The 76ers showed their ability with an almost full lineup Thursday night during a 125-108 win over the visiting Miami Heat. Tobias Harris, Shake Milton and Matisse Thybulle returned after missing three games because of health and safety protocol and combined for 57 points.
The Sixers now head for a back-to-back road trip, visiting Memphis on Saturday and Oklahoma City on Sunday. This year’s condensed schedule is where depth is truly needed.
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— Marc Narducci Name (offthedribble@inquirer.com)
Depth no problem for Doc Rivers
Because of players out either with injury or health and safety protocols, Sixers coach Doc Rivers has had to go much deeper on his bench. He has found that Tyrese Maxey, who was already seeing increased playing time, has shown he’s worthy of even more.
Second-round pick Isaiah Joe also has taken advantage of extended playing time. Thursday, Seth Curry (health and safety protocols) and Furkan Korkmaz (groin injury) were the only two rotation players out of the lineup.
With an almost full lineup, Joe still played 19 minutes and 22 seconds and scored 12 points, hitting 4 of 8 from three-point range.
When the team is at full strength, Rivers will have a pleasant problem: finding minutes for many qualified candidates.
“It’s a major, major good problem whatever sense that makes because with COVID and just early-season injuries, you’re going to need to be deep — you really are,” Rivers said after Thursday’s win. “The fact that we are, Isaiah adds another guy to that rotation and that is really important to us.”
The 6-foot-5 Joe, was the 49th overall selection, from Arkansas. In his last three games, he has shot 12-for-25 from three-point range.
“You know he has an NBA shot. You can see that, and he has deep range. You can see that,” Rivers said. “What we don’t know if he can defend in the NBA level, and he has shown he can.”
In the five games that Curry has missed since testing positive for COVID-19, Maxey has averaged 20.2 points. He was averaging 5.8 in his first eight games.
Even when Curry returns and assuming Maxie goes back to being a reserve, the Sixers’ second unit will be potent, and Rivers isn’t worried about how to appropriate minutes.
“There’s never any complications when guys are playing well,” Rivers said. “There’s room.”
Starting five
Now that the Sixers haven’t traded Ben Simmons for James Harden, David Murphy asks what the future holds for Simmons and the Sixers and whether Maxey can be the complementary scorer the Sixers need.
As the Harden trade to the Nets went down, Keith Pompey reports that the Sixers thought they had a deal done for the high-scoring guard.
Rivers feels his relationship with Simmons remains strong after the Harden trade.
Murphy writes that time will tell if the Sixers missed out on the Harden sweepstakes.
Shake Milton scored 31 points and Simmons added a triple-double in Thursday’s 125-108 win over the Miami Heat.
Luka heating up
Dallas Mavericks point guard Luka Doncic entered this year one of the MVP favorites. The 6-foot-7 Doncic admittedly didn’t begin the NBA season in the best of shape and wasn’t his same dominating self.
Then in the last four games, he has averaged a triple-double — 31.3 points, 12 rebounds and 10.8 assists — and shot 37.1% from three-point range. Not surprisingly, Dallas has won all four games.
In the first of those four games, he had his first triple-double of the season — 33 points, 16 rebounds and 11 assists in a 113-100 win over the Houston Rockets. During his most recent game, Wednesday’s 104-93 victory over Charlotte, Doncic had 34 points, 13 rebounds, nine assists and a career-high four blocked shots.
Doncic, who will turn 22 on Feb. 28, is certainly in the MVP conversation, especially after those four games. (Joel Embiid should also be in that conversation.)
Dallas will visit the Sixers on Feb. 25. The last time Dallas was in Philadelphia was Dec. 20, 2019. The Mavericks won, 117-98, and Doncic missed the game because of a sprained right ankle.
Important dates
Saturday: Sixers at Memphis Grizzlies, 8 p.m., FedEx Forum, NBC Sports Philadelphia
Sunday: Sixers at Oklahoma City Thunder, 7 p.m., Chesapeake Energy Arena, NBC Sports Philadelphia/ NBA TV
Wednesday: Boston Celtics at Sixers, 7 p.m., Wells Fargo Center, NBC Sports Philadelphia
Jan. 22: Boston Celtics at Sixers, 7:30 p.m., Wells Fargo Center, ESPN/NBC Sports Philadelphia
Jan. 23: Sixers at Detroit Pistons, 7 p.m., Little Caesars Arena, NBC Sports Philadelphia Plus
Passing the rock
Question: Will the Sixers go after Beal? After all Beal should be considered. Washington is off to rough start and should consider trading Beal. What are your thoughts? — John W. Williams, via email
Answer: Thanks for the question, John. Bradley Beal is probably a name we will be hearing about from fans of just about any contender. If the Sixers really wanted Harden because of his ability to dominate on offense, why wouldn’t they like Beal, who is much more of a team player? If the Sixers did attempt to acquire him, the same thing that happened with Harden would occur again: Simmons would be the main name in the trade.
Their salaries line up for a trade and they could be dealt straight-up for each other, per the ESPN trade machine. Simmons is in the first year of a five-year, $170 million deal. Beal is making $28.7 million this year and $34.5 million next season, according to Hoopshype.com salaries. He also has a player option of $37.26 million for the 2022-23 season.
Beal is 27, four years younger than Harden, and Simmons is 24, so the ages are closer. Beal lit up the Sixers for 60 points earlier this month, but the Sixers won, 141-136. I have not heard of any interest from the Sixers, but at the least, they should find out what it would take to acquire him.
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