Philly special?
It’s hard to label a 22-10 76ers team as a disappointment, yet compared to the lofty expectations that surrounded them heading into the season, it’s hard to describe them as anything but.
Some of the issues that the 76ers have been dealing with, such as their middling offensive play were and have been painfully obvious from the start of their reshuffling over the offseason and the partnership between their All-Stars in Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons will always be a source of uneasy friction in terms of them meshing together.
Entering Wednesday’s game with the Bucks, the 76ers are 14th in offensive efficiency, per NBA.com/stats. That’s not an impressive number nor an underwhelming one and they’ve managed to make the best of their cramped spacing where they launch the fifth-fewest 3-point attempts per game (29.8), but hit those looks at a 36.3 percent clip, good for ninth in the league.
But recent defeats to the Miami Heat and Dallas Mavericks have shown how vulnerable they’ve been able to create offense against zone defenses, in particular.
Brett Brown says Philadelphia’s issues with the zone have crept into the team’s head, and has “dented” the team’s collective spirit.
— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) December 21, 2019
Whether the 76ers can find a viable way to overcome their offensive limitations will be the very thing that may swing their ability to compete in the East, much less vie for this year’s title. And we’ll see how the match up against the top-ranked defense in the Bucks Wednesday afternoon.