The Sixers struggle with turnovers, a weakness that has directly affected their win column
This season the Sixers are 14-6 when committing 14 or fewer turnovers in a game. They are 8-8 when that number hits 15 or more.
The 76ers’ roller-coaster season took a positive turn Monday when they announced that Joel Embiid would play despite lower-back soreness. That news signified that the Sixers would have their full roster for just the second time since Oct. 29.
The night continued on its positive track a few hours later when the Sixers, who were clobbered by the New Orleans Pelicans three days earlier, avenged that loss with an impressive 120-111 victory at the Wells Fargo Center. This time around, the Sixers committed 10 turnovers, including only one second-half turnover that came on a shot-clock violation late in the game.
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“That allowed us to set our defense,” coach Doc Rivers said of limiting turnovers. “In the fourth [quarter], I thought they started getting transition on us again. But overall, just taking them out of transition because of not turning the ball over. Running a pretty efficient offense really helped our defense. It allowed us to set our D.”
That truth has also had a direct correlation to the Sixers’ success in the win column. This season they are 14-6 when committing 14 or fewer turnovers, 8-8 when they have at least 15 turnovers, and 2-4 in games that include 18 or more.
As their record and turnovers indicate, the Sixers are a middle-of-the-road team. The Sixers sit at 11th in turnovers with 14.3 per game, while the Dallas Mavericks average the fewest turnovers at 12.3. The league average is 14.7.
It should be no surprise then that the Sixers (22-14) accomplished things Monday that they couldn’t in Friday’s 127-116 loss, which was marred by 19 turnovers that were converted into 30 points for the Pelicans.
Rivers believes those turnovers resulted in poor matchups and enabled C.J. McCollum to hit a franchise-high 11 three-pointers while scoring 42 points. The Pelicans guard was limited to 26 points while making 5 of 8 threes on Monday, and New Orleans scored only 10 points off Sixers turnovers this time.
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One major issue for the Sixers is who is committing the lion’s share of their turnovers. Embiid and James Harden, their cornerstone players, are the main culprits.
Embiid leads the league in turnovers at 3.9 per game. Harden’s 3.7 would rank fifth, but he has played in only 58.3% of the Sixers’ games. A player must compete in at least 70% of the games for individual statistics to count.
Harden (seven) and Embiid (five) combined for 12 turnovers in Friday’s loss. Embiid had four on Monday, while Harden committed one.
“That was on me,” Harden said of Friday’s game. “I had way too many careless turnovers. ... I took that on me. That fueled [them]. They’re a really good team.”
The Sixers will face another good team on Wednesday. The Indiana Pacers head into the Wells Fargo Center as winners of four of their last six games. The sixth-place Pacers (21-17) are two games behind the fifth-place Sixers in the Eastern Conference standings.
Like the Pelicans and Sixers, Indiana has a knack for forcing turnovers. The Pacers rank eighth in the league in steals (7.8 per game), while New Orleans (8.7) and the Sixers (8.4) are second and third, respectively.
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The Pacers also have a strong ball handler at point guard. So while Harden averages 11.0 assists, Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton is recognized as the league leader at 10.1.
Harden outplayed the third-year player when the Sixers prevailed, 120-106, on Oct. 26. The perennial All-NBA selection finished with game highs of 29 points and 11 assists. Haliburton had 19 points and 10 assists for a squad that played without standout center Myles Turner.
Turner, who had missed six games with a hamstring injury, is averaging 16.8 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 2.1 blocks (ranking third in the NBA).
This game will be the second of four meetings between the teams.