Interior D
The Sixers haven’t been great at guarding the paint this season. That happens when you’re missing a certain 7-foot tall, afro-rocking dude. Even though Andrew Bynum isn’t known for his defense, he does have a 4.6 block percentage for his career, better than what top shot blocker Spencer Hawes is doing this season. On Monday, they were absolutely devastated inside by the Clippers. Lob City threw down 12 dunks on the hapless Sixers, and shot an embarrassing (for the Sixers) 78.1 percent from inside 10 feet.
That porous rim defense could be bad news going against Milwaukee. The Bucks lead the league in field goal attempts at the rim, taking a whopping 30.1 shots there per game. Factor in the other 9.8 shots Milwaukee takes from within 10 feet, and the Sixers could be in for a long night. The good news is that the Bucks are pretty terrible in the paint, ranking 28th in the league in field goal percentage at the rim. Their two highest scorers, Brandon Jennings and Monta Ellis, are also two of their least efficient. Their effective field goal percentages are 45.8 and 42.3, respectively, and both have below-average field goal percentages at the rim.
Turned Up...and Down
Evan Turner has not lived up to the expectations that come with being the No. 2 overall pick in the draft, and at this point you can safely assume he probably won’t ever be a star for the Sixers. While Turner is a solid contributor as a rebounder and playmaker, his shooting numbers are troublesome.
While ET has improved his outside stroke considerably, bumping his three-point shooting up to a career-high 39.1 percent, it’s the shorter jumpers that give him trouble. Turner takes more than a third of his shots from 16-23 feet, and is knocking down just 34 percent of them. He’s prone to wasting possessions by running the shot clock down, only to take a long, contested two-point jump shot.
Turner’s been quite bad since Thaddeus Young went down, something the Sixers really can’t survive with him as their second-best scoring option (unless you count Swaggy P!). His 29.3 effective field goal percentage since Young went down is well below his season mark, and his recent shot charts look like very confusing treasure maps, filled with X’s.