3 driving forces behind 76ers' solid defense despite Joel Embiid's absence

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Very little has gone right for the Philadelphia 76ers in the 2024-25 season. Joel Embiid’s saga of prolonged injuries has sidelined him for long stretches, almost every other rotation player has gotten injured and the team has sputtered out to a losing record that will last into the new year. One thing the Sixers have gotten right — or, at the very least, not gotten wrong — is defense.

The middle of the pack, the area the 76ers have inhabited on the league-wide leaderboard for defensive rating for much of the season, is not a desirable destination for a team that touts itself as a title contender. But the Sixers’ roster has been depleted, most notably missing Embiid for all but six of its first 24 games. On top of being one of the best offensive engines in the sport when healthy, he’s also a terrific defender, an imposing force that warps the shot selection of entire opposing teams.

Even this season, with his left knee continually giving him problems, Embiid has been a very impactful defender in the few games he played. Without him to clean up mistakes and prevent shots at the rim, the Sixers have surprisingly kept their heads above water. They've kept their opponent below the league average in team points per game (113.0) 13 times, seven of which ended in wins, and rank 12th in the NBA in defensive rating.

The 76ers’ offense remains very bad — a tied-for-27th-in-offensive-rating kind of bad. It requires nothing short of one or two players catching fire to heat up the entire unit and sorely lacks reliable three-point shooting and playmaking. But defensively, the Sixers have been pretty solid for a few key reasons.

Steals, steals, steals

The best thing the 76ers have going for them as a team is how often they force turnovers.

The shooting percentage on shots within three feet of the rim from 76ers opponents is one of the highest in the league, as is the frequency of getting those looks. They also get up threes at an above-average frequency, though their percentage is not very high. Opposing offenses really make the Sixers’ defense work, so their solution is to prematurely end the opposing offense's possessions as often as possible.

All season long, the Sixers have forced turnovers relentlessly. They are currently fifth in steals per game, an impressive mark for the team with the slowest pace in the league. They're one of three teams to force a turnover on over 15 percent of their opponents’ possessions. The other two teams are the Oklahoma City Thunder, owners of the best defensive rating in the league, and the Orlando Magic, who rank third.

Tyrese Maxey, in particular, has been substantially better when it comes to generating steals. His amount of steals per game (2.1) and per 100 possessions (2.8) blow his previous career highs out of the water. The 76ers star is near the top of the individual leaderboard in steals per game, sitting in a tie for second place with Luka Doncic.

The Sixer that racks up steals most frequently in the minutes they play is, surprisingly, Andre Drummond. The big man averages just 20.5 minutes per game but manages to average 1.4 steals per contest. That averages out to 2.4 steals per 36 minutes and a steal percentage of 3.3, which would rank among the best in the league if he qualified for the leaderboard.

The big man struggles to defend the paint, which makes him a net negative on that end of the floor for the 76ers. But when he does something good on that end, it's usually a takeaway. Similarly, Kelly Oubre Jr. struggles to contain dribble penetration and fight through screens but also records plenty of steals, averaging 1.3 per game.

There’s another Sixer with a knack for recording steals, though he’s the whole package when it comes to wing defense.

Paul George’s spectacular defense

Paul George has heeded the advice of Jess Day, looking right at opposing offenses and saying, "Shut it DOWN."

Surprisingly, the 76ers’ offense has performed way worse with George on the floor this season. The veteran star is often extraordinary to watch as a pure scorer but he still has nights where he shoots poorly, turns the ball over a lot and doesn't get to the free-throw line at a high rate. Because he (understandably) commands the ball so much, those issues become the team’s issues during his minutes. According to Cleaning the Glass, the Sixers are 7.7 points worse per 100 possessions on offense with PG.

However, the script flips on defense. The Sixers are 8.7 points better per 100 possessions when George is in. Although he isn't the all-world shutdown man he used to be, he’s still a very versatile and fundamentally sound defender.

I find myself very impressed by Paul George's defense this season whenever I watch the Sixers pic.twitter.com/W8yNpYkyWB

— Jackson Frank (@jackfrank_jjf) December 19, 2024

Just like Maxey and Drummond, George racks up plenty of steals. He averages 1.9 per game, attacking ball-handlers when their back is turned and snatching away passes. He rarely fails to see and understand the play as it happens in front of him. That level of IQ in a frame as long as his means offenses are in for a tough time when they try to go at him or don't account for him on the weak side.

While PG-8 may not be up in his opponent’s grill on the ball all game long, he’s a big, mobile wing who's got mountains of experience guarding at the NBA level. Away from the ball, he’s fundamentally sound and can put that athleticism and size to good use. George’s strong off-ball defense helps the Sixers plug up gaps and push offenses deeper into the shot clock (more on that later).

George is nothing too special as a rebounder but he helps the 76ers grab more on the defensive end when he plays, which also means that opponents get fewer offensive boards. He’s still big enough to hold his ground and springy enough to sky for missed shots, averaging 7.3 defensive boards per 100 possessions.

Among the questions coming into George’s first season with the Sixers was how well he could play defense. So far, the answer is nothing short of fantastic.

Holding it down in the halfcourt

The 76ers’ transition defense is just plain bad. But they take care of business when the game slows down, ranking seventh in halfcourt defense on Cleaning the Glass.

The Sixers’ opponents get shots up "very late "in the shot clock (the slice of the 24 seconds between four and zero seconds left, as defined by the NBA’s stats website) more frequently than all but four team’s opponents. The Sixers force shots that are deemed "late" in the clock (between seven and four seconds left) at a roughly average frequency and they prevent shots in "early" shot-clock situations (between 18 and 15 seconds) better than the vast majority of the league.

Although the numbers across the board in every shot-clock situation don't perfectly align, they show that the 76ers have been pretty good at forcing teams to shoot later in their possessions, when good looks are harder to come by. For a team without much rim protection or size on the wings, this allows a defensive unit’s whole to at least equal the sum of its parts, if not slightly exceed it.

Role players like Caleb Martin, KJ Martin, Ricky Council IV and Adem Bona can step into games and provide the Sixers with sound defense. Not only are they athletic enough to make great plays but they understand where to rotate and can guard multiple positions. Although each of them has strengths and weaknesses on offense — some of which are quite glaring — they have plenty to offer on the other end.

It’s hard to predict when, or if, Embiid will be able to play for long stretches of the season. But it's easy to imagine a 76ers turnaround — should there be one — coming through an elite paint defender joining a team that's already pretty solid on defense.

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