So much for an easy victory for the 76ers.
The Detroit Pistons came into the Wells Fargo Center on Thursday night as the NBA’s lone winless team. Detroit was the type of opponent that would easily help the Sixers erase memories of being manhandled by the New York Knicks on Tuesday.
The Sixers did end up beating the lowly Pistons, 110-102. But this performance showed the Sixers (3-2) are not quite ready to be considered an Eastern Conference title contender.
They had a commanding 22-point lead with 6 minutes, 34 seconds remaining. The Pistons never stopped battling and pulled within five points on a three-point by former Villanova standout Saddiq Bey with 1:06 left.
Joel Embiid answered with a three-pointer with 13.9 seconds remaining to give the Sixers their eight -point victory.
Embiid had a nice bounce-back game, finishing with season highs of 30 points and 18 rebounds to post his first double-double of the season. The Sixers center had 19 points and 12 rebounds before intermission.
Second-year point guard Tyrese Maxey finished with 16 points and a season-high six assists in what was his best game of the season. Meanwhile, reserve point guard Shake Milton had 13 points in his season debut.
Bey had 19 points to pace the Pistons, who dropped to 0-4.
Maxey’s best game
Known as a slasher, Maxey did a solid job being a playmaker and distributor. He made a couple of mistakes. But the 20-year-old played freely and for the most part did a solid job of getting the ball teammates in their desired spots.
One of his highlights was a behind-the-back to Tobias Harris in transition for a layup. Maxey also buried a wide-open corner three-pointer after receiving a no-look backward pass from Embiid in the second quarter. He added another three-pointer over Kelly Olynyk in the third quarter.
Maxey shot 6-for-8 from the field, including going 2-for-2 on three-pointers. Not bad for someone, who shot 20% on three-pointers in the first four games.
Bounce-back game
Like most standout players, Embiid seldom has consecutive poor performances.
So the four-time All-Star was expected to dominate the Pistons’ post players after finishing with a season-low 14 points on 2-for-7 shooting against the Knicks.
He had more field goals (three) in the first quarter of Thursday’s game than during the entire game versus the Knicks. He finished that quarter with nine points and six rebounds. Embiid then added 10 more points in the second quarter while getting the Detroit centers in foul trouble.
After adding three points in the third quarter, the big fella scored eight in the fourth.
Return of Shake
This marked Milton’s first game since spraining his right ankle during a preseason practice. In addition to the the first four regular-season games, the injury sidelined him for the final two preseason tilt.
The fourth-year veteran entered Thursday’s game with 2 minutes, 26 seconds left in the first quarter to a loud applause from the home crowd.
He missed his first shot, a 15-footer, 22 seconds later. Milton then scored on his second shot, a layup, with 40 seconds remaining in the quarter. He went on to tally four points, one assist and one steal in seven first-half minutes.
