Sixers vs. Pistons takeaways: A dominant performance, Jaden Springer showcase and no injuries

The 76ers pummeled a struggling and undermanned opponent.

Jaden Springer played like a guy eager to make an impression. And the best part was none of the Sixers got hurt.

These three things stood out during Tuesday night’s 147-116 victory over the Detroit Pistons at the Wells Fargo Center

The Sixers (25-15) have had the reputation of playing down to their competition. They were a team that would often beat a contender only to lose to a struggling opponent the next game.

Well, the Pistons (11-33) had lost two straight and 24 of their last 32 games heading into Tuesday’s contest. Their most recent loss was a 123-111 setback to the Sixers on Sunday at Little Caesars Arena.

Not only is Detroit a struggling team, the Pistons, on Tuesday, were without four of their top five players in Cade Cunningham (left shin stress fracture), Bojan Bogdanovic (sore right calf), Jalen Duren (sore right ankle), and Marvin Bagley III (fractured right hand).

“For us, our big thing was our focus going into this game,” the Sixers’ Tobias Harris said. “Obviously, just playing them and knowing that they were going to come out and still give great effort, for us it was just to impose our will on the team.”

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Joel Embiid (36 points) did a great job of that early on to set the tone after missing the previous three games with a sore left ankle. Then the Sixers got defensive stops and pushed the tempo en route to taking a commanding 41-point lead.

“We did a great job of staying locked in to know not to play down to the competition or play down to another team’s record,” Harris said, “but to really play to our standard of basketball. I thought even being at home, just embracing our crowd as well, that was a big maturity step for us as a group.

“So we got to stay at that.”

Springer came into the contest with career averages of 1.3 points, 1.0 rebound, and 3.0 minutes. However, the second-year guard finished with 10 points, on 4-for-4 shooting, with two rebounds and a steal in 8 minutes, 43 seconds — all in the fourth quarter.

“It was solid,” Springer said of his night. “I was trying to make the best of my minutes out there doing what I can. I feel like I tried to make an impact in the game, and, you know, I went out there and kind of showed that a little bit.”

The highlight of Springer’s eighth career game was his putback dunk with 1:39 remaining. That put the Sixers up, 145-116, and led to his teammates celebrating on the bench.

“Oh man, I don’t know,” he said of their reactions. “Just in the moment type of thing. I was going for the rebound and kind of turned it over, but it was great to see the bench, see those guys cheering me on and stuff like that. Man, that was big for me, so I appreciate them for that.”

Defensively, coach Doc Rivers had high praise for Springer.

“I’m telling you, he is, you know, we talk about De’Anthony [Melton] and this is probably a helluva statement, but I think he’s gonna be an elite defender. I really do,” Rivers said.

Rivers said Springer is naturally physical and has a chance to be a good player defensively while also having a chance to be a good player offensively.

But on a night like Tuesday, the main thing was keeping everyone healthy. The Sixers knew that if they came to play, the Pistons had no chance of beating them. The same can be said about their upcoming game against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday at The Center.

The Sixers need to keep their bodies healthy for their upcoming five-game West Coast trip and beyond. So this was a good start. Aside from that and Springer’s performance, there wasn’t much to take away from this mismatch.

Best performance: This goes to James Harden on a night Embiid finished with 11 rebounds to go with his game-high points. But Harden finished with 16 points and game highs of 12 rebounds and 15 assists for his second straight triple-double and third of the season. The Sixers point guard shot 6-for-7 from the field, including going 2 of 3 on three-pointers.

Worst performance: This was a tough one, but I had to give it to Kilian Hayes. The Pistons guard had five points on 2-for-11 shooting.

Worst statistic: I had to give this to the Sixers turning the ball over 19 times.

Best statistic: This goes to the Sixers shooting 28 of 30 from the foul line.

Best of the Best: This victory, combined with the Cleveland Cavaliers’ loss to the Utah Jazz, moved the Sixers into fourth place in the Eastern Conference standings. The Sixers at 25-15 are also 10 games over .500 for the first time this season.