Kings’ Mike Brown Explains What Went Wrong vs. Joel Embiid, 76ers

The Philadelphia 76ers expanded their win streak on Tuesday night at home. With the Sacramento Kings in town for the first and only time this year, the Sixers came out firing and looking for a second-straight blowout victory after dealing with multiple overtime scenarios over the last week.

Through the first half of action, the Sixers put up 80 points on the Kings. They led Sacramento by as many as 28 points. Sixers head coach Doc Rivers credited the Sixers' consistently improving pace on the offensive end as a primary reason they were able to find success against the Kings.

“We didn't come across and trap the box, we didn't get back in transition,” said Kings head coach Mike Brown after the game. “Which means we didn't follow our transition rules.”

The Sixers have had their struggles in transition, offensively and defensively, this year, but Tuesday was clearly one of their better nights in that category. According to Cleaning the Glass, the Sixers added six points per 100 possessions in transition against the Kings. To compare, Sacramento accounted for just two.

“We weren't aggressive with our double teams,” Brown added. “If you're not aggressive when you're guarding a guy like Joel Embiid, he's just gonna pick you apart. So we didn't communicate well. We weren't aggressive or read the right way in pick-and-roll situations when we had the opportunity to read.”

The reigning Eastern Conference Player of the Week, Joel Embiid, had a field day with the Kings in the first half. In 17 minutes, Embiid knocked down 60 percent of his shots from the field and drained all but one of his 11 free throws. He produced 21 points in the first two quarters.

Considering the Sixers had a significant lead coming out of the half, Embiid checked into the second half for just 12 minutes. He drained four of his six shots, snagging another ten points,

“There's a lot of teaching moments that we're gonna be able to pull from this game,” Brown finished. “It was great to see the guys go out there and fight in that third quarter, they fought a little bit in the fourth quarter. So there's one thing that tells you is they don't have to quit, which was great to see.”

Embiid finished Tuesday’s matchup with a game-high of 31 points in 30 minutes. The big man knocked down 63 percent of his shots from the field while collecting seven rebounds, two assists, one steal, and a blocked shot.

Embiid’s contributions helped the Sixers cruise past the Kings with a 123-103 victory.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.