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The Sixers were extremely short-handed for their third game in five days. Joel Embiid (load management) and Tobias Harris (health and safety) both sat out. And Danny Green injured his hamstring during the contest. That didn’t stop Doc Rivers’ squad from battling all night and eventually gutting out a 113-103 victory.
Seth Curry carried the load and scored a game-high 23 points, with Georges Niang (21 points) pacing the second unit and hearing MVP chants. They flustered Blazers star Damian Lillard on the defensive end, throwing a combination of Tyrese Maxey, Matisse Thybulle, Furkan Korkmaz and Niang at him.
Andre Drummond turned in another dominant performance in the paint filling in for Embiid. He filled up the stat sheet: 14 points, 15 rebounds, five steals, seven assists.
Next up, a home date against the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday, November 3. The Sixers improved to 5-2 with the win.
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Sixers-Blazers: 5 Things We Learned
1. Tyrese Maxey Can Defend: The new starting point guard did a solid job bottling up Damian Lillard. The Blazers star suffered a dismal night on the offensive end where he shot 7-of-20 from the field (2-of-9 from deep) for a minus-14. He went into halftime with just eight points. Maxey pushed the issue on defense, with help from Thybulle and company. And the second-year guard didn’t back down on the other end. Maxey (10 points, seven assists) drove to the hoop for an acrobatic and-one opportunity to start the third quarter and drew a foul on Lillard. The Philly faithful ate it up.
2. Makeshift Second Unit: With Embiid and Harris out, Rivers had to empty the bench and it showed with the second unit. Paul Reed, Georges Niang, Shake Milton, Isaiah Joe, Matisse Thybulle got the first crack at it and held down the fort. They took a 54-53 lead into the halftime break. Milton (10 points) and Niang (21 points) paced them. And Reed (four points) made the most of his first non-garbage time minutes, hustling on every possession in the second quarter. He did pick up three fouls in six minutes, though.
3. Drummond Earning It: Drummond started the contest on a tear and filled up the stat sheet: six points, eight rebounds, three assists, three steals in the first six minutes. He was an immovable object in the paint all night. Drummond had a crucial close out on Lillard with 2:22 remaining that turned into three points the other way after Curry drilled a triple to put the Sixers up 111-101.
4. We Want Lillard: Sixers fans let Lillard know how they felt about him from the jump. Instead of serenading him with the trademark “Sucks” chant during visiting player introductions, they cheered wildly. They started “We Want Lillard” chants randomly throughout the game, including a wild scene early in the first quarter when the six-time All-Star headed to the free-throw line. He head it. The Philly chapter of the “Lillard Fan Club” was open.
5. Closing Time: Rivers thwarted a Portland comeback by using a mix-and-match lineup featuring Thybulle, Niang, Curry, Korkmaz, Maxey for a long stretch in the fourth quarter. Drummond was curiously absent early in the frame, then came back in with 5:22 left to help shut the door. Fans rained down “MVP” chants on Niang when he headed to the free-throw line. The new stretch four finished with 21 points in 26 minutes – far and away the Sixers’ most underrated signing. Maybe in the entire NBA.
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