For the second game in a row, the Philadelphia 76ers rolled out a starting five that featured some tweaks. The usual players Tyrese Maxey, Tobias Harris, and Buddy Hield remained in their spots, while Paul Reed and Kelly Oubre found themselves coming off the bench.
Heading into the matchup against the Charlotte Hornets, Sixers head coach Nick Nurse gave Reed the heads up about Mo Bamba picking up the start.
“I just thought they kind of have one center with size and then they come in and they go pretty small,” Nurse said of the Hornets, explaining his decision behind starting Bamba. “I just thought that would be a better matchup for us.”
While Kelly Oubre was scratched ahead of Friday’s game, Nurse had plans to test Kyle Lowry with the starting five, allowing Oubre to play a reserve role once again.
“The plan was to try to invigorate Kelly off the bench,” the head coach added. “I just kind of wanted to see him with that group, that maybe could feature him a little bit more, and then he ended up not playing. So, we were kind of there anyway.”
The Sixers found success against Charlotte. The combination of Tyrese Maxey and Tobias Harris produced 64 points. Meanwhile, Kyle Lowry reached double-double status with 15 points and 10 assists. Then, off the bench, Paul Reed hit his stride, scoring on five of his six field goal attempts, finishing with 11 points and eight rebounds.
The way everything played out in the 121-114 win over the Hornets motivated Nurse to roll out a similar strategy against the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday.
Despite a slow start, the Sixers found a huge scoring boost from Tyrese Maxey and Tobias Harris, who combined for 52 points. Lowry was significant as a facilitator, generating seven assists while producing eight points of his own.
As for Reed and Oubre, they hit their stride with the second unit. In 27 minutes off the bench, Reed was highly efficient on the offensive end, converting on all but one of his six shots from the field. He also knocked down a three and went 2-2 from the charity stripe. Reed finished the game with 13 points and seven rebounds.
Meanwhile, Oubre led the Sixers’ bench in scoring with 21 points in 25 minutes. He did a little bit of everything by collecting five rebounds, blocking one shot, and dishing out four assists.
With the adjustment, the Sixers are 2-0 with wins over the Hornets and the Mavericks. Following last Friday’s game, Nick Nurse noted that the plan was to keep everything game-to-game. After a second-straight win, he’s not getting too overly confident with the tweak.
“[The lineup did] Pretty good,” Nurse concluded. “Pretty good. I think we’ll keep evaluating it, though.”
The Sixers will pay a visit to the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday night.
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