The Sixers Are Running Out of Time for an Answer on the Glass

PHILADELPHIA — A Tobias Harris jumper from nine feet out gave the Detroit Pistons a 12-11 lead with eight minutes and 47 seconds to play in the first quarter.

A fairly inconsequential shot over the course of a 48-minute game. But it was worth earmarking on Saturday night.

It was the first shot of the game that the Pistons attempted outside of the paint.

Detroit's first four shots of the game—all makes—came at the rim. The only other points on the board came from Harris free throws earned by driving a gap created by the Sixers being too slow to get back on defense.

The game's trend had already been established: Cuts, dunks, free throws and physicality.

Detroit, without Cade Cunningham, put up 71 points in the first half.

"We did a really, really poor job of handling their cutting," Nick Nurse told reporters after the loss.

"I think the first six baskets of the game were either right at the rim—I think Tobias made their first non-layup about seven baskets in that was about a wide open 10 footer along the baseline. They cut us, they back-screened us, we missed a switch, we let the roller get behind twice. We came up from the corner and helped uphill and they back-cut us from the corner once. It was just really bad on the cutting."

Philadelphia got behind the eight ball early, conceding a 41-point first quarter due in large part to six Detroit offensive rebounds on 10 misses in what was otherwise a rather efficient quarter of scoring for the Pistons.

The Sixers were outrebounded by seven in the first frame and two in the second quarter. The deficit stood at 11 by intermission.

Detroit never looked back.

It is possible that the Sixers could still see the Pistons in the first round of the playoffs. It would require the Sixers to tumble far enough back into the Play-In tournament that they'd have to play for the eighth seed in the East.

The Sixers can point to it being the second night of a back-to-back without Joel Embiid if they'd like. Perhaps that Embiid never played the Pistons in the regular season is a wild card that favors Philadelphia.

But it's very easy to see that one team plays a more physical brand of basketball than the other does.

"They play super physical. It's probably an advantage they have on a lot of teams. It would be interesting to see how we could adjust to it if it turned into a playoff series and all of that kind of stuff," Nurse said.

At least publicly, the head coach believes the Sixers could challenge that.

"But I think when you're playing them over and over again, you got to figure out a lot more push-offs to get open, screens to get open. Much more change of directions to get open. Sometimes you got to grab and throw them to get open," Nurse explained.

"I thought what really hurt us to start the second is I thought they pushed us under on a couple offensive rebounds. We got a good stop and, the next thing you know, we're kind of underneath the backboard and the ball's back in there. I think they do a good job of starting to work you under early and that's another thing you'd have to adjust to. Earlier block-outs, things like that."

But how exactly do you remedy that with this personnel?

Player	Defensive rebounding rate	Offensive rebounding rate
Joel Embiid	16.3%	6.7%
Andre Drummond	25.3%	14.7%
Adem Bona	13.5%	10.2%
Dominick Barlow	11.8%	7.9%

At least Embiid can rest on being an average defensive rebounder while carrying significant responsibilities on offense. Drummond, for his warts, is still one of the very best rebounders in the world.

Bona does not rebound well enough on the defensive glass because of how often he chases blocks to protect the rim. It's bad to be out of position on the glass. It's somewhat justifiable when the reason is that you're trying to protect the rim from shots up close.

That leaves Barlow, whose status in the rotation should be increasingly precarious. The one thing that he does continuously offer is secondary rim protection. The hustle is always there.

But Kelly Oubre Jr., who started in Barlow's stead on Saturday, should be right on his heels. It does not bode well for Barlow that his defensive rebounding rate, as a big, is only decimal points better than Oubre's is as a wing, per Cleaning The Glass.

If Barlow isn't going to be a shooting threat, a polished finisher in the paint or a monstrous rebounder, he has to be a pristine defender.

The Pistons sliced behind him for back-cuts. They beat him off the dribble with the likes of Kevin Huerter.

Yet, Oubre only played 24 minutes on Saturday night.

"We started him hoping to get him going and probably keep the minutes down. I just didn't think either him or [Quentin Grimes] could find an opening to get much going and I was just kind of searching for some other guys maybe that could," Nurse said.

Nurse intends to keep Oubre on starter's minutes. Perhaps, when all is said and done, he just puts his five best players on the court. Oubre would certainly be one of them.

But is it possible he looks in another direction?

Jabari Walker, who has played less than half the minutes Barlow has, is a markedly better rebounder. He also provides shooting that Barlow cannot and some passing instincts that Barlow does not. The defense is not great. Maybe Barlow's is better, but are the limitations that come with Barlow lesser than the sum of Walker's complement of skills?

"I don't know. I mean, he has been good. But it gets him down there pretty far. That's going pretty deep into the rotation. I think he's done nothing but play good. But you got to take somebody out if you do that," Nurse said.

"I think Bona has been good, Drum has been good, Kelly has been good, Paul has been good. There's a lot of guys to consider. But, maybe, we'll see."

Time is running out. Postseason matchups are not yet set in stone. But, at times, the Sixers' answers are at odds with their reality.