Sixers aim to break out of three-point shooting slump

With the 76ers making their second late charge in as many nights, Tobias Harris got the ball in the right corner Thursday night with the chance to give his team a one-point lead over the shorthanded Brooklyn Nets.

He let the three-pointer fly, and it clanked off the rim.

That shot with less than three minutes to play of a 114-105 defeat epitomized the Sixers’ team-wide outside shooting funk. For the most part, coach Doc Rivers said he likes the attempts his team is generating. But over the past 10 games, the Sixers have the NBA’s second-worst three-point shooting mark at 31.1%, which has surely contributed to an offensive efficiency rating of 105.1 points per 100 possessions, which ranks 27th in the league during that same span.

“It’s just not going in, honestly,” Rivers said following Saturday’s practice. “You couldn’t have gotten better shots the other night. … They’re gonna go in over the long haul. So we’re going through a stretch where they’re not. We’re not going to overreact.”

The shooting slump is a sharp shift from how this Sixers’ season began. Through their first 10 games, they led the NBA in three-point percentage (39.4), which helped yield the league’s most efficient offense at 115.4 points per 100 possessions. Seth Curry and Furkan Korkmaz were particularly scorching during that time.

Then, a slew of absences because of health and safety protocols and injuries forced lineup changes and took individual players out of rhythm. The 15-15 Sixers, who have lost three in a row entering Sunday night’s home matchup against New Orleans, have also played a game-heavy schedule through the season’s first two months that will ease up in the coming weeks.

For the season, the Sixers ranked 18th in NBA in three-point percentage (36.4) entering Saturday’s games, and 26th in both three-point attempts (32) and makes (11.1) per game. The latter two categories are relatively comparable to last season (11.3 makes on 30.1 attempts per game), though that was with non-shooter Ben Simmons regularly on the floor.

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Yet those small differences in attempts and makes create a noticeable percentage dip from last season’s 37.4 mark, which ranked 11th in the league. And nearly every Sixers outside shooter’s clip is down from their career three-point percentage.

The most jarring examples are Korkmaz, who has made just four of his last 28 attempts to fall to 29.5% on the season, and Harris, whose 29.9% mark is way down from his 36.5% career clip. But Shake Milton (career percentage: 36.5; season percentage: 32), Curry (career: 43.9; season: 39), Danny Green (career: 40; season: 38.3), Georges Niang (career: 40; season: 38), and Matisse Thybulle (career: 32.5; season: 29.8) are all down, too. Tyrese Maxey, whose percentage has risen from 30.1 as a rookie to 37.1 this season on higher volume, is the exception.

Though these figures do not represent a full season’s sample size, Philly has now played more than a third of its regular-season games.

Schematically, Rivers constantly stresses his offensive system requires the Sixers to get into the paint to generate those open looks from beyond the arc. Those shooters also need to be ready when superstar center Joel Embiid draws a double-team. Milton acknowledged the ball has “stuck” in one player’s hands at times on possessions, preventing those shooters from getting a pass to catch and release “in a timely manner.” Green added “aggressive decisions” with the ball and pushing the pace can offer more open looks early in the shot clock.

“We’re second-guessing ourselves and thinking a little bit too much,” Green said.

Rivers joked that, as a player, he “lived in a shooting slump” (he made 44.4% of his field goals, including 32.8% of his three-pointers in his 13-year career). But whenever his reliable elbow jumper stopped falling, he would “drive and throw [himself] into someone and get to the foul line” to see and feel the ball go in the basket again.

Green, who has learned to block out misses over the course of a 13-year career, has encouraged his struggling teammates to stay confident and shoot without hesitation. Milton has aimed to foster a similar mindset.

“We all have belief in each other when it comes to shooting,” Milton said. “We’ll tell everybody to keep shooting, regardless of what’s going on or how many you missed, how many you made. It doesn’t really matter.

“I think everybody, top to bottom, has to have that mentality — that kind of fearless mentality to keep shooting.”

Rivers also pointed out that no shooter is immune to the ebbs and flows of a long season.

While closing in on and setting the record for most made three-pointers in NBA history, Steph Curry has shot 32.4% from beyond the arc over his past five games (24-of-74). That is lower than his season mark of 39.8%, and his career clip of 43.1%.

“I don’t think [Golden State coach] Steve Kerr’s gonna come in and have a meeting with Steph and say, ‘Hey, stop shooting them,’” Rivers quipped.

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Niang remains in health and safety protocols and will miss Sunday’s game against New Orleans, per the NBA’s Saturday afternoon injury report. Korkmaz also remains out with a non-COVID illness, while Embiid (ankle soreness) is listed questionable to play against the Pelicans.

After missing Thursday’s game with a quad contusion, Maxey is also listed as questionable to play Sunday. He was a limited participant in Saturday’s practice, doing some running, shooting and pre-practice drills while being held out of group and contact work.

“We just didn’t want him on the floor with other people running into each other,” Rivers said of Maxey.

Maxey said the injury occurred late in Wednesday’s home loss to Miami, when he came over to contest a Kyle Lowry layup and got kneed in the leg near the bone just above his knee. Maxey made the trip to Brooklyn but was a late scratch for the game, and was limping slightly while walking from the bench to the court to interact with teammates during timeouts.

Yet Maxey was in good spirits Saturday. While Green went through his post-practice media session, Maxey grabbed a microphone from a local television station to exuberantly ask a question. Green played along, then dropped a subtle message as he walked off.

“Get healthy,” Green said. “Play basketball tomorrow.”

With the Eagles’ home game against the Washington Football Team originally scheduled for Sunday afternoon postponed until Tuesday night, tip-off for the Sixers’ Sunday matchup against New Orleans has been moved up from 8 p.m. to 7 p.m.