Sixers plod their way to 1-4 start
The Philadelphia 76ers are off to a slow start. In every way.
The Sixers, who lost to Toronto Wednesday night to fall to 1-4, are one of the league’s most disappointing teams so far. And they’re one of the slowest. In Pace Factor, an estimate of how many possessions a team gets in a 48-minute game, the Sixers have a 94.6, the lowest in the league.
That’s in part because their two top scorers are some of the most isolation-heavy players in the league. James Harden goes iso on 34.3 percent of his possessions, easily the highest percentage in the league, and Joel Embiid’s 14.1 percent puts him among the NBA’s 20 most isolated offensive players.
While Harden is still efficient when he isolates, the 76ers offense gets stagnant with so much time spent watching Embiid or Harden dribble in one spot. Philadelphia is 25th in fast break points with 11.4 per game, down from last year’s 12.6, which was 13th in the NBA.
But it’s also in transition defense that Philly’s speed is lacking.