When it comes to the Orlando Magic’s offensive attack, star forward Paolo Banchero is a big piece of the puzzle.
Banchero led the Magic in scoring during the regular season with 22.2 points per performance and he also took the most shots on the team with16 attempts per game. So, developing a plan to slow him down will be central to success for the Philadelphia 76ers in their Play-In Tournament matchup with the Magic on Wednesday night.
76ers Plan to Throw Multiple Looks, Bodies at Paolo Banchero
Ahead of the game, Sixers coach Nick Nurse detailed his team’s plan for defending Banchero, which includes multiple defenders and different looks.
“He is physical. He gets a lot done with his strength and size, just carving space, attacking with his shoulder hits and things like that. You’ve got to stand in there and be able to use your own physicality. We’ve got to have multiple coverages ready for him. I think showing him multiple bodies, especially in certain matchups, will be important for us,” Nurse said.
“And even going as far as having three or different schemes and three or four different guys that’ll guard him. I think trying to keep him off balance with some of that stuff is important, too. But a lot of it’s just going to come down to somebody standing in there and using their force against his.”
The good news for the Sixers is that they have several defenders they could throw at Banchero to counter his length and athleticism, including Dominick Barlow, Paul George and even potentially Kelly Oubre.
76ers Will Have Their Hands Full Down Low Without Joel Embiid
In addition to guarding Banchero, the Sixers will also have to contend with Orlando’s size in the middle. The Magic have two productive centers in Wendell Carter Jr. and Goga Bitadze, and without the services of star center Joel Embiid, the task of limiting the impact of Orlando’s centers will fall to reserve big men Andre Drummond and Adem Bona for Philadelphia.
“I think both of those guys are good players,” Nurse said of Orlando’s centers. “Carter’s a roller, short-pocket guy. He’s athletic, a rebounder. They’ll also park him on the perimeter in the corners. Good shooter. They’ll play through Bitadze a little bit more in some of their trail actions, cutting and things like that. Very good passer. Also a very good offensive rebounder.
“I think there’s probably some of the matchups we like better, but I think it’s probably a read of how things are going. I’ll say it again: We’re going to play [Drummond], we’re going to play Bona and we’ve got to figure out what it looks like as the game is going on.”
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