Sixers Aggressiveness vs. Cavaliers Backfired on Sunday Night
The Philadelphia 76ers didn't have a lot of time to prepare for a night without Joel Embiid. As the All-Star big man took the court for warmups before the game, he felt stiffness in his back, which left the Sixers no choice but to be cautious and sit him.
Knowing they couldn't rely on Embiid to get them nearly 30 points himself, the 76ers went into Sunday night's matchup with a rather aggressive approach. As Sixers star Ben Simmons said on Saturday following the victory over the New York Knicks, they have to beat the teams they're supposed to beat.
But that didn't happen on Sunday night. From the gate, Simmons and his teammate Tobias Harris played aggressively on the offensive end. Unfortunately, the offense couldn't click early and a lot of the aggressiveness translated into turnovers.
By the end of the first half, the Sixers had turned the ball over 11 times. Ten of those turnovers came from the starting lineup. With hopes of having a different result in the second half, the 76ers didn't look much better as the first offensive possession of the second-half resulted in a turnover, and the trend continued.
"I wanted him to attack the basket, but I also wanted him to make plays," said Sixers head coach Doc Rivers as he discussed Simmons, who led the Sixers in turnovers on Sunday night. "I think you have to have a good balance in doing both. [On Saturday night] I was talking about how good his balance was. Tonight, I didn't think so. I thought everybody was too aggressive -- trying to get to the basket and score, and I thought that created a lot of turnovers."
Simmons, who contributed to six of Philly's 22 total turnovers, believes his team just wasn't focused enough on both sides of the ball. "There was just too many stretches where we weren't locked in, offensively and defensively," the All-Star said. "It starts on the defensive end. We didn't really change too much to give them different looks. You know, [we gave them] too many easy buckets."
"We turned the ball over way too many times tonight," said Sixers forward Tobias Harris. "On top of that, we just didn't have a real focus and energy on the defensive end. They never felt us all game, and that's really where it starts and ends right there, us on the defensive end."
While both teams came out firing with aggressive play, the Sixers failed to counter Cleveland early on and looked defeated as early as the second quarter. Once they went into halftime trailing double-digits, the 76ers couldn't climb back and ended up taking their first loss of the season on Sunday, moving to 2-1 on the year.
Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on Twitter: @JGrasso_
