Happy New Year Everybody. Things are finally starting to look brighter around the holiday time for the Sixers. With how the Eagles have played recently, the Sixers have taken a major backseat in Philly. Quietly, the Sixers have won 8 of their last 10 games. The big 3 have finally got some playing time under their belts and some role players have stepped up to help bring the team up to 11th in the East.
Joel Embiid Returning to Form
In this last stretch of games, Embiid has averaged 26.0 points, 6.7 rebounds and 4.0 assists. These aren’t the numbers we’re accustomed to, but it’s much better than what he started the season doing. We don’t need him doing anything more than this anyway.
While doing less, Embiid has still managed to win games just with his presence. The Paul George signing came with the hope of Embiid doing less to stay healthy throughout the season. With these numbers, he can reserve more energy and avoid injury while still contributing heavily to the success of this team.
His play style of late looks a lot less urgent, too. In past years, Embiid has pretty much run every offensive possession while he’s on the floor, but now, with the contributions from a lot of players, he can work off the ball a lot more and slow down his game. This slight change of style can keep Embiid off the ground more and provide him with easier buckets.
Maxey Playing Better With Embiid Back
On the season, Maxey has averaged 42.3% FG and 34.2% 3FG – both down from last year. Much of this has to do with his star Center missing so many games this year.
Over the last 10 games, Maxey started to find his groove with Embiid coming back. He put up similar numbers, but with higher efficiency. He raised his FG% to 44.4 and his 3-point% to 39.2%. This efficiency boost helps the Sixers get more out of their offensive possessions.
His shot selection has helped him a lot with this boost. With more talent around him, he has forced less bad shots and spaced the floor very well for himself and his teammates.
Not to mention, he’s second in the league in steals this year. Every year, Maxey has improved and this year his dedication to the game has shown off in the defensive department. He continues to grow in his understanding of the game in every season of his career.
George’s Number Aren’t Pretty, But he Contributes
His 15.5 ppg is a big drop off from last year’s 22.6 ppg, and with only 1.3 apg to make up for it. We as fans expected more from him when he signed his big contract this past offseason. His points should certainly be higher than 15.5, but his reputation alone seems to help this Sixers team. None of that can show up on the stat sheet, but he often creates a lot of gravity around himself on the court which provides open teammates with shots.
Though his offensive contributions aren’t as much as we hoped, his defense is as advertised. His 2 steals a game would tie him with Maxey for the 2nd place steals average in the league. His veteran savvy puts him in the right place at the right time on defense. It looks like he knows where the ball is going before the offense throws it. He and Maxey have caused a lot of turnovers together this year.
Role Players Pivotal to Success
Lots of the Sixers players have stepped up off the bench to help this team fight with the star players down. Players like KJ Martin, Jared McCain, Ricky Council, etc. have made significant contributions to this team. Above all though, I’ve been extremely impressed with Guerschon Yabusele.
Yabusele been so consistent to this team from the start of the season. He has played a lot of minutes due to injuries from the centers on this team and he has made the best of his opportunities. Even though he signed as a PF, he has demonstrated value in the center position as well based on necessity. He always give heart and hustles – one thing this team has lacked in the past. Without him, this season may have started of even a little worse than before.
11th Place isn’t that Bad When You Think About It
Yeah, ok, we didn’t expect 11th place going into the season, but given the circumstances, it’s not the worst place we could be.
With the Play-In games, 10th place gets into the playoffs now, too. Obviously it would be great to avoid these games, but worst case scenario it’s still a chance in the playoffs.
At 13-17, the Sixers find themselves only 3 games out of the 6-seed which would avoid the play-in situation. With such a bad Eastern Conference, the Sixers can easily work their way back into playoff contention.
The post New Year, New Sixers? appeared first on Philadelphia Sports Nation.