Sixers Bell Ringer: Game 32

For a refresher on what constitutes a Bell Ringer, please reference the initial post.

Bell Ringer Season Standings:

Joel Embiid - 11
Ben Simmons - 7
Jimmy Butler - 5
JJ Redick - 4
Robert Covington - 1
Dario Saric - 1
T.J. McConnell - 1
Furkan Korkmaz - 1

The best thing you could say about Monday night’s 123-96 loss is that it only lasted two hours and 15 minutes. The Sixers looked absolutely dead on the second night of a road back-to-back, making just a single field goal in the first seven-plus minutes of the third quarter, and leaving no doubt as to the outcome very early on in the proceedings. Reluctant Bell Ringer candidates are as follows:

Ben Simmons: 16 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists

The Sixers point guard was the team’s best source of offense on a night when that wasn’t saying much. Simmons finished 7-for-10 from the field and 2-for-2 from the foul line, scoring the team’s only 4 points in the third quarter until Mike Muscala hit a 3-pointer with 4:46 remaining in the period. A hook shot off a pump fake, driving floaters, cuts to the basket out of the Birdman zone — the through-line for Simmons’ buckets was a hard-charging aggression to get into the paint and finish strong.

JJ Redick: 16 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal

JJ had himself a nice shooting night, going 7-for-11 from the field and 2-for-4 from downtown, with another 3-pointer waved off when they whistled Simmons for an illegal screen. It wasn’t all outside shots curling off screens like usual for Redick, though, as he recorded a handful of buckets cutting to the hoop.

Joel Embiid: 13 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists

Embiid held on to the ball like a greased pig down in Texas, committing four very sloppy turnovers. But he was the main reason the Sixers were still reasonably close at halftime. All 13 of his points came in the first half, and some of his assists on the evening were very nice feeds to his teammates while surveying the court.

Mike Muscala: 11 points, 1 rebound, 3 assists, 1 block

Moose had a nice stretch in the back half of the third quarter, draining a trio of three-pointers, and recognizing Wilson Chandler had a mismatch underneath to find him for an easy lay-in. With Muscala’s help, the Sixers were able to keep the deficit around 20 (instead of 30) for another 10 minutes. Huzzah?

Shake Milton: 10 points, 4 rebounds

Shake scored 10 points in 8 minutes and went 2-for-3 behind the arc. His -2 plus/minus was tied for the best on the team. Terrific. Give the kid some non-garbage time minutes. But here’s why he’s on the list — I learned his late father, Myrion Milton, nicknamed him Shake because his nickname was Milkman during his playing days at Texas A&M. Shake, as in Milkshake. Honestly, it was the only thing to put a smile on my face during the game.