Nurse calls Sixers’ 1st-half showing ‘inexcusable’ against Pistons

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Nurse calls Sixers’ 1st-half showing ‘inexcusable’ against Pistons originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

DETROIT — When the Sixers conceded 77 first-half points to the Nuggets on Jan. 21, it seemed unlikely they’d play a worst defensive half this season.

They topped themselves in embarrassing style Friday night.

Playing without All-Star guard Cade Cunningham (right ankle sprain), the Pistons built a 29-point lead. Joel Embiid shot 1 for 9 from the floor in the first half. Detroit dominated the 20-31 Sixers on the boards, in transition and in every category related to effort and fundamentals.

“Him and just about everybody else had a tough first half,” Sixers head coach Nick Nurse said of Embiid. “What did we give up there, 78 in the first half? That’s inexcusable.”

The Sixers’ deficit swelled to 34 points before they pushed back in the second half. Still, a Pistons win never appeared in serious jeopardy.

“We didn’t come out ready to play,” Nurse said. “We played really hard in the second half, but you’ve got to play hard every half. Winning games in this league is really hard and we didn’t act like we wanted to do the work at the start for some reason. Three steps slow on everything. Miscommunicating. Just stuck in mud.

“In the second half, we played (normally). That’s how you’re supposed to play, right? That first half was not normal.”

Malik Beasley scored a career-high 36 points Friday, including an ice-breaking three-pointer.

Tyrese Maxey took the blame for letting Beasley work around a Jalen Duren down screen off of a Tobias Harris post-up. From there, any sort of good plays were sparse for the Sixers in the first half.

“First of all, attention to detail on the defensive end,” Maxey said. “The first play, I get a bucket. Then I come down and Malik Beasley hits a wide-open three. I raise my hand; that’s on me. And then it just trickles down. It’s a domino effect. Justin (Edwards) gave up a Malik Beasley three. We gave up certain threes. Now you look up and you’re down eight in the first two minutes.

“It just kept going. … We didn’t put out any fires….

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nurse-calls-sixers-1st-half-081928573.html

Author : NBC Sports Philadelphia

Publish date : 2025-02-08 08:19:00

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