Philadelphia 76ers are dominating opponents despite an average offense

The Philadelphia 76ers are the real best team in the East?

While there have been several interesting early-season tendencies through the first two weeks of the 2020-21 NBA season, I’m not sure there’s one that no one seems to be talking about less than the Philadelphia 76ers‘ dominance.

Through their first seven games, there’s no team in the Eastern Conference (or entire NBA for that matter) that has a better overall record, 6-1, and taking a look at the advanced stats, what the Sixers have done has been nothing short of remarkable.

Except for a misstep against the Cleveland Cavaliers, which resulted in an embarrassing 24-point loss in which Joel Embiid didn’t play (in fairness), the Sixers have been absolutely dominating in nearly every one of their games.

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Of their six wins, the Sixers have won four of them by double-digits and have already beaten two playoff teams from last season (Toronto and Orlando). Statistically speaking, the Sixers have the NBA’s best defensive rating (by a lot, 99.4) and the third-best net rating (8.8) in the league (behind only the Bucks and Lakers).

Interestingly enough, the Sixers have managed to do all this with a pretty average offense. The Sixers have just the 14th ranked offensive rating in the league and have struggled with their deep shooting. Still, they’ve been arguably the best and most dominant team in the Eastern Conference.

The Sixers are still a bottom third in the league shooting team from deep, connecting on only 35.7 percent of their 3-point attempts and are only making 11.6 per game (ranked 22nd). Even after adding Seth Curry, the team still could use a shooter or two. Then again, that could just be the dynamic of an offense that features two all-stars that aren’t typically great shooters.

Even though Ben Simmons made a 3 in a game recently, it’s not like he’s expected to attempt much more over the course of the season. That’s simply not his game and Sixers head coach Doc Rivers isn’t pushing him to be an offensive player that he simply isn’t.

This is perfectly fine, but at the same time is going to have an impact in the age of the modern offense. That said, this is certainly an early-season trend to keep an eye on. The big question for the Sixers is whether they can continue to dominate the Eastern Conference without a dominant offense.

Thus far, the answer to that has been a resounding yes. The Sixers’ defense has been absurdly good to start the season and with the overall talent that this team has on the roster, it’s hard to see that changing anytime soon.

Next. Steph Curry has sparked the Golden State Warriors. dark

Through the first few games of the season, many were quick to crown the Brooklyn Nets as the best team in the NBA. After they’ve taken quite a step back, and understandably so, perhaps there was one team in the Eastern Conference that we were all overlooking, the Philadelphia 76ers.