Defense emerges as Sixers’ early calling card

First, a disclaimer: It’s early. Ty Jerome, briefly a Sixer on draft night seven years ago, is among the NBA’s leading scorers. Quentin Grimes and Matisse Thybulle are playing regular minutes for the Lakers. Another old friend, De’Anthony Melton, is shooting better from the arc than his Golden State teammate, Stephen Curry.

The point is, nobody knows nothin’. Not yet.

Advertisement

That said, it looks like the Sixers can really defend. Time and again they have shown a willingness to dig in on that end of the floor, often at the most critical moments. The want-to is there. The effort is there. The connection is there.

Through seven games, six of them victories, they are third in the league in defensive rating (105.4) and fifth in halfcourt rating (105.0).

As LeBron James said after Friday’s victory over the Knicks, “We definitely hang our hats on the defensive end so far this season.”

The caveats are many. Joel Embiid’s health. LeBron’s age. The lack of an adequate backup center (again). The many newcomers, besides James. And, as mentioned, the fact that we’re not quite two weeks into the season; seven games in October don’t carry nearly the same weight as seven games in May or June.

Advertisement

But it’s clear the foundation is in place. The Sixers have four standout defenders in VJ Edgecombe and newcomers Jaylen Brown, Dean Wade and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. Embiid, before his current foot problems, seemed to be approaching the rim-protector form he showed a few years back, and James, two months shy of his 42nd birthday, appears to have recommitted himself on the defensive end, after showing some slippage in recent seasons.

Even guys who are not known for their defense, like Tyrese Maxey and Anfernee Simons, are putting their best feet forward – Maxey because he’s Maxey, Simons because he knows he will be out there in big moments, given what an offensive weapon he has shown himself to be.

“We are just willing to guard, and that’s important,” Edgecombe said. “We’re connected. In training camp, we obviously worked on our standard, our principles. And I say we just kind of execute from there.”

The payoff is…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/defense-emerges-sixers-early-calling-150556618.html

Author :

Publish date : 2026-11-02 15:05:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.