Asked after practice last Thursday about sharing reserve minutes with Nico Batum during the 76ers’ Feb. 27 loss to the Boston Celtics, Mo Bamba acknowledged “it will be interesting to see how we deploy this lineup in the future”.
This statement could have even broader application today. As the Sixers continue to retool and experiment on the fly without NBA Most Valuable Player Joel Embiid, coach Nick Nurse threw a little bit of everything out of the big man rotation in the Sixers’ victory. Sunday against the Dallas Mavericks. Bamba started for the second straight game, while Paul Reed was a productive energy starter off the bench. Then, Batum was in the final lineup as the small-ball center, hitting a key jumper and two free throws down the stretch to help the Sixers earn an important road victory.
“We have to continue to navigate it,” Nurse said of that position group last week.
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This is just part of the roster that Nurse has tinkered with during a relentless schedule out of the All-Star break, and while implementing new players added near the trade deadline or returning from injury . Another notable change was insert veteran Kyle Lowry as starterwho immediately puts a pure, savvy point guard on the court and aims to ignite athletic wing Kelly Oubre Jr. as an instant offensive scorer off the bench.
Yet the center position has seen the most fluctuations in recent games.
Batum, who played in Tuesday’s game against the Brooklyn Nets and had started 29 games at forward for the Sixers, was first moved to the middle in a Feb. 25 loss to the Bucks. Although the 35-year-old veteran has played that small-ball role regularly with the Los Angeles Clippers – his shooting, passing, cutting and defensive versatility make him valuable all over the court – Batum said the day after that game that he “never” practiced there since joining the Sixers earlier this season.
“I was like, ‘Oh, I have to work on this now,’” Batum said. “I was a little surprised. But you see the situation we’re in right now, so I have to do it.
The Sixers continued to drill Batum at center in penalty shootouts before last Tuesday’s loss at Boston. The coaches believed this look would allow the Sixers to switch defensive positions at all five positions, to try to limit the three-point shots of a Celtics team leading the NBA in attempts (41.5 per game Tuesday) and of successes (17.1 per match) for a long time. range. The Sixers were largely successful in this area, limiting Boston to 5-for-22 in their final regular-season meeting.
But after moving Batum to the bench to be Reed’s initial backup, Nurse then went to the 7-foot Bamba to take on the Celtics’ Luke Kornet. Bamba said he became more comfortable passing to guards as the game progressed, although Nurse stressed his team needed better screening, better rebounds and better protection against these frontcourt players.
“There [are] guys that can definitely give us a little bit more,” Nurse said after that game. “It’s not really about offense. …We need to make sure we play a little more [of a] complete game.
For Friday’s win over the Charlotte Hornets, Bamba made his first start of the season because, in Nurse’s assessment, the Hornets “kind of have a center with size, and then they come in and get pretty small . And I just thought it would be a better match for us. Bamba finished with two points and eight rebounds, while the 6-foot-9 Reed responded with 11 points on 5-for-6 shooting, eight rebounds, three assists and two blocks in 24 spare minutes.
“Of course I’m going to have a chip on my shoulder after they demoted me like that,” Reed said after that game. “At the end of the day, I have to be a supportive teammate and, at the end of the day, it’s about the team. Whatever the team has to do to win, I’m all for it.
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Bamba started again Sunday against Mavericks 7-foot rookie Derek Lively II, an alley-oop finish showcasing Bamba’s eight points and five rebounds in 14 minutes. Reed, meanwhile, had another efficient 13 points on 5-for-6 shooting to go along with seven rebounds and three assists. Reed’s three-point basket from the top helped cap the Sixers’ massive first-quarter turnaround, turning an 11-0 deficit into a 10-point advantage. In one sequence in the second quarter, Reed recovered a quick takedown, then elevated for a block (and rebound) on the opposite end, then went up and down for a reverse layup.
But then Nurse opted to close the game with Batum — who played all but 30 seconds in the fourth quarter — in a lineup the coach later described as “OK.” It was initially released to match Dallas’ decision to choose Maxi Kleber over Lively, Nurse said. Yet it also showcased Batum’s versatile skills and wise experience (remember: Nurse inserted a still-recovering Batum only for a late inbounds pass in a Feb. 23 down-to-the-wire victory against the Cleveland Cavaliers).
Batum’s shot in the lane gave the Sixers a 110-101 lead with about three minutes left, before contesting Kyrie Irving’s miss at the rim on the Mavericks’ next possession. Batum finished the game with 11 rebounds, including balls he ran on after bouncing away from the rim. Before Tobias Harris buried a huge corner three-pointer that extended the Sixers’ advantage to 113-105 with 1:11 left, Batum directed his teammates with his hands at midcourt. And with 10.8 seconds left, Batum made two foul shots to give the Sixers the lead, 119-113.
“We got to a point where we thought we could organize the offense a little better with more shooting,” Nurse said of the final lineup with Batum.
The personnel changes also suggest that Reed may be more comfortable in a reserve role within this roster construction, something starting point guard Tyrese Maxey indicated after Sunday’s win.
Last week, Reed called starting 14 of 15 games in Embiid’s absence “a great opportunity for me to grow as a player and a leader.” However, some failures occurred during the last matches. He picked up his fifth foul early in the third quarter in that home loss to the Bucks, forcing an extended break that Reed acknowledged was “extremely difficult” because “you’re trying to warm up, but you don’t still not going to have the same thing.” pop that you had before. Nurse also said Reed was part of the Sixers with poor shot selection in this outing.
“He still had his ups and downs,” Nurse said of Reed. “In terms of minutes, he’s still an inexperienced player, and we’re just looking for consistency and playing to his strengths. And his strengths are playing very hard, rebounding the ball and giving us extra possessions.
Embiid’s media session last Thursday reinforced the MVP’s hopes of returning to the court. before the end of the season. That means the Sixers might only need this patchwork center rotation for a few more weeks.
Who will they deploy first – and last – on Tuesday against the Nets, who boast the hyper-athletic Nic Claxton but little prototypical size?
Bamba certainly remains among those who want to know.
