Sixers Bell Ringer: Sixers fall to Suns for second straight loss

Note: No traditional game recap post for today’s game; let the comments flow.

Sixers Bell Ringer Season Standings:

Joel Embiid - 11
Tobias Harris - 5
Ben Simmons - 4
Shake Milton - 3
Tyrese Maxey - 1
Dakota Mathias - 1
Matisse Thybulle - 1

What was a neck-and-neck game for most of the way was broken open by a 10-0 Phoenix run late in the third quarter. The scorching-hot play of Devin Booker (36 points) and surgical playmaking from Chris Paul (18 points, 10 assists) comfortably carried the Suns across the finish line, as the Sixers fell, 120-111. Philadelphia clearly missed the shot-creation ability of Shake Milton in the second unit; the heavy-bench lineups were rough this afternoon, especially offensively. The Sixers will look to bounce back Monday night in Utah, but first, a Bell Ringer.

Joel Embiid: 35 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers

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At this point, any time Joel Embiid has five seconds to stare down the rim and jab step once or twice from the mid-range, it feels like an automatic two points. Embiid poured in jumper after jumper, even hitting a stepback 3 on the wing late in the game that was Curry-esque; he finished 12-of-23 from the field, including 2-of-2 from behind the arc. Across a two-minute stretch early in the fourth quarter, Joel shifted into takeover mode, scoring eight straight Sixers points as he tried to drag the team back into the game. That sequence included a vicious spin move and dunk right in the face of everyone’s favorite Croat, Dario Saric. Joel finished with 16 points in the fourth quarter alone, but unfortunately, the Sixers were never able to string stops together towards the end of the game to seriously threaten Phoenix. You can include Joel among the group of many Sixers not at their best defensively in the second half.

Ben Simmons: 18 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, 2 turnovers

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Simmons continued his recent habit of coming out of the gates aggressive offensively. The Sixers point guard has clearly made more of a concerted effort to attack downhill in transition and look for his spot to post up against a mismatch. His 6-of-9 line from the foul lien was also encouraging; the nine attempts were his third-most in a game this season. Ben’s aggressiveness did vanish a bit in the second half; he only had one recorded field goal attempt after halftime. Defensively, he looked really good against Booker early in the game, until Doc Rivers inexplicably switched Danny Green onto the Phoenix guard in the second quarter, allowing Booker to heat up. Booker was just hitting some ridiculous shots in the second half with Simmons back on him; I wouldn’t fault Ben too much for those plays.

Tobias Harris: 18 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 turnovers

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Harris was incredibly efficient this afternoon, shooting 7-of-9 from the field and 4-of-4 from the foul line. I didn’t like that Tobi’s nine shot attempts were a season-low, though. Mike Scott’s return seemed to significantly cut into the Tobi-plus-bench lineups that had afforded time for Harris to take the offensive reins with Joel and Ben both sitting. Doc may want to reconfigure the rotation some to give Tobi a little more time with that group and Scott a few minutes as a pure floor spacer with the starters.