Now ‘actually holding our ground,’ Sixers aim to keep impressive trend rolling originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Over the team’s gruesome 3-14 start, the Sixers had no unequivocal strengths. They were abysmal offensively and mediocre defensively.
Lately, they’ve been among the NBA’s best teams on defense. According to Cleaning the Glass, the Sixers rank second in the league in defensive rating outside of garbage time since Nov. 30. While they’ve played several bottom-10 offenses (the Hornets, Magic and Pistons), it’s still been an impressive stretch. In the half court, the Sixers have conceded just 83.0 points per 100 plays during their 4-1 run.
“Guarding the ball,” Kelly Oubre Jr. said after practice Thursday. “Communicating. Defense, that’s obviously a team possession, right? All five of us are getting more and more connected, whoever’s out there on the court.
“And we’re being more physical. We’re not getting punched in the face like we used to. We’re actually holding our ground and punching others.”
Sixers head coach Nick Nurse has been been more inclined to vary his schemes, too. In their mini-series vs. Orlando last week, the Sixers played effective zone defense and even mixed in a box-and-one with KJ Martin on Franz Wagner.
“We’re doing a lot more switching, probably (more) than we have in a long time,” Nurse said. “And just trying to understand that switching, everybody ends up in every spot, so just making sure that everybody’s ready to cover. And our menu of the defenses we’ve played here recently is growing.”
Oubre’s been glad to do it all.
“I don’t care,” he said. “I love guarding. Switching, you keep your man in front easier because there’s always somebody in front of them. But no matter what the coverage is, I love to do it. I love to bust through screens, rock my shoulders and all of that stuff. Just getting stops is my main priority.”
After a subpar start to the season, Oubre has produced consistently the last few weeks on both ends of the floor. The lefty wing has posted eight consecutive double-figure scoring games (with better…
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