Sixers Bell Ringer: Game 53

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

Bell Ringer Season Standings:

Joel Embiid - 18
Ben Simmons - 16
Jimmy Butler - 7
JJ Redick - 5
Robert Covington - 1
Dario Saric - 1
T.J. McConnell - 1
Furkan Korkmaz - 1
Landry Shamet - 1
Corey Brewer - 1

With starters JJ Redick and Wilson Chandler unavailable, the Sixers’ star trio stepped up for a whopping 80 points. Unfortunately, the supporting cast was a no-show, Buddy Hield scorched the nets for 34 points, and Philadelphia lost to the Kings, 115-108.

Jimmy Butler: 29 points, 4 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals

It looked like Jimmy was going to pull this game out for the Sixers, as he turned into the Human Torch in the final frame with 18 fourth quarter points. He hit four 3-pointers in the quarter, including not just one, but two 4-point plays. On the one 4-point play, he wisely threw the ball up as soon as he felt the contact and somehow re-calibrated in mid-air to make the shot.

All game long, though, Butler played solid basketball. He attacked the basket and got out in transition, taking good shots and not settling for mid-range jumpers. Butler passed the ball effectively, recording seven assists against just a single turnover. He and Ben Simmons had a nice rapport on consecutive plays where Jimmy fed Ben for dunks. Defensively, Butler made a couple nice reads for steals, although he lost Buddy Hield off the ball on at least a few occasions.

Joel Embiid: 29 points, 17 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 4 blocks

Before Butler’s fourth quarter explosion, Embiid was the main source of reliable offense with the Sixers having a dreadful shooting night. The Kings had no answer for Joel around the basket (I mean, few teams do), and Embiid drew plenty of fouls and threw his weight around for seven offensive rebounds.

Embiid made some nice help-side blocks on the other end, but probably could have done a better job to slow down Willie Cauley-Stein, who finished 8-for-9 from the field. Cauley-Stein even posterized JoJo a bit on one dunk. One of the more delightful sequences of the night was Embiid wowing the crowd with some soccer-style dribbling of the ball on a stoppage of play, before canning two free throws.

Ben Simmons: 22 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal

Simmons looked like he was on his way to a monster game, recording three dunks early in the first quarter. On one of them, he acted as an avenging angel for Sixers fans, throwing down on Nemanja Bjelica, he of the reneged agreement to join the Sixers, just 30 seconds into the game. Ben had a few pretty assists, with a couple nice finds of Corey Brewer cutting on the baseline. Simmons’ best pass of the night didn’t go down as an assist, though, as his Victoria’s Secret model-level dime of a bounce pass was ruined by a missed Furkan Korkmaz layup.

Shake Milton: 6 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists

On a night the Sixers got next-to-nothing from anyone who wasn’t near the top of the All-Star voting, the two-way contract guy played pretty well, earning himself significant fourth quarter minutes. Milton attacked close-outs without hesitation, hitting a runner while shooting across his body, and draining a baseline pull-up jumper. On the other end, he didn’t look lost and even drew a Kings offensive foul on one possession. It’s a problem that the Sixers resorted to giving Shake Milton crunch-time minutes (keep working the phone, Elton), but Shake played fairly well Saturday night.