Somebody had to. Danny Green was the SG version of Al Hoford tonight. I can't remember him playing any second half minutes. Speaking of no minutes, no Matisse Thybulle until about 10 seconds as a defensive switch late in the fourth.
Tobias Harris was not so good at basketball tonight. Seemed a step slow on both ends of the court and missed shot after shot during what seemed like nearly a quarter without the Sixers scoring (they actually did go the first 6 minutes of the third without a point). Seth Curry had an off-night from deep (1-for-5) and disappeared quite a bit in the first half. He's not a high-motion J.J. Redick type regarding his ability to get open, so he's got to pick his spots and didn't get loose for very many tonight.
Shake Milton was very good at basketball- got closer minutes tonight and was the primary non-Embiid spark when he was on the floor. As for Embiid, wow...it was nice to see the Sixers running plays to isolate him and draw off double/triple teams in the second half. It was almost like they had a coach that could adjust to what was happening. Thrilling! I also hearted Dwight Howard's high-energy calming influence tonight. Didn't try to do too much and racked up 10 boards in 13 minutes.
Tyrese Maxey was also very good in limited (11) minutes. His three-point shot is a work in progress, but he made a couple moves in the lane that were...dare I say it...Kemba-esque.
The bad news was that the team still showed stretches where they couldn't put the ball through the hoop. The good news is that they went through those stretches and, unlike last season, still won the game.