Five Figures: Sixers limited to lowest assist total of season

18.2% 3PT

While Joel Embiid has been out, the Sixers have redistributed his shots to perimeter attempts, taking over 30 triples against both the Dallas Mavericks and the Indiana Pacers. Unfortunately, in the two games combined, the Sixers have shot 15 of 70 from behind the arc (21.4%). The Sixers were particularly poor against the the Pacers, hitting 18.2% of their 33 three-point attempts — that’s their worst single-game percentage all season. Just like against Dallas, the starting lineup shot horrendously on volume with the exception of Ben Simmons, who didn’t have an attempt.

Part of the problem is that they don’t have the personnel to take a ton of threes efficiently, but part of the problem is that they don’t have the personnel to not take a ton of threes. With limited spacing and few off the dribble options, the Sixers offense seems to turn to three-pointers at times simply because the nature of the shot allows a comfortable amount of space to shoot.

17 assists

The Sixers’ 17 team assists against the Pacers was their lowest assist total of the season. In fact, it was their lowest assist total since last season, when the Sixers had 17 assists against... you guessed it, the Pacers on December 14th, 2018. That gives them two categories against the Pacers in which they performed their worst this season.

29.1% FT Rate

I love Cleaning The Glass’ Free Throw Rate stat. It measures the number of made free throws per 100 field goal attempts, which gives you an idea of the efficiency of a team’s foul shooting as well as their ability to draw fouls in the first place. Against the Sixers, the homecourt Pacers had a FT Rate of 29.1%. The Sixers on the other hand made just 15 free throws for their 89 field goals, giving them a relatively low FT Rate of just 16.9%. In other words, extrapolated over 100 field goal attempts, the Pacers got 29 cents on the dollar while the Sixers got 17.

44.2% eFG

Believe it or not, the Pacers actually shot the ball slightly less efficiently than the Sixers, with an eFG mark of 44.2% to the Sixers’ 44.9%. The Sixers, for large parts of the game, made life very difficult for the Pacers. Ben Simmons in particular was a problem for Indiana. This all maybe makes the loss even more frustrating. It was very winnable game and if the Sixers were even average offensively, they’re heading home to Philadelphia as the 5th seed in the East rather than the 6th.

0 minutes

James Ennis III received a DNP for the first time this season, playing 0 minutes in Monday night’s game while not appearing on the injury report beforehand. Adam Aaronson made an additional point which was pretty interesting.

Hmmmm....