Bell Ringer Standings:
Tyrese Maxey – 3.5
VJ Edgecombe – 1
Joel Embiid – 1
LeBron James – 1
Anfernee Simons – 1
Jaylen Brown – 0.5
The Philadelphia 76ers are 8-1 to start the season after defeating the Detroit Pistons on the road Wednesday night 112-106.
The Sixers took an early advantage in this one and quickly built a lead into the double-digits thanks to the scoring of Jaylen Brown and the playmaking of LeBron James. Though they wavered at times and let the Pistons inch dangerously close toward
the end, the Sixers were able to hold on to secure the win in dramatic fashion. Always gotta make it interesting.
If you’re looking for a full game recap, you can find that here! The bottom line is that the Sixers get revenge on the Pistons for their lone loss of the season so far and are now 8-1. Their road trip continues on Friday night with a visit to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Until then, let’s get to the Bell Ringer.
Jaylen Brown: 30 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block
I’ve been writing in recent Bell Ringers how Jaylen Brown has a way of scoring an absolute ton of points without you ever even noticing he’s slowly adding them up. Tonight, it was a bit more noticeable.
Brown led the floor after one with 10 points on 4-for-6 field goal shooting thanks in part to a buzzer-beating long triple to end the frame. He continued to pile it on in the second, putting up another 13 points in the second. At halftime, he comfortably led the floor with 23 points shooting 8-for-14 from the floor and 3-for-5 from long range.
It felt like no matter who the Pistons had on him in isolation, Brown was able to dance his way to just enough space to pull up and nail a jumper. There are times the offensive scheme of “one guy in iso, everyone else stands still” really doesn’t work for the Sixers… but tonight it worked pretty damn well with Brown. He dropped 30 points tonight, his highest mark as a Sixer — all in addition to his usual stellar defense and aggressive rebounding.
He ended up 11-for-19 from the floor and 3-for-5 from three-point range. Brown finished with 30 points, seven rebounds, one assist, a steal and an absolutely massive block on a Cade Cunningham three attempt with under a minute to play and the Pistons trailing by just four.
LeBron James: 13 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists, 1 steal, 1 block
It feels weird writing things like this about LeBron James, because they almost seem obvious. Like, of course LeBron James can take over games, that’s kind of what he’s done for over 20 years now, right? But as someone who is watching him truly night in and night out for the first time in their life, it’s just incredible to watch how effortlessly he seems to do it. Tonight, early in the second frame, LeBron locked in and started absolutely carving up the Pistons defense with precisely perfect passes. He assisted three buckets, scored another two field goals himself and came up with a block down the other end all in the first five minutes of the period, helping the Sixers push their lead to double-digits. He had a similar sort of quick takeover sequence in the fourth, but LeBron just overall was impacting every moment he was on the floor tonight.
The King finished tonight with 13 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists, a steal and a block. Still not that first triple-double as a Sixer… but inching ever closer.
Side note fun fact: LeBron James’ second field goal of the night was his 16,000th of his career. He is the first player to ever reach that mark in the NBA.
Joel Embiid: 26 points, 15 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal
The shots weren’t all falling from the floor for Joel Embiid early on so he started his night getting going by getting to the foul line and by working the two-man game with LeBron James to get some easier buckets. After one, Embiid already had eight points and five rebounds, even with some of the struggles.
That was the key with Embiid tonight. It wasn’t his best game especially early on. It was far from perfect — I thought he was a bit lackadaisical with the ball at times and settled for some bad jumpers when he didn’t need to. And yet, he still has so much to contribute even with all of those factors being present. He can hit some incredibly difficult buckets through contact in the paint for and-1 opportunities or make excellent passes to cutting teammates to set them up for easy points. He can set screens that create a ton of space for them. He can still pull in a ton of boards (on both ends) and put up some solid defense. He can knock down crucial free throws at the end of a close game. Embiid can still do a hell of a lot with a mixed bag night.
Embiid finished the night with 26 points, 15 boards (four offensive), two assists and a steal.
