Turns out the Sixers’ zone defense can be a game-changer when they need it

The 76ers were already making a run, having scored six consecutive points but still trailing by 10 with 6 minutes and 38 seconds remaining against the Indiana Pacers, when coach Doc Rivers pulled out a secret weapon: a swarming 2-3 zone defense.

The Pacers struggled mightily while the Sixers feasted on a variety of turnovers. The zone turned the game around, and the Sixers’ 119-110 win Sunday night was arguably their most impressive of the season.

Sure, the Sixers had just beaten the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday, but they faced many more obstacles against the Pacers. Joel Embiid missed the game because of back tightness, and the Sixers trailed by as many as 20 points late in the third quarter.

The zone energized the Sixers and deflated the Pacers.

“We weren’t able to get good shots [against the zone],” said Malcolm Brogdon, who led the Pacers with 25 points but scored only one in the fourth quarter. “The zone, I think, made us hesitant, and we missed shots.”

Desperate times call for desperate measures. The Sixers (15-6) have had very little time to practice because of the number of games. In January alone, the Sixers played 16 games.

What was impressive is that the Sixers, with the limited practice time, had not worked much on the zone.

“At the end of shootarounds, we will go [zone defense] for literally five minutes,” Rivers said.

Still, the Sixers have the personnel to be an effective zone team, starting with Matisse Thybulle, who played it predominantly at the University of Washington. He was the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year as a senior in 2019.

The 6-foot-5 Thybulle has a 7-foot wingspan, which allows him to get to a lot of balls. He also has great anticipation playing the passing lanes. In the fourth quarter alone, he had four steals.

Rivers used Thybulle and Ben Simmons at the top of the zone and, like Thybulle, the 6-10 Simmons is a master at playing the passing lanes. Simmons was a first-team all-NBA defensive choice last season.

“It probably [stunk] for the Pacers, but it was fun,” Thybulle said about playing the zone. “Whenever Ben and I can get out there and start playing defense together and start making things happen, we love it.”

Rivers said 6-10 center Dwight Howard also was a major factor in the zone.

“With those two guys [Thybulle and Simmons] and with Dwight’s size in the middle of the paint, plugging things up, it gives you a chance to be pretty effective,” Rivers said. “You can basically cut off the top of the floor, and I thought those two guys did that.”

The NBA is all about adjustments. Last season, the Sixers suffered their only two Wells Fargo Center losses when they were stymied by zone defenses in consecutive games against Miami and Dallas.

The NBA is still predominantly a man-to-man league, and the Sixers will be expected to play mainly man. But they showed against Indiana that a team can be thrown off its game when seeing a zone.

“It was disruptive. We didn’t make a shot out of it,” Pacers coach Nate Bjorkgren said. “I don’t think we attacked it well, either.”

Simmons feels the Sixers have the personnel to play zone when needed.

“We have players whose IQs are very high,” said Simmons. who scored a season-high 21 points. “I have run zone my whole life, same as Matisse. We have guys with good instincts. We have a lot of size on the floor.”

So even though the Sixers have hardly played the zone this season, there was a lot of chemistry.

“Once we got into it, we got comfortable, got a few stops, and still we were able to push the break and get the lead back,” Simmons said.

Don’t expect to Sixers to transform into a zone team, but with such overwhelming results at Indianapolis, they might go to it more.

The Sixers don’t resume play until Wednesday in Charlotte, which means they should have a practice on Tuesday. Maybe they will have more than five minutes to go over zone concepts.