That smothering ‘D’ in the first quarter showed the Sixers at their best
Charlotte scored just 13 points in the opening 12 minutes. “That stretch in the first quarter was as good as we can play defense,” 76ers coach Doc Rivers said.
It was 12 minutes of sheer dominance and showed the 76ers at their two-way best. The Sixers owned a 30-13 first quarter advantage en route to a 118-111 win on Wednesday over the host Charlotte Hornets.
Throughout the first half, the Sixers maintained a high level of play and led, 64-42, at intermission. But even in the second quarter, they couldn’t match their dominance in the first 12 minutes, especially on the defensive end.
The 13 points were the fewest that they have allowed in a quarter all season.
And while the Hornets would outscore the Sixers 69-54 in the second half, there was never a feeling that Charlotte would win this game.
“I think how active we were, how many deflections we got, [the first quarter] was definitely a glimpse of how good we can potentially be,” said Danny Green, who scored 16 points in the game. “I think the tough part is doing it for 48 minutes. But I still think we can be better with containing 1-on-1, keeping guys in front of us and then rotating fast and communicating better. But yeah, we came out to a good start so we got a lot of activity, we got a lot deflections in that first quarter.”
They also got a lot of stops.
Charlotte shot just 5 for 22, including 1 for 11 from three-point range. The Sixers blocked four shots.
“That stretch in the first quarter was as good as we can play defense,” Sixers coach Doc Rivers said. “It’s not like they were missing shots, there weren’t a lot of shots to be had...”
The Hornets (10-12) entered the game with consecutive wins over Indiana, Milwaukee and Miami. The first quarter wiped out any of that recent momentum.
“Obviously the first quarter cost us, I thought we were OK the rest of the way,” Hornets coach James Borrego said. “We dug ourselves in too big of a hole in the first quarter and had to play perfect to catch up.”
The Sixers were coming off Sunday’s 119-110 win at Indiana, in a game they overcame a 20-point deficit late in the third quarter. They were also able to win that game without Joel Embiid, who was sidelined with back tightness.
The Sixers were feeling pretty good about themselves and carried that late-game momentum from Indiana into the first quarter at Charlotte.
Having Embiid back didn’t hurt. He had 13 points, six rebounds, a blocked shot and a steal in the first quarter, including a length of the court driving dunk. Embiid finished with 34 points and 11 rebounds.
This was the opposite of how the Sixers started in Indiana, where after the first quarter, the Pacers led by 10.
“We had a tough one in Indiana, we were down and showed a lot of resilience to get back and win that game and then today to come out in the beginning of the game and really put our stamp on the game and how dominant we can be as a team, so it was big,” said Tobias Harris, who scored 26 points.
Of course the Sixers will use their less-than-stellar second half as motivation to keep improving.
“We just got to keep it going and stay focused, but at the same time we have to want more from what we are showing and want more from each other on the floor to be that great team to that level we want to get to,” Harris said.
The Sixers (16-6) are back at it Thursday at the Wells Fargo Center against the Portland Trail Blazers (11-9).
Coming off the second game of a back to back, the Sixers would like to start quickly but will be hard-pressed to match their first-quarter performance against Charlotte.