Communication is Key for 76ers’ Defensive Improvement

The Philadelphia 76ers acknowledged that communication will go a long for their team on the defensive end.

Following a loss in Toronto last Wednesday, Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid publicly challenged his teammates to step up defensively as their struggles in the transition contributed to a fourth loss in five games.

“It’s all about effort,” Embiid said. “You got to be honest about it. It doesn’t matter what the coaching staff says. It doesn’t matter what the game plan is. If we don’t go out there and execute, we are not going to go anywhere.”

The Sixers got back on track after a productive film session on the road between games against the Raptors, but even a three-game win streak didn’t solve all of Philadelphia’s defensive struggles.

Effort on the defensive end was always a concern among players and coaches since the start of the season, but so is communication. In the eyes of the third-year guard Tyrese Maxey, communication will be key for the 76ers’ defense moving forward.

“The main thing is getting back to our defensive principles,” Maxey said before Friday night’s game against the New York Knicks. “Packing the paint, making sure guys aren’t scoring in the paint as much, helping each other. I think that’s the biggest thing. Then the communication part, knowing where guys want the ball, knowing how guys need help on defense, knowing how guys like to score in different places. I think that’s one of the biggest things right now that we’re trying to move along.”

Throughout training camp, some of Philadelphia’s new veterans stressed the importance of being loud on defense and helping teammates out with communication so everybody can be on the same page. While the Sixers are making progress there, Friday’s game wasn’t a complete success when it came to defensive communication.

“It’s still a work in progress,” said Sixers veteran center Montrezl Harrell. “It’s tough because you got some guys who are not really in that accustom of talking when they’re on the floor, they are quiet, and it’s gonna take some time to come. You just got to keep building for it. Just keep trying to, you know, cover for each other and make sure we’re playing basketball the right way.”

On Friday, the Knicks shot 46 percent from the field against the Sixers. While New York struggled from deep, the Knicks still scored just as many points as the Sixers off turnovers, despite turning the ball over seven more times. 

“You know, throughout the duration of the game, I think it was pretty good,” said Maxey after the game regarding communication. “I think it was like the last three or four minutes where, you know, we gave up some buckets, and we messed up on some communication errors and just some system errors as well.”

The Sixers and the Knicks went down to the wire on Friday. In crunch time, the Knicks outscored the Sixers 32-21, cutting into Philadelphia’s 12-point lead and taking over. Eventually, New York made it out of Philadelphia with a tight 106-104 victory. 

The Sixers’ offense could’ve certainly been better in the fourth quarter of Friday’s game, but their defense is definitely an area that remains a work in progress ten games into the season.

“It’s one of those things that we just got to keep growing at,” Harrell finished. “We got guys in here that joke with each other and enjoy being around one another off the court, so we just got to make it like that on the court.”

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