76ers Head Coach Explains OT Struggles vs Rockets Star Alperen Sengun

What went wrong with Alperen Sengun in overtime?

Nov 27, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Houston Rockets center Alperen Sengun (28) dunks the ball in front of Philadelphia 76ers forward Guerschon Yabusele (28) during the fourth quarter at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images / Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

Heading into Wednesday night’s game against the Houston Rockets, Philadelphia 76ers head coach Nick Nurse had nothing but praise for his opponent’s big man, Alperen Sengun.

As the young veteran has established himself as one of the NBA’s emerging young stars at the position, Nurse anticipated a strong gameplan centered around Sengun for the Rockets.

The Sixers had to be satisfied with their early success against the center. Through the first half of action, he scored just two points on two shots through 13 minutes. Although Philly trailed by as many as 13 points in the first half, they were within a four-point reach at halftime.

Wednesday night’s game concluded in regulation, with the score knotted at 108. Houston was being led by Jalen Green’s near 40-point outburst, with much help from Amen Thompson and Tari Eason off the bench.

While the Sixers held Sengun in check through the first half, they didn’t have an answer for the star center in overtime, as he was nearly perfect on offense, scoring a majority of the Rockets’ points.

Alperen Sengun tonight:

22 Points
14 Rebounds
7 Assists
2 Steals
1 Block
6/11 FG pic.twitter.com/sgk1DFATFh

— RocketsMuse (@RocketsMuse) November 28, 2024

“They go to him down the stretch and isolate him on the top,” Sixers head coach Nick Nurse said after the game. “I thought we did a great job most of the game of coming after him.”

Unfortunately, when it mattered the most, the Sixers struggled against the star big man. Sengun made three of his four shots from the field. He got to the free throw line for six attempts and nearly knocked down all of them. By the end of the overtime period, Sengun had 11 of his team’s 14 points.

ALPEREN SENGUN.

that's it. that's the caption. https://t.co/D2sfqTUa0c pic.twitter.com/jLGvLGSeSy

— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) November 28, 2024

“I’m not sure if we got to a point where we’re just kind of a little too tired to move or whatever, but we kind of got stuck on the perimeter, and we weren’t doing that a lot of the game,” Nurse explained.

“[Andre Drummond] kind of had him a few times. Obviously, it’s a balance between what are we trying to do? We’re trying to play our best, and you probably saw some of the defensive or offensive subs, I thought [Drummond] did a good job on him. [Guerschon Yabusele] had a tougher time on him. Mostly, I didn’t think we went after him, and once he got into his kind of spinning up and under game, and we did it early in the game.”

Sengun finished the night with 22 points in 35 minutes of action. He collected a double-double by coming down with 14 rebounds. He was just a few assists shy of a triple-double.

While the Sixers put on a good effort, missing stars like Joel Embiid and Paul George, they came up short in overtime with a 122-115 loss. They dropped to 3-14 on the year.