The Philadelphia 76ers overcame an early deficit to defeat the Phoenix Suns and advance to 9-0 in the Wells Fargo Center.
After getting off to a slow start, being down over 15 points early on, the Philadelphia 76ers came back to secure their ninth home win of the season. Devin Booker was on fire for the Phoenix Suns tonight, scoring 37 points, but that wasn’t enough to lead his team to victory. Former Villanova Wildcat Mikal Bridges hit two three-pointers late to put together a comeback, but they ended up falling short.
Jimmy Butler didn’t have the best game, only scoring 16 points, but he has shot for a very high percentage since getting traded to the 76ers. We will have to see how Brett Brown controls the rotation going forward, because in the second half tonight T.J. McConnell took all of Markelle Fultz‘s backup point guard minutes. Richaun Holmes had a strong first game back in the Wells Fargo Center, scoring 10 points on 5-6 shooting from the field.
During tonight’s game there was some good and some bad, so let’s see some player grades below.
Joel looked dominant on both ends of the floor, shooting 52 percent from the field and 75 percent from the foul line. He has been better with his turnovers this year, but tonight that streak was not continued, as he was a little sloppy with the ball. Also Embiid needs to stop shooting so many three-point shots because he can score so much easier down in the paint. Overall, JoJo had a very good game, he just has to improve his decision making to take his game to the next level.
Over the last two games, Ben Simmons has looked like a totally different player in a few different areas. On the offensive end, he looks very aggressive with getting his teammates involved and looking for his own shot.
He still needs to improve on his free throw shooting after only shooting about 17 percent on those shots tonight. There are only a few flaws in Ben’s game, one being that he takes very few mid-range jump shots, and being a very poor foul shooter. If he can improve in those areas the Sixers might have a real big three that can make some noise in the playoffs.
Mike Muscala had a great night versus the Suns while being very efficient off the bench. A lot of people want to say the Sixers are missing Ersan Ilyasova but I think Muscala has been a great replacement for Ersan’s role last season. Moose is a great presence on the court with the Sixers’ young players in Markelle Fultz, Furkan Korkmaz, and Landry Shamet.
Even though J.J. went to the locker room because of nose bleeds during the game, he was a big help when on the floor. He has been one of the 76ers’ most consistent scores this season and I do not see that changing anytime soon. Redick is such a great veteran to have on the team to help grow Philadelphia’s promising young core. Now that they added Butler, the pressure will not always be on J.J. when the Sixers need a bucket.
Chandler was not a factor on both ends of the floor tonight. For the 76ers to make a big playoff push this year they need Wilson Chandler to step his game up so they get something from their starting power forward. If he doesn’t start to provide something in his bigger role, then the team may have to look to trade for a starting power forward. They are still easing him back from his injury so there is still hope that when he fully comes back he is an efficient player.
The Philadelphia 76ers improved to 12-7 on the season after squeezing out a win against the Suns. The Sixers have looked dominant at home this season, but for them to solidify themselves as an elite team in this league, then they will have to improve their 3-7 away record.
They have three more games this week, with two of the three not being against playoff teams from last season. They play the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday, Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday and then finish the week in Brooklyn to play the Nets on Sunday night.
