Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey save Sixers from embarrassment at hands of depleted Pacers

Good morning, folks!

The Sixers went into Indiana to play a heavily under-manned Pacers team and led by 15, then trailed by 13, and then decided to win. I’m not one to think much of double-digit advantages as long as they stay in the teens. This was a 28-point swing followed by an 18-point swing. What a roller coaster.

Here are my takeaways from an annoying win.

As much of a pleasant surprise as the Sixers’ halfcourt defense has been thus far, their offense has held them back from perfection in the first week of the season. I thought turnovers would’ve been a huge culprit of the rough offense; the data says I’m wrong. They actually have the second-best offensive turnover rate in the league, per Cleaning The Glass.

No, the real culprit is as simple as making and missing shots. Philadelphia was 28th in the NBA in effective goal percentage through four games. That is magnified by the Sixers being 24th in offensive rebound rate.

So they’ve missed a ton of shots out of primary offense and haven’t collected enough of their own misses to create any real volume of second-shot offense.

That will get better. And if it doesn’t, it’ll point to the sidelines, not the talent on the court. But I do think the low-hanging fruit is Philadelphia’s vacillating between bullying mismatches into submission and playing my-turn-your-turn isolation basketball. The shot quality is too up and down.

But one new addition did help the Sixers get off the schneid in the first half. Anfernee Simons had not shot the ball well through the first week of the season, but he authored a 12-point first half, twice helping the Sixers distance themselves from the Pacers.

There was some great utility in two-man actions between LeBron James and Simons, James drawing two defenders and then setting Simons up to punish.

But it says a lot about the state of this offense that it took a barrage from Simons to actually push the Sixers in front in this race. And the messiness carried over to the third quarter, to boot.

I don’t know whether it’s Embiid actively choosing to function as a floor spacer within the offense or him making an effort to clear the lanes for his teammates, but the Sixers completely misused him in the third quarter.

He played 10 minutes and eight seconds in that frame and took two shots. Meanwhile, Jaylen Brown and James shot a combined 2-for-10 and Maxey 2-for-5. What made it truly maddening was that Embiid had a stellar first half and was matched up with the likes of Jay Huff and Larry Nance Jr.

There was no Ivica Zubac in his way. These were clear mismatches for him to attack, and the three other stars who governed most of the offense did nothing to put him in positions to dominate.

No one is expecting prime James in this era. But it’s a little jarring how lost he looks on offense. I can understand if he doesn’t have the explosion to truck his way through defenders on drives anymore. But he’s leaving shots dangling around the rim all over the place. James had an opportunity to dunk in transition early in this one and opted for a layup instead, allowing the trailing Jalen Slawson to catch up and block the shot.

I do think there are some growing pains here as he toggles between being a true setup man and being himself. You can see him hesitate on catch-and-shoot threes when a teammate kicks the ball out to him from time to time.

But whether he is 41 or 25, James is responsible for his effort. Some things are out of your control on offense, but defense is largely up to the player. He can’t be lost on offense and then also be slow to close out on defense, allowing good looks at threes. He also can’t stand on the weak side of the rim while Embiid does good work to deny the first shot, only for James to not rebound and allow additional opportunities.

It says, well, a lot about where Adem Bona stands in Nick Nurse’s trust tree that he got four minutes of time before he rolled out the small-ball lineups featuring Dean Wade and James when Embiid wasn’t on the floor to log his 39 minutes against the short-handed Pacers.

The more Bona’s intrigue fades, the more I’m left to wonder if Tacko Fall will get a genuine look once he’s healthy. I wouldn’t expect much out of a 30-year-old on a two-way contract, but the rotation decisions speak for themselves. They do not trust the only real center they have behind Embiid. And if the solution is to have him log 40 minutes every night until they can sign someone to a prorated veteran’s minimum in December, that’s going to be a dangerous game that flies in the face of the Sixers’ overall goal.

You can bring in James. You can bring in Brown. But the truth is the same as it’s been for the last decade — they live and die with Joel Embiid.