Sixers Bell Ringer: Game 35 - Sixers unable to seal the deal in OT

For a refresher on our Bell Ringer series, take a look back at our first post of the season.

Bell Ringer Standings

Tobias Harris - 8
Ben Simmons - 7
Joel Embiid - 7
Josh Richardson - 6
Matisse Thybulle - 3
Furkan Korkmaz - 1
Al Horford - 1
James Ennis - 1

The Sixers’ game against the Miami Heat was one of the more entertaining affairs of the season. The final ~25 seconds of play saw Joel Embiid turn the ball over twice, Jimmy Butler miss a free throw to just about ice the game for the Heat, Josh Richardson get fouled on a last second shot attempt, Richardson miss a pair of free throws (the second intentionally), and Ben Simmons rush in for a putback from above the key on Richardson’s 2nd missed free throw to tie the game with less than a second left in regulation. Unfortunately, the Sixers went on to lose the game in overtime.

In any event, there were some positives to take away from the game, so let’s select a Bell Ringer.

Joel Embiid: 35 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block, 3 turnovers

As previously mentioned, Joel Embiid had two brutal turnovers in the closing seconds of the 4th quarter against the Heat, one coming after Embiid was triple-teamed with the Sixers up two while Tobias Harris was basically wide open and asking for the ball 6 feet away from Embiid and Trey Burke and Josh Richardson were in the back court awaiting a lob pass over Embiid’s defenders. But the simple fact is that the Sixers would have never even been in position to potentially steal a win if not for Embiid. He was highly efficient scoring the ball, missing just one of his 12 free throws and converting on 11 of his 16 shots from the floor, including 2 of 4 from deep with this absolute beauty:

He did Jimmy Butler’s move... ON JIMMY BUTLER.

On top of his offensive contributions, Embiid was an intimidating factor in the paint defensively and kept Bam Adebayo in check, holding him to 11 points on 5 of 14 shooting.

Josh Richardson: 17 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block, 3 turnovers

In the game’s final second, Josh Richardson missed the first three throw of a pair that if successful, would have tied the game and in all likelihood sent it to OT. Fortunately, he bailed himself out (and the Sixers for the time being) by chucking up the most ideal intentional miss I’ve ever seen:

Richardson made a trio of triples and got to the line for 7 attempts (though he sank only 4). Late in the game, he took over initiating duties and began running pick-and-roll with Joel Embiid. On at least two occasions, Richardson methodically sucked a rim protector away from the basket to open up lob opportunities for Ben Simmons to slam home uncontested dunks.

Ben Simmons: 15 points, 11 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 block, 3 steals, 1 turnover

Ben is a candidate for the Bell Ringer against the Heat due primarily to his defense. At this point, it’s night in and night out. Against the Heat, he was again the disruptive, engaged, going-for-all-defensive-team Simmons on his way to 4 stocks. He also had the above putback on Richardson’s missed free throw to tie the game and send it to OT — a play that plenty of other players would not have executed.

Trey Burke: 11 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists

With the game on the line, Brett Brown turned to... Trey Burke! In the 4th quarter, after Al Horford appeared to be struggling throughout the game, Brown elected to go with Burke in the crunch time lineup and moved Horford to the bench. Burke responded in a big way, running some pick-and-roll, attacking closeouts, and serving as a quick trigger for the offense. He scored 9 of his 11 points in the 4th quarter. Burke was even active on the defensive end and I distinctly remember Burke shutting down Tyler Herro on one possession around the time Herro was starting to heat up. It was an interesting development to say the least and I’m interested to see if Brown goes back to Burke in the future.