to make an impact on the other end, but this was a nice, if understated game for him. Batum provided a quick catch-and-shoot three from the corner, a pair of free throws earned by running the floor in transition, and even a timely cut to score over Jusuf Nurkic in traffic. Did the warmer Phoenix weather help him move better?

Whatever the case, good to see.

— A few quick hitters here, as it’s hardly worth ultra-detailed discussion for “good” stuff during a blowout:

• Cam Payne had a nice night as a scoring option off of the bench, torturing his old team for a good chunk of the first half. Payne did an excellent job of using the threat of his shot to attack the basket, and he made some nice runners as a bonus.
• The two-way crew played pretty well in extended garbage time! With Phoenix easing up, Jeff Dowtin Jr. and Ricky Council IV changed the energy of the game. Dowtin got hot from deep, which was a stark contrast to how things went the rest of the night, and Council IV managed to throw down a sick-ass dunk to keep us awake during a late-night game.
• KJ Martin has grown on me a bit in recent weeks. He has been able to find a role that works for him offensively, which certainly helps, but it’s more important to me that his processing speed has been much better. Martin is putting himself in good spots to make plays or help the team on defense, and when you combine that with his athleticism, he’ll have plenty of opportunities to make plays if it keeps up.
• Mo Bamba had some good moments on offense, including a dunk on a great opening set that got him an uncontested lob.
• The Sixers forced a ton of turnovers. Good job.

The Bad

— This game opened with a fairly strong defensive effort from the Sixers. There were timely rotations and even some out-of-character stuff from guys in the rotation. Mo Bamba, never known for his active hands, had a terrific steal on Jusuf Nurkic by punishing him for holding the ball low. Philadelphia forced 13 Phoenix turnovers in the first half, and even though some of those were unforced errors for Phoenix, the Sixers still did well to capitalize on the Suns playing sloppy.

Unfortunately, they had a disastrous time keeping the Suns off of the glass. Nurkic is an absolute load around the rim, but it wasn’t like this was a one-man show. Devin Booker matched his career high for offensive rebounds in one half. Royce O’Neale picked up a couple of his own. Drew Eubanks had a putback dunk with multiple Sixers in that air space. Phoenix got the tough boards around the basket, the long rebounds on missed jumpers, and loose balls that anyone could have gotten to.

I’m not willing to say it was an effort problem, at least early, but you could certainly fault their technique. The Suns crashed and were met with open lanes to hit, with the Sixers failing to box out or cut paths to the rim off. They are a team that plays small as a default choice right now, with Maxey, Kyle Lowry, and/or Cam Payne sharing the floor quite often, so attention to detail has to be much sharper to overcome what they lack in height.

Eventually, I do think the Sixers sort of just capitulated, and that’s when the game got away from them. Phoenix handed them a golden opportunity to start the game, missing shot after shot on possessions the Sixers could not end with a rebound. Once the Suns found their shooting boots, this game was toast.

— It’s rare that I will fault Tyrese Maxey when he plays aggressively, but I thought the first half was one of the worst decision-making halves he has had in a while. Coming out and hunting your shot is one thing, and Maxey had some decent early moments, including a possession where he blew by Bradley Beal for a bucket at the rim. But those flashes were few and far between, and Maxey spent most of the opening 24 minutes forcing up terrible shots with nothing to show for it.

The Suns managed to force or goad Maxey into a parade of bad shots, even if they’re shots Maxey is capable of making. His runners felt a foot or two further out from the basket, with the Suns doing a good job of contesting those looks to boot. With Maxey drifting toward the baseline as shots fell harmlessly off of the rim, Phoenix was able to get out and run, turning their first-quarter woes into a three-point blitz. The Suns are not a team you can let hit the break — they’re dangerous enough with the top-end talent they have, and once they can attack you in early offense and punish cross-matches, it’s over.

With all roads closed off at the rim, Maxey resorted to the pull-up three to save him, and that went just as poorly as the rim attacks. Pulling up with Kevin Durant in your face is a bold choice, and while I can’t fault Maxey for failing to make that type of shot, I’ll certainly complain that he took it in the first place.

Eventually, the tough misses spiraled into everything missing, with Maxey being ignored above the break for a pull-up three that he clanged off of the front of the rim. With the Suns catching fire from deep in the second quarter, Philadelphia needed their star to respond and got nothing. He had a better stretch in the third quarter, getting some work done as a passer, but this was just a miserable game for him.

— As we have discussed in this space many times, the Sixers do not have the luxury of taking their foot off of the gas. Either they have to dial in and win on both ends with effort and attention to detail, or they’re going to get punched in the mouth by teams with talent.

While the Sixers had good stretches, they allowed scoring runs to snowball at warp speed, often because of subpar effort. A Maxey miss would turn into a bucket on the other end, an Oubre misread turned into a three, and suddenly, heads started dropping and shoulders started slumping. The Sixers cut the lead to nine points at roughly the midway point of the third, and then got bulldozed to close the quarter,

It was a reminder of something that can be underrated by the public — a failure to score on offense bleeds into the desire to get after it on defense. Without trying to play basketball psychologist, it really felt as though runs of missed shot after missed shot sapped Philly’s spirit, leading to some less-than-stellar moments on defense. The Sixers’ three-point numbers will ultimately be misleading because a lot of their makes came from the young guys when the game was ultimately out of reach.

The Ugly

— Buddy Hield started his Sixers tenure scorching hot, and we looked for a lot of reasons to explain the cold spell that has followed. Was it about lineup stability, his involvement in the offense, or some other factor we couldn’t put our finger on?

When he misses open threes, it’s a bit harder to blame it on anything other than the man himself. He has to do better with the opportunities he’s getting, regardless of whether we believe he’s a better fit once Joel Embiid is back.

The Suns got a 9/15 game from three out of Grayson Allen. Philadelphia’s prolific shooter went 1/5 from deep. Margins like those are hard to overcome.