Some positives from this game: Kawhi and T-Mann looked great. Morris was quite solid after missing a game. Zu was also solid though he fumbled some good passes which could’ve made him a player of the game. Reggie also had a very solid game. He gave us a Big Government style lift in Q2 as he was the only one willing to go into the paint with intent, challenge the bigs and make stuff happen. He did similar things in his 2nd half stint as well, generating assists and shot opportunities, His problem was that Norm Powell was on the court with him.

The Negatives: Norman Powell. The game was decided in Q4 when Maxey repeatedly cooked him with step back 3s. He generated little to nothing offensively in the key stretch, with half of his 17 points coming in garbage time. The one possession where Maxey didn’t score in that early Q4 stretch was when Reggie guarded him (hint, hint). Roco had a pretty bad stretch in Q1 but that was no reason for Lue not to go back to him in the non-Kawhi minutes.

PG was ok in stretches, but his turnovers put the Clips in a hole and he wasn’t able to carry the team during the Maxey run (ok, I blame Powell for that too). I honestly think he should’ve sat out the rest of the month to get fully well and to give Ty Lue more time to get his head together on the roles of Roco, Reggie, Coffey and Powell.

Beyond that, however, there is a general problem with how this team approaches the game both offensively and defensively.

Offensively, we rely way too much on ineffective drive and kick offense. We suck at it. It was especially pronounced tonight in the 1st half and in the desperation portion of Q4 because players were afraid to go at Embiid, which allowed Philly to stretch its defense more to the hot spots around the 3pt line. The reason why our Q3s are so good is the team gets focused on what it does best: dribble penetration in the paint with intent to score at the rim or midrange areas. 3s were an afterthought, a byproduct of having established dribble penetration. In our 37 point Q3, only 12 points were scored off 3s. We actually gave up 12 pts in 3s to the Sixers so we just treaded water.

Defensively, we don’t get back on D early enough in the game and force the opposing offense away from their sweet spots. This team really misses Patrick Beverley in that respect. Bev would always be waiting at the half court line (or inside it) to force the offense to burn clock and not get to their spots so easily. The other problem is we get exploited on weak matchups. Morris gets the most heat, but what I’ve noticed is he competes. He might get toasted on a play, but he’ll be there for the next one. Norm Powell and John Wall are just major liabilities. Norm fouls a lot, can’t go over a screen and is just not in sync with what needs to be done defensively.

This is on Lue as well. Put Amir Coffey in that game against Maxey and I don’t think Maxey cooks over his 6’8″ frame. An effective coach has to play the match up. If you see the Sixers exploiting Powell and he isn’t generating points at the other end, there’s nothing wrong with substituting a player in for defensive purposes.

I think Lue and the F.O. seem to be off of their John Wall fixation. But they also have to recognize that Norm Powell is a net liability in many matchups and betting on his occasionally explosive, but often streaky, offense isn’t a good bet over a better defensive choice (Coffey, Roco). We’ll see if he figures this out.

Team is:

Kawhi, Vooch, Collins up front with PG and Terence in the back court. Reggie is the 6th man with Mook in a Mo Speights role, along with Nico, RoCo, Coffey and whatever buyout prospects arise.

This can’t be this difficult.