Sixers Recap: PHILADELPHIA DEFEATED GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS 115-104
January 29, 2020
The Philadelphia 76ers defeated the Golden State Warriors, 115-104, to improve to 31-17 on the season and 22-2 at home. The 22 home wins are tied with Milwaukee for the most in the NBA (NBA.com/stats).
The 76ers shot .512 (42-82) from the field against the Warriors. It is the 16th time this season Philadelphia has shot 50-percent-or-better from the floor and the team is 14-2 in such games. It is the fifth time this season the 76ers have shot at least 50-percent in back-to-back games after shooting .526 (41-78) against the Lakers last Saturday (Basketball-Reference).
Philadelphia’s starting five of TOBIAS HARRIS, AL HORFORD, JOEL EMBIID, SHAKE MILTON, and BEN SIMMONS all scored in double figures. The team posts an 8-1 record when all their starters score 10-or-more points (NBA.com/stats).
Embiid returned to the lineup after sitting out nine games with a hand injury. Embiid sported a No. 24 jersey tonight in honor of Kobe Bryant. He finished with a team-high 24 points on the night. Embiid leads the team with 23 20-plus point performances this season.
He added 10 rebounds to collect his 25th double-double of the season, which is one behind Simmons, who leads the team. Embiid is third in the NBA with 22 games with 20-plus points and 10-plus rebounds. He is only behind fellow NBA All-Star starter GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO (34) (Basketball-Reference).
Simmons scored 17 points, handed out five assists, and went 9-10 (.900) from the free-throw line. It is the best percentage of his career from the free-throw line when attempting 10-or-more free throws in a game (Basketball-Reference).
Simmons also swiped one steal on the night to give him 100 on the season. He is currently tied for the lead league and is one of only two players in the NBA to record triple-digit steals thus far this season (NBA.com/stats).
Horford scored 12 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and handed out a season-high eight assists. It is his fourth double-double this season and his first since Dec. 25 vs. Milwaukee. It is the most assists he has had while recording a double-double since April 1, 2019, when he was a member of the Celtics (Basketball-Reference).
Milton scored a season-high 11 points and shot 5-6 (.833) from the floor. That is the best shooting percentage of his career when attempting at least three shots in a game (Basketball-Reference).
Off the bench, RAUL NETO scored a season-high 19 points while shooting 7-10 (.700) from the field and knocking down three three-pointers. It is the third time in his career he has scored 15-or-more points in a game and the first since Nov. 17, 2017 (Basketball-Reference). For the game, Neto registered a plus-15, matching a season-best.
All 19 of Neto’s points came in the first half as it was the most points he has scored in any half of his career. He shot 7-8 (.875) from the field and 3-4 (.750) from beyond the three-point line in the first half. (NBA.com/stats). His 15 second-quarter points are the most scored by a 76er in the second period this season.
The Warriors were led by D’ANGELO RUSSELL, who scored a game-high 28 points and knocked down six three-pointers, which he has now done six times this season. DRAYMOND GREEN added nine rebounds and 12 assists for the Warriors while scoring nine points.
NEXT UP: The 76ers hit the road to battle the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday, Jan. 30 at State Farm Arena. This is the second of four matchups between the teams this season, with the 76ers winning the first game, 105-103, at State Farm Arena on Oct. 28. The Hawks played the Toronto Raptors tonight and lost, 130-114. Their leading scorer was JOHN COLLINS, who went for 28 points and shot 11-14 (.785) from the floor. On the season, the Hawks are led by All-Star starter TRAE YOUNG, who is averaging a team-leading 29.2 points and 9.0 assists. Tip-off is set for 7:30 on Thursday and the game can be seen on NBC Sports Philadelphia and heard on 97.5 The Fanatic.
On how his basketball family has helped through this tragedy…
It’s very important. That were, like I said, where we always talk about the brotherhood of the NBA or the relationships you build on your personal team. This is one of those moments where you all can lean on each other. It’s like we’re coming out of our first timeout, and Ben’s like “what’s up man. What’s up, how you doing?,” like tough. I don’t know, it’s just tough. It doesn’t seem right. Everybody’s feeling the same thing so I don’t know. In this locker room, and across the league, everybody can lean on each other because in one way or another, we’re all affected.
Whether it was a personal relationship or not—there’s an era in this league right now or a rule that Kobe was the Michael Jordan of this era. Some guys aren’t old enough to remember Jordan, that do remember Kobe, so that was our Jordan. And I was old enough to carry some of Jordan. It’s just like any “x” amount of years, I’m not sure how but I’m a part of the league today because it’s now starting to get so young. They like worship Lebron, Jordan, and Kobe and so it’s—I don’t know—a lot of people lost their hero, somebody they grew up shooting something and saying “Kobe!”. I think any basketball player can relate, you’re walking around and acting like you have a basketball and fading away like Kobe.
It’s just, sad. For me personally, it goes even further for me than a personal relationship. Me, when I think about it as a father, the only job as a father is when my children are sick, you’re like this doctor who has no idea what to do. My daughter late last week, late at night she goes, “Daddy, my stomach hurts”. I say, “Alright, let’s go lay you down.” So, you lay her down and you soothe her and she’s fine and she goes back to sleep and she comes back again in a few hours, “daddy my stomach hurts.” And at that point, I just rubbed her stomach and she went to sleep, but it’s one of those things that you just become this doctor.
Anything that your child runs into, you become whatever it is that tackles that problem. And so for me as a father, I think about Kobe, in that situation, especially the man that Kobe was—Kobe will try to move a mountain and no one in the world can tell him that he can’t lift that mountain and move it away. You think about him in that situation, which is extremely graphic to think about. He’s right there with his daughter and he’s probably telling her that everything’s ok, but in his mind, he knew it was not. As a father, you can’t even show your child that you don’t think it’s ok. So for me, I think of that and really believe that in my heart that, I know I was nowhere near that helicopter, but I know how he went up probably squeezing his daughter tight and telling her everything ok. And that crushes me because I understand it. Just being a father and knowing his three girls and his wife, there’s no one there to tell them it’s ok and that’s where it kind of crushes me.