3 observations after Sixers struggle beyond arc, on the glass in loss to Jazz

Joel Embiid's final on-court action of Thursday night's game was emblematic of the Sixers' frustrating evening.

Upset that he hadn't gotten a foul call, Embiid grabbed Jazz forward Royce O'Neale and gesticulated in the face of an official to voice his displeasure. He was assessed a technical foul, then subbed out of the game with the Sixers down 18 points.

The Sixers' superstar watched the final minutes of his team's 118-96 loss to Utah at Wells Fargo Center from the bench. The defeat snapped a three-game winning streak and dropped the Sixers to 14-12.

Embiid had 19 points on 8-for-18 shooting and nine rebounds. Seth Curry recorded 18 points, Tobias Harris 17.

Jazz star Donovan Mitchell posted 22 points and six assists.

The Sixers will face the Warriors on Saturday night in Philadelphia. Here are observations on their loss to the Jazz:  

Embiid-Curry duo shows early promise

Embiid sunk his first three shots, making two mid-range jumpers against Rudy Gobert and a three-pointer off of a pick-and-pop with Curry.

The Curry-Embiid two-man game looked dangerous early. Against drop coverage, there’s ample space for the pair to operate and identify the best method of attack. 

A few examples: Curry drove baseline for a layup right after Embiid’s three-ball, in part because Gobert was wary of Embiid popping again. The Sixers got Harris an open three on the weak side of the action shortly after. Later in the first period, Embiid laid the ball in on a good, old-fashioned side pick-and-roll with Curry. 

Hassan Whiteside backed up Gobert and the Jazz rotated such that the three-time Defensive Player of the Year saw substantial time against Andre Drummond. Gobert was, not surprisingly, the better player in that matchup.

Embiid’s shooting cooled off and the Sixers turned to more post-ups as the game wore on. Mitchell and the Jazz were also somewhat effective at denying Curry the ball or at least forcing him to work hard to receive it well beyond the three-point arc. That approach has been one reason running late-game offense through Curry-Embiid actions is sometimes easier said than done. 

Injury scare and another star matchup for Maxey 

Mitchell began the game with the confidence one would expect from the Western Conference’s reigning Player of the Week. He hunted down pull-up three-pointers and made four long-distance jumpers in the first half.

Tyrese Maxey started out guarding Mitchell, though Matisse Thybulle was on the two-time All-Star soon enough. In an unexpected twist, Thybulle’s offense shined more than his defense in his opening stint. He tallied seven first-quarter points on a fast-break alley-oop, a put-back dunk and a catch-and-shoot three.

Unfortunately for the Sixers, Thybulle did not sustain that positive offensive impact. He committed a bad third-quarter turnover on a cross-court pass, which led to a Whiteside and-one in transition. 

Maxey was playing well in the second quarter when he had a significant injury scare. He scored a lefty layup on Whiteside and fell to the floor hard. TV replays showed he hit his head on the court.

Eventually, Maxey rose to his feet with a smile and went back to the Sixers locker room with head athletic trainer Kevin Johnson. He flashed a big smile again and heard cheers from the home fans when he went to the scorer’s table a couple of minutes later to check back into the game.

In the short term, Shake Milton taking Maxey’s spot would’ve sufficed as an answer if the second-year guard was unable to continue. Still, whatever happens with Ben Simmons, it appears likely that Maxey needs to be an important contributor if the Sixers are to contend for a championship. On that level — and also on the basic level of relief that he avoided a catastrophic head injury — it was great for the Sixers to see Maxey return. 

Mitchell was quiet after a 17-point first half, but the Jazz spread the ball around nicely and manufactured plenty of good shots. Eight Utah players scored in double figures. 

As for Maxey, he finished with 11 points on 5-for-10 shooting in his second game back from a non-COVID illness.

Worth noting on the subject of injuries: Embiid left the game in the third quarter after experiencing abdominal pain on his right side, was evaluated and cleared to return, a team official said.

Embiid called the injury “pretty painful" and said he started feeling it in the first quarter. He thought he'd be fine moving forward. 

Big differences from long range, on the glass 

Utah leads the NBA in offensive rating and lived up to its billing as an excellent, high-volume three-point shooting team. For the game, the Jazz made 15 of 40 long-distance attempts.

Meanwhile, the Sixers only converted 3 of 18 threes in the first half, 6 for 33 on the night. Danny Green was 0 for 4 beyond the arc in a scoreless outing. Thybulle went 1 for 5, Furkan Korkmaz 0 for 5. 

“I thought overall, we had a lot of good looks," Sixers head coach Doc Rivers said. “Half of them weren’t close, honestly. (The shots) looked short off of their hands. … We found the shooters. We got Danny wide-open shots. Furk is struggling right now. He needs the ball to go in for him, just to get his confidence going." 

Defensive rebounding was also a major issue for the Sixers, as it’s frequently been this season. Some of the offensive boards conceded were a bit baffling, including one on which the ball bounced out to Gobert with no Sixer ever pursuing it.

The Sixers’ lack of size in the backcourt is a reasonable excuse for their rebounding problems, but the impression here is the team still shouldn’t struggle as much as it does collectively. 

For instance, Drummond let Whiteside grab a few offensive rebounds in the third quarter simply because Drummond didn’t box out or react until the ball was almost in Whiteside’s hands. Drummond is obviously a strong rebounder on most nights, but the Sixers need him to be consistent, too. 

“A lot of those rebounds and 50-50 basketballs, they were just outhustling us," Harris said. “We’ve got to take more pride in that. There were just too many possessions when they were able to come up with a play, an added possession for them. It’s hard for me to say why that is. It’s just something we need to be better at and that we have to figure out.”

Given how allowing extra possessions always seems to haunt teams come the postseason, it’s a weakness the Sixers undoubtedly must improve upon over the next several months.