76ers vs. Pistons: Doc Rivers’ Biggest Takeaway From Tuesday

A win was expected on Tuesday against the Pistons, but Doc Rivers and the Sixers ended up with an ideal situation.

The Philadelphia 76ers did the job that was expected of them on Tuesday night by dominating a rebuilding Detroit Pistons team that was missing several of its key players.

Meanwhile, the Sixers were fully healthy as they got Joel Embiid and PJ Tucker back in the mix to start alongside Tyrese Maxey, James Harden, and Tobias Harris once again. 

A close-fought game would probably issue some concerns for the Sixers, especially since they’ve struggled against lesser opponents at times in the past.

But Tuesday went as planned. Get in and get out with a sound victory. With a dominant 147-116 win over Detroit, the Sixers snagged their 25th victory of the year.

The blowout wasn’t something that had Sixers head coach Doc Rivers raving over, considering the circumstances.

“I mean, they had tons of guys out,” Rivers noted after the game. “They’re injured, and they’re young. For us, I just thought we had a professional game. We came out and played the right way.”

The ideal scenario for the Sixers on Tuesday would be to dominate Detroit in the first three quarters of action so key players could come off the floor to rest, and reserves could get on the floor to pick up some quality minutes in garbage time.

By the end of the third quarter, the Sixers led the Pistons 107-75. The starting five of Embiid, Tucker, Harden, Maxey, and Harris didn’t long any playing time in the fourth quarter, while players such as Jaden Springer, Paul Reed, Danuel House, and Furkan Korkmaz received some minutes.

“[We] built the lead and got our guys that need to play some minutes which was great,” Rivers finished. “So, it was good to see Jaden [Springer] and Paul [Reed] and all the guys play tonight. That was good for us.”

The Sixers won’t get too many opportunities to allow their starters to sit for the entire fourth quarter, opening up opportunities for the low-minute group to earn some playing time. So, Tuesday’s game was a rare but positive situation for Philadelphia.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.