New Sixers Wrinkle Could Mark Turning Point for Team’s Defense

Adam Hunger/Getty Images Doc Rivers

When the Philadelphia 76ers made the trade to land superstar James Harden, many wondered how the team’s defense would fair. Harden has been criticized for his defense and lack of effort on that end of the floor for much of his career.

The Sixers have been solid on defense this season allowing 106.7 points per game, which ranks seventh in the NBA. The team also ranks tenth in defensive rating at 109.7.

Sixers Defense with Harden

Since the addition of Harden, the Sixer’s defense has taken a hit. Through ten games with Harden in the lineup, the team is allowing 111.6 points per game. However, in Friday night’s 111-101 win over the Dallas Mavericks, it looked like the team made some strides defensively.

The Sixers were able to hold superstar Luka Doncic to just 17 points on 5-20 shooting from the field and 2-10 from three-point range. NBC Sports Philadelphia looked at how the Sixers were able to bottle up Doncic.

As everyone expected, the Sixers began with Matisse Thybulle guarding Doncic.

Doncic is great at recognizing mistakes and ensuring they hurt. When Thybulle got caught on a ball screen, he nailed a wide-open three-pointer. And when the Sixers wing fell behind the play after leaping at a pump fake, Doncic drew contact on a floater. Thybulle picked up his second foul with three minutes and 44 seconds left in the first quarter.

The Sixers then turned to a zone defense after Thybulle sat and Shake Milton entered. Drives never look easy for the opposition when Embiid’s hanging out around the foul line, but the Sixers conceded a couple of open three-pointers and also watched Doncic hit a contested one over Danny Green.

Thybulle’s third foul in the middle of the second quarter didn’t sink the Sixers. The team’s defensive effort on Doncic was strong outside of a few vehemently disputed fouls. Embiid’s ability to come up high on pick-and-rolls was valuable and necessary.

Sixers head coach Doc Rivers was very pleased with what he saw from the team’s zone defense.

“The zone was great,” he said. “We work on it every day. We’ve been doing it more and more the past five or six games. We like it. We just think our guys are pretty high-IQ guys. It throws teams off rhythm. We stay in it if it’s effective, just like teams do against us. It’s been good, and it was great for tonight.”

Sign of Things to Come

As Rivers mentioned the Sixers have been spending a lot of time practicing the zone defense. With the team having success against a player of Doncic’s stature the team will probably use the zone more in the future.

The zone can help hide players who aren’t strong individual defenders and can help when players are in foul trouble. Now is the time for the Sixers to figure things out defensively as they head down the home stretch of the season.

The Sixers are currently in third place in the Eastern Conference at 43-26 and they are just a half-game behind the Milwaukee Bucks for second place. Philadelphia has 13 games left in the regular season and a tough remaining stretch as nine of those 13 games are against current playoff teams.