Overtime thriller against Jazz is a microcosm of these first-half Sixers | David Murphy

They aren’t there yet, but they are closer to it than most folks imagined they would be. That’s the verdict on the Sixers at the midway point of this unorthodox NBA season. Their final game before the All-Star break, a 131-123 overtime thriller against the Jazz on Wednesday night, offered a tidy summation of where things stand:

1) The partnership between Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons is stronger than it has ever been.

Every observation you can possibly make about this team is secondary to the two stars it is built around. Forget about Kyle Lowry, or bench help, or the need for somebody besides Seth Curry to hit some threes. The story of the postseason is going to be Embiid, and it is going to be Simmons. On Wednesday, they combined for 57 points on 22-of-38 shooting, keeping the Sixers in position to make a fourth-quarter rally. The big question for the second half is whether they can get any better.

That’s a big ask. Embiid should enter the All-Star break as the front-runner for league MVP, given how he finished out the first half. From the dribble-out three that he nailed with 5 seconds left to force overtime to the 40 points that he scored, Embiid added another signature performance to his gaudy 2020-21 resume.

Simmons, meanwhile, is one of the leading contenders for defensive player of the year. But barring a big trade deadline move, the Sixers are going to need more, particularly on the offensive end. There’s some reason to believe it will come. He entered Wednesday’s game averaging 20.8 points on .632 shooting in his last 12 games. He seems to be looking to score more -- he’s certainly playing with more aggression, as we saw in the third quarter when he exploded past a defender at halfcourt and went hard to the rim for a dunk.

2) The Sixers still have a guard problem on the defensive end of the court.

Some context is in order. The Sixers entered the night ranked fifth in the league in defensive efficiency, allowing an average of 109.1 points per 100 possessions. Simmons, as noted, has established himself as one of the best all-around defenders in the game. He might even be the best. But the Sixers continue to look vulnerable against teams with multiple dribble-drive playmakers, as we saw against the Jazz.

What you saw Wednesday was what you’ve often gotten out of the Sixers in these sorts of games. Mike Conley and Donovan Mitchell combined for 49 points in regulation, while Jordan Clarkson added 10 off the bench. Doc Rivers said before the game that he thought his team had a chance to finish the regular season as the top-ranked defensive team in the league. But they are going to have to figure out how to slow down teams who make their living breaking down defenders off the dribble.

» READ MORE: As Doc Rivers sees it, Ben Simmons is the frontrunner for NBA Defensive Player of the Year

3) The Sixers have a guard problem on the offensive end of the court.

We haven’t heard much on the Lowry front lately, but the Raptors star remains the epitome of what the Sixers need on both ends of the court. Barring a trade for a star of that caliber, Daryl Morey could still help to fortify his team by poaching a playmaker for his bench. Against the Jazz, Shake Milton followed up his dynamite outing against the Pacers with another solid game, but he simply does not have the elite quickness or handle that would complement Simmons and light a spark when he is out of the game.

4) The head coach is one of the biggest reasons to believe the problems will resolve themselves.

The Sixers are still a work in progress, but everything we’ve seen thus far suggests that the emphasis will be on progress. Rivers has figured out a way to get more out of Embiid, Simmons, and Tobias Harris than Brett Brown could. He seems to be starting to figure out his bench. But the biggest difference between this year’s team and last year’s is the grit.

You saw it on Wednesday when the Jazz spent most of the first three quarters looking like a clearly superior team. By the end of the third quarter, the All-Star break looked like it had already started for the Sixers. On the defensive end, they’d allowed Mike Conley and Donovan Mitchell to combine for 40 points and the Jazz to shoot 15-for-31 from the three-point line. On the offensive end, the Sixers had missed 14 of the 17 three-pointers they’d taken.

But thanks to some standout play from Embiid and Dwight Howard in the fourth quarter, the Sixers went on an 11-0 run and battled back several times down the stretch to force overtime.

This was a big win for the Sixers, who enter the All-Star break with back-to-back wins over playoff-caliber opponents after having lost five of their previous nine. The Sixers scored the last nine points of overtime to close out a victory over a team that entered the night with the best record in the NBA. They still have plenty to prove, and plenty of questions to answer, but they are 24-12, and in first place in the Eastern Conference, and there isn’t a whole lot more you could have expected.