First, a disclaimer: It’s early. Ty Jerome, briefly a Sixer on draft night seven years ago, is among the NBA’s leading scorers. Quentin Grimes andMatisse Thybulle are playing regular minutes for the Lakers. Another old friend,De’Anthony Melton, is shooting better from the arc than his Golden State teammate, Stephen Curry.
The point is, nobody knows nothin’. Not yet.
That said, it looks like the Sixers can really defend. Time and again they have shown a willingness to dig in on that end of the floor,
often at the most critical moments. The want-to is there. The effort is there. The connection is there.
Through seven games, six of them victories, they are third in the league in defensive rating (105.4) and fifth in halfcourt rating (105.0).
AsLeBron James said after Friday’s victory over the Knicks, “We definitely hang our hats on the defensive end so far this season.”
The caveats are many.Joel Embiid’s health. LeBron’s age. The lack of an adequate backup center (again). The many newcomers, besides James. And, as mentioned, the fact that we’re not quite two weeks into the season; seven games in October don’t carry nearly the same weight as seven games in May or June.
But it’s clear the foundation is in place. The Sixers have four standout defenders in VJ Edgecombe and newcomers Jaylen Brown,Dean Wade and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. Embiid, before his current foot problems, seemed to be approaching the rim-protector form he showed a few years back, and James, two months shy of his 42nd birthday, appears to have recommitted himself on the defensive end, after showing some slippage in recent seasons.
Even guys who are not known for their defense, like Tyrese Maxey and Anfernee Simons, are putting their best feet forward – Maxey because he’s Maxey, Simons because he knows he will be out there in big moments, given what an offensive weapon he has shown himself to be.
“We are just willing to guard, and that’s important,” Edgecombe said. “We’re connected. In training camp, we obviously worked on our standard, our principles. And I say we just kind of execute from there.”
The payoff is considerable.
“We know,” he added, “if we get some stops, we get out and have fun from there.”
In James’ mind, it is easier for a team featuring so many new pieces to coalesce on the defensive end.
“The offense usually comes after that,” he said, “because guys are just kind of figuring it out and being on the floor with one another.”
And indeed, the Sixers are just 23rd in offensive rating (109.3), despite Maxey’s sizzling start; he’s averaging just under 30 points a game, on .486/.352/.830 shooting splits.
He generated 38 in Saturday’s 109-104 victory in Charlotte, a game that was in doubt until the Sixers reeled off 13 straight points to erase a seven-point deficit late in the fourth quarter. As had been the case in the 98-93 home victory over the Knicks the night before, Edgecombe provided the dagger three-pointer in the final minute. But when you zoom out you again see that ultimately D was the difference: The Sixers limited Charlotte to 34.8 percent shooting while outscoring them 32-21 in the fourth. And they did that, even though Embiid and James were held out of the game.
On Friday, they led the defending champs most of the night – at a couple points by as many as 14 – despite Brown’s absence with a sore knee. And again there were moments of defensive brilliance, notably by Edgecombe and KCP, who tag-teamed Knicks star Jalen Brunson, and Wade, who jousted with OG Anunoby.
Wade started but did not squeeze off a shot while going scoreless in nearly 27 minutes of action. Still, he made a difference, and he was particularly stout during a second-quarter stretch that saw him register two of his three steals and contest an Anunoby miss. His efforts hardly went unnoticed.
“The stat sheet doesn’t always determine winning plays and the things he was doing tonight defensively, and the things that he was doing offensively, giving us extra shots and things of that nature,” James said, adding that the 6-foot-9 Wade is the “perfect player for every team.”
“And,” James said, “he’s always going to make the winning plays.”
Speaking of which, let us consider the work of Edgecombe, who at age 21 seems to make such plays nightly. He and Caldwell-Pope limited Brunson to 24 points on 8-for-22 shooting – no easy task, considering his herky-jerky old-man game. As Edgecombe put it, Brunson “uses the fundamentals of the game well” while repeatedly knocking down difficult shots.
“I just try my best to just be there, just make sure I’m contesting every shot,” Edgecombe said.
The Knicks, as is their wont, kept coming, and finally took the lead at 90-89 on Brunson’s right-corner three-pointer over Edgecombe with 1:32 remaining.
“There are really great players throughout this league,” Edgecombe said. “They’re going to make tough shots, but I said I can’t hang my head down and get mad because he made a tough shot. He shot it over me. I kind of did my job, but like I say, it’s going to happen.”
James put the Sixers back in front with a foul-line fadeaway, and on the next Knicks possession Karl-Anthony Towns screened for Brunson as he advanced the ball over midcourt. Embiid hedged and Edgecombe recovered, tracking Brunson as he kept his dribble and moved to his right.
The moment of truth came when the Knicks star drove down the right side of the lane. There defenders are often easy pickings for his array of step-throughs, up-and-unders and fadeaways, but Edgecombe met the moment, forcing Brunson into a miss from eight feet.
Then, at the other end, Edgecombe nailed his enormous three-ball. That proved decisive, despite the fact that he was whistled for a foul on Brunson (apparently with his pinky toe) next time down – a call upheld after replay review.
Brunson made the first free throw, then had a ball-don’t-lie miss, and the Sixers closed it out.
Again, miles to go. The Sixers are hardly fully formed. But their defense – “the physicality, the communication, the keeping the ball in front, the really not quitting on plays,” as Nick Nurse said – is at present their calling card. If that proves to be sustainable, it’s not hard to believe that they will be in this for the long haul – that they will be playing far more meaningful games next spring than they are right now.
