Sixers’ string of blowouts providing opportunity for deep bench players: ‘There’s no messing around’

While watching an unnamed opponent empty its bench against his 76ers earlier this season, Mo Bamba described a group of players that was “kind of just out there doing whatever.”

“I remember Pat [Beverley] said, ‘That’s indicative of just culture,’” Bamba recalled to The Inquirer on Saturday in the visitors’ locker room in Charlotte, N.C.

The Sixers’ deep reserves, meanwhile, are demonstrating the opposite approach. A week of blowouts against overmatched opponents means those end-of-the-bench players have gotten notable fourth-quarter minutes together and, despite the lopsided scores and all-but-determined outcomes, coach Nick Nurse has been pleased with how they have diligently handled the opportunity.

They view it as an extension of their intentional “stay-ready” work away from games, and as a motivator for the starters who want the extra rest and for their teammates to be rewarded with game action.

“They deserve to play, but sometimes that’s the way life is,” said reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Joel Embiid, whose barrage of 30-point performances has helped unlock those appearances. “So you just want to do as good of a job as possible to give them a chance.

“You can also see, when they come in the game, there’s no messing around. They’re still playing defense hard and, offensively, attacking the basket. They’re still trying to make the right play.”

Saturday against the Hornets, all five Sixers starters sat for the entire fourth quarter for the second straight game. In their place, Danuel House Jr. racked up 10 points — including two three-pointers and thunderous one-handed dunk — and two assists in seven minutes. Bamba made all three of his shots, including a three and a dunk. KJ Martin totaled two assists and two steals. And Jaden Springer played all 12 minutes, going 2-for-5 from the floor including a midrange jumper that rattled in in the final seconds.

Together, they finished off the Hornets’ worst loss in franchise history (53 points), instead of letting their opponent make any dent in the scoreboard.

“A lot of times, it just turns into somebody just crosses halfcourt and shoots,” Nurse said of a blowout’s final minutes. “But they’ve been really connected and together. I think that’s my thing: All of them may have made cases for they can play.”

» READ MORE: Sixers trade primer: Assets to deal, potential targets, and teams to watch

It’s fitting that this stretch for these particular Sixers has come directly after “garbage time” was a discussion topic with Nurse, initially in regard to the point-differential tiebreaker during group play of the In-Season Tournament. Though never wanting to intentionally embarrass an opponent, Nurse insisted that “we should play [games] out. I think each possession has value for players, no matter who’s out there.”

The Sixers boast one of the NBA’s deepest rosters. Four of the five members of that third unit — House, Bamba, Martin, and Furkan Korkmaz — have previously been rotation players with the Sixers and/or at other stops during their NBA careers, including notable periods as starters.

So while it can be mentally challenging to not be in that position on this Sixers team with NBA title aspirations, those players aim to focus on the everyday work. For Bamba, that means “simple things” such as “mastering” defensive concepts and rebounding. For Martin, it’s sharpening ballhandling and shooting. For Springer, it’s making reads off drives and confidently shooting three-pointers.

Then, they all come together for post-practice scrimmages that some call “stay-ready” games, but that Nurse has also referred to as “rise-up” games (consider the slight semantics tweak compared to former coach Doc Rivers, who labeled them “low-minute” games).

That full-court work is about more than maintaining conditioning. They drill offensive sets and defensive schemes, with a goal of feeling “as game-like as possible,” Martin said, “… so when we get our opportunity, like we have the past couple games, it’s like second nature to us.” Springer added that those games have been pumped with high intensity since players and the new coaching staff first gathered for summer workouts.

These days, Embiid, Nurse, and standout guard Tyrese Maxey often watch the scrimmages from chairs along the sideline at the practice facility, where the coach keeps an eye on intangibles such as mentality, effort, and rhythm individually and with teammates.

“Obviously, the third unit doesn’t have Joel Embiid,” Bamba said. “But we definitely still practice the same plays. We still preach the same spacing and concepts and everything. It’s a matter of — I guess, if you want to say ‘show’ anything — showing the coaches that you know the plays, you know the coverages and you’re really dialed in.”

An example of putting that philosophy into practice unfolded about a week ago when, after a poor second quarter against the Atlanta Hawks, Nurse did not hesitate to replace backup center Paul Reed with Bamba at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Yet a group-wide confidence may have been instilled about a week earlier, Nurse surmised, when he had to dip far into the roster for a game at the Boston Celtics because Embiid, Maxey, starting forward Nicolas Batum, and reserve wing Kelly Oubre Jr. were all out due to illness or injury. The shorthanded Sixers led the Eastern Conference’s top team late in the fourth quarter, before falling, 125-119.

» READ MORE: Joel Embiid scores 42 points in three quarters as Sixers blast Charlotte Hornets for sixth straight win

It’s also telling that Embiid said Saturday that “it’s my job” to get those teammates minutes. That means the starters have played with the urgency and effectiveness to build and maintain big leads on inferior opponents, a teamwide characteristic Embiid acknowledged Saturday is “different from the last couple years.”

“We’re not playing down to those records,” Embiid said. “... This year, it just seems like we’re just all coming in and wanting to take care of business.”

More chances for those Sixers could be on tap this week, with the 10-17 Chicago Bulls visiting the Wells Fargo Center on Monday before a Friday home matchup against the 10-15 Toronto Raptors. Given the way rosters fluctuate due to injuries and other absences throughout an 82-game regular season, Nurse has assured, “we’re going to need” every player at some point.

And the way those deep bench players have handled these recent fourth-quarter stretches, even when the score is lopsided and the outcome all but decided, has inspired confidence in their coach and their teammates.

“We have some guys on this team that can really hoop,” Maxey said. “That’s what you can see. When they go out there and play, they’re still dominating. What they do for our team is really special. They’re always cheering. They’re always up. They’re always staying ready.

“They compete every single day, and we’ve got to appreciate them for that.”