PHILADELPHIA — Doc Rivers was asked before Thursday’s game if anything surprised him about his 76ers.
“Not yet,” the coach said. “I guess our resiliency.”
He said last month’s six-game road trip could have been a disaster.
“For a lot of teams, I think it would have been,” Rivers said. “We had four starters out at one point on a West Coast trip. Not the greatest timing. We won two of the games, I think, out there and kind of hung in games.”
The Sixers did fight hard and posted victories against the Denver Nuggets and Sacramento Kings. But one of their worst performances during the trip was a 35-point setback at the Utah Jazz on Nov. 16. In that game, the Sixers were without starters Joel Embiid (COVID-19) and Danny Green (left hamstring tightness) and reserve swingman Matisse Thybulle (COVID-19).
The now healthy Sixers got a chance to avenge that loss Thursday night. This time, the Jazz prevailed, 118-96, at the Wells Fargo Center. Philly displayed toughness and the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties. However, this outcome shows that the Sixers, despite playing hard, aren’t an elite team at this time.
The setback dropped the Sixers to 14-12 and snapped their three-game winning streak. Those three victories came against the Atlanta Hawks (Friday) and twice against the undermanned Charlotte Hornets (Monday and Wednesday). No offense to those two teams, but Utah is a different caliber of opponent.
At 18-7, the Jazz have the league’s third best record. This victory also extended their winning streak to six games. It was their 10th win in 12 games.
Donovan Mitchell had a game-high 22 points and to go with six assists. Rudy Gobert finished with 17 points, a game-high 21 rebounds, and two blocks. Embiid had 19 points for the Sixers while playing with abdominal pain on the right side. He exited the game for good with 5 minutes, 4 seconds left after picking up a technical foul. He thought he was fouled and the referee didn’t blow his whistle
Balanced attack
Embiid, Tobias Harris, Seth Curry, and Tyrese Maxey all had solid games against the Jazz. A lot of that has to do with the Sixers sharing the ball and finding open teammates.
As he’s accustomed to, Embiid played with pain. The four-time All-Star was evaluated, but returned to play. Despite that, he still managed to lead the Sixers in scoring while posting a team-high nine rebounds and a game-high three steals. Meanwhile, Curry added 18 points. Harris was efficient, scoring 17 points while making 6 of 11 shots and all four of his foul shots.
Maxey emerged from his shooting slump, finishing with 11 points while making 5 of 10 shots. The second-year point guard had shot 29-for-92 (31.5%) in his previous seven games.
Maxey scare
The Sixers had a scare after Maxey scored a driving layup over Hassan Whiteside with 6:14 left in the half. The point guard landed hard on the court, smacking his head. He stayed down during the ensuing possession before the referees stopped the game after the Sixers regained possession at the 6:03 mark.
At that point, players from both teams, Sixers trainer Kevin Johnson and assistant coach Sam Cassell came to his aid. After remaining down for around another minute, Maxey walked off the court under his own power. He was briefly checked out in the locker room before re-entering the game with 2:44 before intermission.
Jazz raining threes
The Sixers knew they would have their hands full against a Jazz team that has been raining three-pointers as of late.
Utah made 25 of 54 three-pointers in Wednesday’s 136-104 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Jazz hit a combined 111 three-pointers in their five games heading into Thursday’s matchup.
So it wasn’t surprising that Utah made 15 of 40 three-pointers against the Sixers. The Jazz are starting to resemble the sharpshooting team they were a season ago.
“I think the whole thing for us is to continue to improve as the season goes on,” Utah coach Quin Snyder said. “When the ball wasn’t going in early in the year, I think it’s easy to think if those go in, we’re fine. We’re probably better. But we don’t want to have to rely on whether the ball goes in.”
