The Sixers five game win streak was snapped tonight, by the Brooklyn Nets, 122-109.
This was a terrible game on both ends, and the team looked flat from the jump, while Brooklyn jumped out to an early 10 point lead.
Here are my five takeaways:
1. Deep into the bench
It could’ve been the fact that starters played anywhere from 35-40 minutes last night, but Doc Rivers went deep into his bench tonight, giving Dakota Mathias and Isaiah Joe legitimate minutes.
Mathias had 3 points in 13 minutes and Joe didn’t score in 8 minutes, but Rivers going to them early in the game showed that he knew his guys were tired.
The Sixers have three more back to backs this season and I’m curious to see if this substitution pattern was an experiment or the norm.
2. Tyrese Maxey
Two games ago, vs the Charlotte Hornets, the rookie guard set a career high of 11 points. Tonight, he topped that performance with 16 points on 7-12 shooting, in 21 minutes.
With no Seth Curry and Shake Milton being inserted into the starting lineup, the Sixers needed him to provide a spark off the bench and he did just that.
The sky is the limit for the 20 year old point guard.
3. Shake Milton
Thrusted into the starting lineup, Shake Milton put on quite a performance, despite the loss.
Milton paced the Sixers with 24 points on 8-13 shooting.
It appears that Shake is out of his funk, and that will be needed moving forward.
4. Back to backs
The Sixers are 0-2 on the second night of back to backs.
Despite the loss being by only 13 points, this game wasn’t that close for the majority of the game.
Similar to the Cavaliers loss, this team looked sluggish, disinterested, and got outplayed in every facet of the game.
It is only the ninth game of the season, but coach Rivers is going to need to figure out a way to get his team up for these back to backs.
5. Play of the game
There weren’t many noteworthy plays tonight, but the bench duo of Tyrese Maxey and Dwight Howard provided a nice alley oop during a third quarter run
The Sixers next game will be Saturday, when they take on Nikola Jokic, and the Denver Nuggets. #HereTheyCome
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