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After winning three straight games on the road — one of which came in the form of a revenge effort against the Hawks — the Philadelphia 76ers looked to finally be turning some kind of corner. However, the team’s blowout loss to the Jazz on Thursday proved that the team still has a way to go yet.
At the least, that’s what Sixers star Joel Embiid took from the 118-96 shellacking at Wells Fargo. In the wake of the loss, Embiid, who scored 19 points on 18 shots in the game, served up a particularly sobering assessment of his club.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” said the four-time NBA All-Star, via Tom Moore. “Offensively and defensively, obviously. You know, we sink in and we don’t shoot enough threes and we pump-fake a lot. At times, we’re going to have to make a lot of them and take a lot of them.”
Where three-point shooting is concerned, Embiid’s statement hearkens back to training camp when he expressed a desire to see Philly’s offense diversified. And, clearly, it’s not happening to the degree he would like.
Against Utah, the Sixers were 6-of-33 from distance. For the year, the team is 23rd in three-point attempts per 100 possessions (33.3) and 20th in makes/100 poss. (11.8). As Embiid indicated, though, his team continues to have issue all over the court.
Sixers’ Rebounding Woes Continue
The Sixers weren’t just beaten on the glass against the Jazz, they were thoroughly dominated. Utah held a 52-34 advantage on the boards by night’s end, and the Jazz were particularly effective in corraling their own misses. Sixteen of those 52 rebounds were offensive in nature.
For the year, the Sixers rank 26th in opponent offensive rebounding percentage at 28.6. Consequently, they’re conceding 14.1 second-chance points per game, which is the fourth-highest mark league-wide.
In the wake of Philly’s latest rebounding failure, Tobias Harris indicated that improving on the glass should be a matter of pride for the team.
“A lot of those rebounds and 50-50 basketballs, they were just outhustling us. We’ve got to take more pride in that. There were just too many possessions when they were able to come up with a play, an added possession for them,” Harris remarked.
“It’s hard for me to say why that is. It’s just something we need to be better at and that we have to figure out.”
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Embiid Not Sweating Abdominal Injury
Embiid was on fire during the opening period, putting up 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting. However, there was a noticeable drop-off from that point forward; not just in terms of production, but his energy level on the court. That may have been caused by an abdominal ailment that saw him leave the court temporarily during the second half.
After the game, the big man didn’t have a lot of answers about what had happened to him, though.
“I honestly don’t know, but it was pretty painful,” said Embiid, via Sixers Wire. “I’m not sure what happened.”
He added that it began to bother him during the first quarter and that he “thought it was a cramp.” Eventually, it even started to affect his breathing. However, Embiid maintained that he was fine when speaking to reporters later.
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