Sixers bury the Kings with smothering defense when it counts | Off the Dribble

Good morning, Sixers fans. The Sixers (18-7) continue their impressive play. Tuesday’s 119-111 win over the host Sacramento Kings was the Sixers’ second straight win, and fourth consecutive road victory.

Tuesday’s game was a tale of two halves, especially on the defensive end.

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— Marc Narducci (offthedribble@inquirer.com)

Since the beginning of training camp, Sixers coach Doc Rivers said that for the team to contend for an NBA championship, the defense has to be elite. Rivers’ reasoning is that there will be nights when shots don’t fall and a strong defense can keep a team in games.

Against Sacramento, things worked in reverse order. The offense kept the Sixers in the game during the first half, while the defense looked more like, well, the Kings’. After Tuesday’s game, the Sixers are second in the NBA in defensive rating (107.2), which means they allow 107.2 points per 100 possessions. The Kings are dead last (116.6).

In the first half, the Sixers weren’t paying a whole lot of attention on the defensive end. And in the second half, they looked much more like the Sixers.

Here is the comparison of Kings shooting in each half:

Matisse Thybulle rightly deserved credit for his fourth-quarter defense on hot-scoring De’Aaron Fox. The Kings point guard shot 3-for-13 in the fourth quarter, but he was also just 1-for-4 in the third quarter. This came after he exploded for 23 points in the first half.

The Kings shot just 7-for-24 (29.1%) in the third quarter, including 1-for-12 (8.3%) from three-point range.

The difference in the Sixers’ defensive effort from the first to second half?

“Just focusing, literally us just focusing,” Ben Simmons said. “When we are focused and running our stuff and moving the ball and then defensively when we’re locked in communicating, I just don’t normally see too many teams beating us when we are playing like that.”

One of the things the Sixers did much better in the second half was having weakside help when Fox blew by a defender.

“We were doing better guarding as a team,” Thybulle said. “Individually it’s hard, he [Fox] is a hard matchup ... but when you have the bigs in a drop to help you corral him and then guys show on the weakside, the help side, it makes it a lot better for the team.”

Sixers centers Joel Embiid and Dwight Howard combined for four blocked shots, three in the second half.

With more missed shots by the Kings, it is no surprise that the Sixers outrebounded Sacramento, 36-19, in the second half. Embiid had 12 of his 17 rebounds in the final two quarters.

Sacramento reserve guard Cory Joseph currently owns the longest active playing streak in the NBA. He has appeared in 291 consecutive games after playing 12 minutes and 54 seconds and scoring two points in Tuesday’s loss to the Sixers.

Here is the list of current active games, courtesy of the Sacramento Kings:

Joseph took over the lead when Utah’s Joe Ingles missed a game Jan. 8 against Milwaukee with right Achilles soreness. That ended a streak of 384 consecutive regular-season games.

Joseph last missed a game on Feb. 5, 2017 as a member of the Toronto Raptors when he didn’t play against Brooklyn.

He still has a long way to go before challenging the NBA record for consecutive games. That is held by A.C. Green, 1,192. It is a mark that might never be surpassed.

Thursday: Sixers at Portland Trail Blazers, 10 p.m., Moda Center, NBC Sports Philadelphia Plus/TNT

Saturday: Sixers at Phoenix Suns, 3 p.m., Phoenix Suns Arena, NBC Sports Philadelphia Plus/NBA TV

Monday: Sixers at Utah Jazz, 9 p.m., Vivint Arena, NBC Sports Philadelphia

Feb. 17: Houston Rockets at Sixers, 7:30 p.m., Wells Fargo Center, ESPN/NBC Sports Philadelphia

Feb. 19: Chicago Bulls at Sixers, 7 p.m., Wells Fargo Center, ESPN/NBC Sports Philadelphia

Question: Would you trade Maxey and Milton for Lowry. And maybe picks if needed? — J Cha (@theycallmejcha) on Twitter

Answer: Thanks for the question, J Cha. This trade would be impossible because of the salaries. Kyle Lowry is in the final year of a contract that pays $30.5 million this year. Tyrese Maxey and Shake Milton combine to earn $4.18 million. If you put this through the ESPN trade machine, the Sixers would need to add about $25 million in salary.

A trade that we put though the machine that would work would be Maxey, Milton, Danny Green and Mike Scott for Lowry. Regardless, I wouldn’t give up Milton and Maxey for a player who can become a free agent after the season. While I am a big Lowry fan, it wouldn’t be worth giving up four players, especially somebody with potential such as Maxey and another who is a serious scoring threat off the bench in Milton.

Now, if the Sixers want to pursue Lowry in the offseason when he is a free agent, that’s another question, and one that would be worth looking into.