When you’re not a mainstay in a playoff rotation, you never know when your number is going to be called.
In the case of Dominick Barlow, who played 54 total minutes in the Sixers’ first eight playoff games (mostly in garbage time), he had a decent idea his services would be needed Wednesday night.
With Joel Embiid missing Game 2 with hip and ankle injuries, Nick Nurse had only two true center options in Andre Drummond and Adem Bona. After that? Things get murky, but of all the outside-the-box options to
consider, Barlow made the most sense.
“I’ve been in situations where I haven’t played before,” Barlow told reporters in New York. “I know sometimes things are random.”
Lo and behold, with Andre Drummond struggling and Adem Bona in foul trouble, Barlow found himself at center and in the center of all the action. Though the Sixers would go on to lose Game 2 to the New York Knicks 108-102 at Madison Square Garden, Barlow kept them in the game for as long as possible.
“I thought Bona was impacting the game, especially early with the rim protection,” Nurse told reporters in New York. “He got in foul trouble. They went small. So there were a couple of factors to at least get out there and look at it. We thought we could switch a little bit more, too, with [Barlow].”
There was nothing flashy about Barlow’s stat line. He scored six points and had two rebounds, two blocks and a steal in a little over 15 minutes. But if you watched the game, you saw he opened up some interesting things for the Sixers.
Through the first two games of the series, Nurse has opted not to switch on star guard Jalen Brunson much. VJ Edgecombe has battled through screens (extremely well for a 20-year-old rookie) and has only at times switched with either Kelly Oubre Jr. or Paul George. Nurse has had his bigs play in drop coverage instead, hoping to protect the paint against a lob or cutters.
When Barlow came in, the gameplan was tweaked. Barlow did switch on to Brunson and had a few excellent possessions against the All-Star. For as great of a basketball player as Brunson is, he’s not an elite athlete. Barlow’s athleticism and length presented a unique challenge for Brunson. Barlow prevented the prolific guard from going off, which is the job. You’re never going to shut down a player like Brunson, so making him work and forcing him to make difficult shots are the goals.
As was the case through the regular season, Barlow’s offensive game was simplistic. He set good screens, he rolled hard, he finished around the rim and attacked the offensive glass. Outside of a late turnover on a poor backdoor pass, Barlow did what he was supposed to do on that end of the floor.
Unfortunately, the Sixers’ stars appeared to run out of gas, leading to a 12-point final period.
“We played good enough defense to win that game, especially in the fourth,” Nurse said. “Held them to 19 in the fourth, you have to hope you can score more than 20 in a quarter.”
Ultimately, Barlow’s efforts weren’t enough to change the result of Game 2, but what he did was give Nurse another option he can be confident going to. That’s no small thing considering where the Sixers’ rotation is and the unknown health status of Embiid. Even if Embiid does return in short order, Barlow thrived next to the former MVP during the regular season. Why not give him a look?
Dominick Barlow was ready for his moment on Wednesday.
The next one could come as early as Game 3 Friday night.
“I thought we made some good adjustments,” Barlow said. “We gotta fight like hell in Game 3 to get back into the series. The goal is to protect home, but there are definitely positives (from Game 2), but you want to talk out with a win.”
