Happy Halloween: Everyone Should be Afraid of the Sixers
After Four games the Sixers look like the scariest team in The League, as of October 31st, Halloween 2019, the 76ers are 1 of 2 teams still undefeated. In this article, I’m going to go through three of the past four games and break down why every other NBA team should be afraid.
SIXERS V. CELTICS
Game one saw the 76ers start slow, playing catchup with a rebuilding Celtics (for a deeper dive on this game) This game felt like growing pains, it’s the first game of the season, everyone’s at full speed for the first time since the playoffs, and the refs are so excited for the NBA basketball that they can’t stop whistling.
The Celtics have gone through some big changes over the offseason with a significant downgrade at the point guard position swapping out Kyrie for Kemba, losing backup Terry Rozier, a Morris (not sure which one) left for a G League team called the New York Knicks, and a player named Al Horford decided to play for a better team (remember him he might be important). To summarize my point the Celtics and the Sixers were going through growing pains, both teams shot under 30% from three that night. It would be smart to wait until our second or third game against the Bostonians to say if they’re officially washed.
Not to completely undercut the sixers good work, especially on the defensive end, Josh Richardson who was tasked to guard Kemba Walker, did a fantastic job against the notoriously lethal one-man army. When playing the Sixers last season Kemba dropped 40 on the head of Jimmy Butler and company. But on opening night, The newly acquired Celtic was held to only 12 points shooting 4-18 from the field and 1-6 from beyond the arc.
SIXERS V. HAWKS
Monday, Oct 28th The Hawks played the Sixers in their third game of the season, Trae Young coming off of two monster performances, against the Pistons and the Magic scored 38 against Detroit and 39 against Orlando, shooting 6 – 10 and 5- 10 from three. Monday against Philly was a different story, Trae shot 2 – 5 from the three-point line against the Sixers. You can say our game against the Celtics was a fluke, maybe an off night for this poorly constructed Celtics team, but to take one of the leagues best high volume three-point shooters and cut his numbers in half isn’t a fluke. If NBA teams take anything away from this game, it’s this oversized lineup shouldn’t just be feared in the paint, teams aren’t safe anywhere on the court against them.
SIXERS V. WOLVES
Wow, what a night for basketball, ESPN’s The Jump asked this week if people should wake up to how good the T-Wolves are and I heald my tongue because obviously that’s a no. Here’s the thing with dominant centers in the NBA and Embiid, when a player like Drummond or KAT plays a Bam Adebayo, or a Bismack Biyombo they look like God making Bigs, plucked straight from the loins of Wilt himself, but against THE BEST CENTER IN THE NBA, they look like punks, RANT OVER. The Wolves started this game galaxy braining their lineup, small balling their starting five by starting beloved Sixer legend, Robert Covington at power forward. Ryan Saunders saw a square hole in his lineup and decided a circle peg would do the job just fine. instead of trying to contain the size he believed his Timberwolves could outpace the Ent-like Sixers, well we all know how that turned out.
So far this season the Sixers have been on a roll if this is how the team plays without chemistry, I “A Basketball Fan” am excited for what the rest of this season is going to look like. Teams that, play Iso ball, get locked up, teams that space the floor, are forced inside, and teams that play small, get put into submission.
The 76ers are on a tear through then NBA and the Blazers are next. See you at tipoff
