Nurse calls Sixers’ 1st-half showing ‘inexcusable’ against Pistons originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
DETROIT — When the Sixers conceded 77 first-half points to the Nuggets on Jan. 21, it seemed unlikely they’d play a worst defensive half this season.
They topped themselves in embarrassing style Friday night.
Playing without All-Star guard Cade Cunningham (right ankle sprain), the Pistons built a 29-point lead. Joel Embiid shot 1 for 9 from the floor in the first half. Detroit dominated the 20-31 Sixers on the boards, in transition and in every category related to effort and fundamentals.
“Him and just about everybody else had a tough first half,” Sixers head coach Nick Nurse said of Embiid. “What did we give up there, 78 in the first half? That’s inexcusable.”
The Sixers’ deficit swelled to 34 points before they pushed back in the second half. Still, a Pistons win never appeared in serious jeopardy.
“We didn’t come out ready to play,” Nurse said. “We played really hard in the second half, but you’ve got to play hard every half. Winning games in this league is really hard and we didn’t act like we wanted to do the work at the start for some reason. Three steps slow on everything. Miscommunicating. Just stuck in mud.
“In the second half, we played (normally). That’s how you’re supposed to play, right? That first half was not normal.”
Malik Beasley scored a career-high 36 points Friday, including an ice-breaking three-pointer.
Tyrese Maxey took the blame for letting Beasley work around a Jalen Duren down screen off of a Tobias Harris post-up. From there, any sort of good plays were sparse for the Sixers in the first half.
“First of all, attention to detail on the defensive end,” Maxey said. “The first play, I get a bucket. Then I come down and Malik Beasley hits a wide-open three. I raise my hand; that’s on me. And then it just trickles down. It’s a domino effect. Justin (Edwards) gave up a Malik Beasley three. We gave up certain threes. Now you look up and you’re down eight in the first two minutes.
“It just kept going. … We didn’t put out any fires. That’s OK, though. We’ve got to flush this one. We’ve got a big one Sunday (against the Bucks). We’ve got 31 left, I think? Every game matters. So whatever we want to do, we’ve got to go out there and do it.”
Beasley scored two of his points when he coasted free for a fast-break layup in the third quarter. Kelly Oubre Jr. did not sprint back and Beasley faced minimal resistance.
Nurse called timeout and TV cameras showed Embiid and Kelly Oubre Jr. pointing fingers and exchanging intense words on the sideline. The two ended up hugging it out.
“I think it obviously had something to do with getting back in transition,” Nurse said. “But yeah, we weren’t playing well. We were fighting our way back into the game. We’d taken away most of those transition plays. And there was an exchange, but I think that happens once in a while. … At least they got on the same page when it was over with.”
As far as on-court performance, Quentin Grimes’ Sixers debut was perhaps the one legitimate bright spot.
Grimes scored 14 points on 5-for-9 shooting and, despite having just one Sixers shootaround under his belt, adjusted smoothly.
“I give a lot of credit to (Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau). My first few years in New York he gave me a lot of tough assignments,” Grimes said. “I (was) guarding the few best players. He’d approach the game the same way whether we had seven guys playing or we had all 12 guys playing. … He gave me a good foundation coming into the league, to always play hard, play together and play your game.”
In the “playing hard” department, the Sixers had done well since their defeat to Denver.
With all stars available and a much healthier team than usual this season, why does Nurse think the Sixers’ first-half effort level was so low against the Pistons?
“Well, I think the addition of a bunch of guys back,” he said. “I don’t know if that changes our mindset — that we’ve got more talent on the floor or more depth or whatever.
“But … we’ve kind of built a style of play up and when these guys re-enter, we’ve got to keep that going. They weren’t able to do it in the first half. We looked more like it in the second half, but it was too late.”
Maxey said he discussed the appalling start with Embiid soon after the game and called the showing “100 percent” on them as team leaders.
“We’ve got to get going faster,” Maxey said. “Get him involved — (and) myself and (Paul George). We’ve just got to play faster and don’t ease ourselves into the game. We don’t have any room for error right now, so every game matters.”
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