It is in a way the action that sums up the fall of the Sixers, at home, against the Clippers. With 1:40 to go, both teams are tied. Joel Embiid has the ball behind the 3-point line against Amir Coffey.
Then, Nicolas Batum comes to take two and faced with the pressure of the French, the pivot of Philadelphia loses the ball. The counter-attack is perfectly managed, Los Angeles scores and passes in front. A few seconds later, the Californians prevail on the wire after having yet counted 24 points behind in the third quarter.
“Frankly, we messed up this match”, assures Tobias Harris at Inquire. “We were all aware of it in the locker room. We must do better and learn from this meeting. “
How to explain such a fall, when everything was fine for almost 30 minutes? The Clippers notably thwarted the Sixers with a zone defense, which disturbed Doc Rivers’ men.
“You would have asked Coach Popovich the same question?” I do not think so “
“We lost that game in the middle of the game, we had to rest Joel and then the game changed”, Doc Rivers analysis. “The zone defense hindered us”, concedes Harris for NBC Sports. “We had to attack the axis and create penetration corridors. Instead, we twirled the ball around the perimeter, with no movement or action near the circle. Faced with an area, you have to attack or shoot from afar, we did neither one nor the other. “
And when a journalist asks him if he feels responsible for this monumental crash, Rivers gets annoyed: ” Would you have asked Coach Popovich the same question? I do not think so. So don’t ask me that question. I deserve it.“
For his part, Joel Embiid, author of 40 points, believes that he has not done enough harm to the Californians’ catchy defense and that he too must lose fewer balls.
“No one should point the finger at anyone: we win together, we lose together. That’s how we stay together”, warns the All-Star, before taking responsibility. “I could have done better. I haven’t been as good as that, offensively or defensively. It’s my fault. I lost five balloons, including the important one (the action with Batum) in the last quarter. I had basket opportunities with the foul, but I didn’t put in. I also missed free throws in the third quarter. “
| Shots | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | bp | Int | CT | party | Points |
| Joel Embiid | 33 | 32.7 | 49.4 | 37.5 | 81.7 | 1.9 | 8.7 | 10.6 | 4.2 | 2.9 | 1.1 | 1.4 | 2.5 | 28.0 |
| Tobias Harris | 35 | 34.8 | 46.1 | 31.3 | 85.4 | 1.1 | 6.2 | 7.3 | 3.8 | 1.7 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 2.1 | 18.2 |
| Tyrese Maxey | 37 | 34.9 | 47.0 | 40.2 | 87.2 | 0.4 | 3.1 | 3.5 | 4.3 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 2.1 | 16.6 |
| Seth Curry | 40 | 34.8 | 50.9 | 41.7 | 87.7 | 0.4 | 3.0 | 3.4 | 4.0 | 1.9 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 2.1 | 15.8 |
| Shake Milton | 27 | 24.8 | 42.9 | 31.6 | 85.4 | 0.5 | 2.5 | 3.0 | 2.8 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 2.1 | 10.5 |
| George Niang | 40 | 22.9 | 43.8 | 39.5 | 87.8 | 0.4 | 2.3 | 2.7 | 1.4 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 2.6 | 9.8 |
| Furkan Korkmaz | 40 | 23.4 | 39.1 | 29.1 | 83.0 | 0.3 | 2.9 | 3.2 | 2.4 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 0.9 | 9.0 |
| Danny Green | 29 | 23.7 | 40.7 | 38.1 | 90.0 | 0.6 | 2.0 | 2.6 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 1.3 | 0.9 | 1.8 | 6.7 |
| Andre Drummond | 39 | 18.7 | 53.4 | 0.0 | 53.3 | 2.8 | 6.0 | 8.8 | 1.9 | 1.7 | 1.2 | 1.0 | 2.5 | 6.3 |
| Matisse Thybulle | 32 | 25.8 | 48.7 | 28.7 | 69.2 | 0.5 | 1.9 | 2.4 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 1.8 | 1.1 | 2.3 | 5.8 |
| isaiah joe | 29 | 12.0 | 33.6 | 30.9 | 93.8 | 0.1 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.8 | 3.9 |
| Tyler Johnson | 3 | 12.7 | 40.0 | 42.9 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 1.7 | 2.0 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 3.7 |
| Charles Bassey | 21 | 7.2 | 67.5 | 0.0 | 72.7 | 0.9 | 1.8 | 2.7 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.7 | 1.4 | 3.0 |
| Charlie Brown | 7 | 13.2 | 25.0 | 12.5 | 80.0 | 0.9 | 1.7 | 2.6 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 1.1 | 2.1 |
| Paul Reed, Jr. | 21 | 8.8 | 46.5 | 0.0 | 37.5 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 2.2 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 1.3 | 2.0 |
| Myles Powell | 9 | 5.1 | 31.2 | 20.0 | 100.0 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 1.4 |
| Jaden Springer | 2 | 2.8 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 |
| Braxton Key | 2 | 3.2 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 1.0 |
| Aaron Henry | 6 | 2.8 | 20.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 |
