76ers vs. Warriors: Player Observations After Sixers Drop Six-Game Road Trip Finale
The Philadelphia 76ers haven't played in South Philly in over two weeks. On Wednesday night, they faced the Golden State Warriors for their six-game road trip finale. Their final opponent couldn't be any tougher. After dropping four of their last six games, the Sixers were slated to face the NBA's top team.
Going into the matchup, the Warriors topped the Western Conference with a league-best 15-2 record. Over their last ten games, the Warriors have won all but one of their matchups. The Sixers, on the other hand, have struggled a lot lately as they've lost six of their last ten games.
A lot of Philly's struggles have to do with key absences. Throughout the entire road stretch, the Sixers missed key players due to injuries and COVID-19-related setbacks. On Wednesday, the situation was no different. While Danny Green and Seth Curry returned to the Sixers' lineup, Joel Embiid and Tobias Harris remained off the floor.
At first, the Sixers were in great shape. Despite rolling out an unordinary starting lineup, the 76ers took control of the game in the first half. At a point during the first half, the Sixers led by as many as 19 points. Going into halftime, they were up 61-52.
Then when the second half rolled around, the roles reversed. Not only did Golden State find a way to get out in front, but they completely controlled the game in the second half. The Sixers kept it close for a while, but the Warriors ended up coming out on top with an impressive 20-point victory.
Now, let's observe the Sixers' individual player performances.
The Starters
The third-year veteran's defense remains highly impressive. Lately, though, he's shown some nice flashes on offense. Coming off of his season-high, 15-point night in Sacramento, Thybulle followed up his impressive offensive outing with seven points. He drained three of his five shots, one of which came from beyond the arc. Thybulle is still a work in progress on offense, but he's looked a lot better on that side of the ball over the last few games.
With Harris and Embiid out, Niang is a guy the Sixers would like to rely on as he's a seasoned veteran. Unfortunately, Wednesday night was not his night. Shooting-wise, Niang was off as he hit on four shots for nine points. He also fouled out late in the game with a careless shove that could've been avoided. The Sixers were pretty much out of it by the time Niang's night ended, but he set a bad example for the team.
Andre Drummond
Doc Rivers refused to take Drummond off the floor at times he probably should've. In the end, the veteran big man played 27 total minutes. Early on in the game, his rebounding helped the Sixers out a lot. But when the second half came around, Drummond hurt the Sixers more than he helped them. He finished the game with just one point, which came from the charity stripe. From the field, he went 0-5, and he finished the night as a minus-12.
The young guard scored the second-most amount of points for the Sixers as he collected 19 points on Wednesday. He made some strong plays, but he wasn't all that efficient from the field once again. The biggest positive from Maxey's game was that he made it to the free-throw line five times. With ten attempts, Maxey drained all but one of his shots.
Seth Curry
The veteran guard almost outscored his big brother for the first time -- but he came up just short. With 24 points, Seth was two points shy of outscoring Steph. Brotherly rivalry aside, Seth Curry led the Sixers with 24 points. Five of his 16 shots came from beyond the arc. If the Sixers felt they needed to engage in a long-range shootout with the Warriors, Curry would've been the guy they would have to rely on the most. Unfortunately, Curry missed every three-point attempt.
The Bench
Danny Green
For the second time this season, Danny Green came off the bench for the Sixers. When he didn't start earlier in the year, Doc Rivers mentioned that he wanted to keep Green's minutes in check. Therefore, he rolled him off the bench. Considering Green has missed the last few games, the veteran forward was in the same position as he was before as he saw the court for just 17 minutes. For what it's worth, Green looked great during his limited shift. He drained four of his five shots, and knocked down two threes, wrapping up with ten points.
Lately, Korkmaz's minutes have been rough. His shots simply haven't been falling. While he did contribute nine points off the bench, the Turkish veteran still struggled from beyond the arc. Heading into Wednesday's game, Korkmaz has been knocking down just 25-percent of his threes throughout the last five games. Against Golden State, he missed all but one of his five three-point shots. And the slump continues...
The second-year guard has struggled to make an impact during his very limited time on the floor this year. He picked up some quality minutes on Wednesday and made some nice plays. In a little under 15 minutes of action, Joe created eight points. He didn't have a major impact on the game, but he was productive when he needed to be and looked a lot more confident out on the floor.
The Sixers' backcourt backups all had a pretty similar outing. Milton scored nine points while shooting 3-7 from the field. While he distributed the ball well and picked up four assists, Milton's performance didn't offer the Sixers too much of a boost off the bench on Wednesday.
The rookie center has been playing some decent ball lately, but since Doc Rivers dialed up a heavy dose of Andre Drummond on Wednesday, Bassey only saw the court for seven minutes. He collected just one rebound during his time on the court.
