Jaylen Brown dribbles the basketball against the Chicago Bulls. [Reuters]
Good morning, gang!
Your Sixers are 7-1.
LeBron James is crashing into fans as he chases the basketball out of bounds and is sipping their wine before he returns to the court.
All is going well.
The Sixers are having fun. And yet, they’re not satisfied.
“That's the part that I care about the most as a group, not individually. Like, having a mentality night in and night out, respecting your opponent, respecting the game, making sure that we are executing our coverages, we're being clear in our communication, and we're also taking away tendencies on a night-to-night basis,” Jaylen Brown said after Monday’s win over the Chicago Bulls when asked about the importance of addressing bad habits on defense early.
“Just those things I just explained are like over 50% of the battle. So, you know, as games go, those things start to slip a little bit, and I try to be vocal but not annoying, but just to make sure that we maintain those consistent habits, because those are winning habits. If you let those things slip, that's how you introduce losing.”
But there’s a really tricky complication in there: How do you police your habits over the course of an 82-game season without being annoying?
“Little bit of accountability. You know, you learn different guys require, you know, different things. How you communicate with each guy may be a little different, but accountability for sure and confrontation if need to, like what the offense is going to be, what it's going to be. But our defense got to be non-negotiable. That's something I say all the time. Non-negotiable,” Brown said.
“You want to be a good team. Defense is non-negotiable.”
There aren’t many bad habits to point to when you’re six games above .500 through eight games.
But Derek Bodner had an astute observation in his newsletter on Monday:
Second, the Sixers have the lowest net rating among the six-win teams. By far.
Not only does the Sixers' +3.7 net rating trail the Rockets (+12.3) and Grizzlies (+14.7) by a large margin, but they also trail all of the 5-win teams as well (Celtics at +10.1, Pistons at +8.1, Lakers at +6.1). In fact, the Sixers' +3.7 net rating ranks just 11th in the league.
That means the Sixers are winning a lot of close games.
They were only up 11 entering the fourth quarter on Monday, choosing to finally clamp down only when the game’s decisive quarter began.
They let another bad team, the Milwaukee Bucks, hang around until the fourth quarter a week ago. They were down 13 at the end of the third quarter to an injury-laden Indiana Pacers team last Wednesday. And yet, they’ve stifled the New York Knicks twice. They authored a 37-point turnaround to stun the Cleveland Cavaliers.
They pick and choose when to bring out their best. It’s not hurting them yet. But Brown isn’t thrilled with that pattern.
“No, I don't like that we have that, but it's good that we have shown the potential. But we got to keep that switch on. Doesn't work like that where you just flip the switch,” Brown told reporters on Monday night.
“It can catch up to us and it can bite us against a better team or on a night that we're not being as crisp on offense, so it can't be a switch just because we're playing a lesser opponent, or just because whatever the case may be. We got to make sure that that mentality is from the beginning to end, can't skip any steps.”
Brown is undoubtedly right. But, whether you flip a switch or execute wire to wire, it counts all the same in the win column.
“We started off the season great, 7-1, and you haven't seen our best version yet.
So that's a good sign,” he said.
Other coverage from Sixer world
Your Vertical 76 takeaways from Monday’s win: “There was a moment in the first half when I looked up at the scoreboard and he had not yet eclipsed five points. Yet, he was still very clearly the best player in the game. James may not have the verticality on demand that he once had. That was clear from a couple of attempts at dunks in limited space. But he got in transition and it was over for Chicago.”
Sixers Adam: “Edgecombe has responded to his lack of touches by mastering every little thing he possibly can. He is the Sixers' primary point-of-attack defender and has excelled in that role. He has been the Sixers' best transition defender. He is quite possibly the best rebounding guard in the NBA right now. He makes as many hustle plays as any member of the Sixers. He has made two of the biggest shots of the season so far. He has done it all with a smile on his face.”
Kyle Neubeck: “Time for everybody’s least favorite nightly segment; that’s right, it’s Adem Bona corner! In customary Bona fashion, he committed a foul on his second defensive possession, strung together a few minutes of decent play, and then went right back to the headless chicken routine. In one particularly painful sequence at the end of his first shift, he took a drop-off from Jaylen Brown six feet out and barely hit the rim, and then needlessly jumped on a shot he didn’t even contest, opening up a rebounding opportunity that Chicago pounced on. Brutal to watch. 5 fouls in 14 minutes is tough to pull off.”
Chris Hine with the big story of the night: LeBron’s taste of XMo wine!
Noah Levick with some pregame details on the plantar fascia injury management in Joel Embiid’s right foot.