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There was practically no game at the Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City. Philadelphia stood up in the first quarter, but from that moment the Jazz took off on the scoreboard to walk placidly until the final 120-85.
The life of the 76ers is measured by what Joel Embiid can do, and of course, when he is not there, everything is complicated. The pivot missed his fifth consecutive game last night after entering the NBA’s health and safety protocols against the coronavirus. The consequence is as clear as it is painful: five defeats.
Without Embiid, the Sixers stayed at 37% in shooting from the field, having Shake Milton their leading scorer with 18 points, followed by Tyrese Maxey’s 16. The plan did not work. “I think we made a lot of difficult shots while trying to challenge Gobert. That was not a smart decision on our part and at halftime they had broken the game, “admits Doc Rivers.
It was just as the head coach of Philadelphia. If his boys were only two down at the end of the first 12 minutes, by the time they reached the dressing room the disadvantage had increased to 16. In the second half, far from reacting, they saw how they were passed over.
Shine Bogdanovic
After some troubled games, Bojan Bogdanovic displayed his best qualities against the 76ers to go up to 27 points, thus achieving his best performance of the current season. Jordan Clarkson went up to 20 from the bench and Rudy Gobert added a double-double of 15 points and 17 rebounds. The Croatian forward believes that it was the defense that defined the match.
“It all starts with our defense and today we also control the boards, which made it easier for things to work offensively. We were more focused and aggressive. The last two games, we were a bit stagnant and we weren’t able to make shots, but this time we managed to feed everything from our defense, ”he says.
Philadelphia, lacking in confidence
Utah and Philadelphia had combined in the past 10 days for a painful 1-8 record. Neither team was in a great moment, but it was clear that someone would step up last night (it was the Jazz). After the meeting,Isaiah Joe pointed out that Doc Rivers wanted to convince them that they should keep playing exactly the same even if the pitches weren’t coming in.
“One thing Doc said on the bench is that we can’t be afraid to go 0-for-30 shooting. You have to fire the next shot as if it were going to enter. Our defense could be better, no doubt, but we missed a lot of open pitches, “he says.
(Photograph by Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)
