Sixers Bell Ringer: Shorthanded Sixers follow the tanking manual with competitive loss to Pacers

The eight available Sixers fought hard, but kept pace in the Tankathon Wars with a 112-100 defeat to Indiana.

Sixers Bell Ringer Season Standings:
Tyrese Maxey – 16
Joel Embiid – 8
Jared McCain – 8
Paul George – 7
Quentin Grimes – 6
Kelly Oubre Jr – 5
Guerschon Yabusele – 4
Adem Bona – 2
Ricky Council IV – 2
Justin Edwards – 2
KJ Martin – 2
Jared Butler – 1
Andre Drummond – 1
No One – 1

The Sixers had just eight players available for Friday night’s meeting in Philadelphia with the Indiana Pacers. Two of their three guys coming off the bench had never suited up for the team (Alex Reese was the familiar face with five previous games as a Sixer). Naturally, the Sixers played one of their best defensive quarters of the season in the first to jump out to an early lead. Eventually, though, top-end talent prevailed with the Pacers breaking things open a bit in the fourth quarter of their 112-110 win. Let’s discuss tonight’s Bell Ringer nominees.

Jeff Dowtin Jr.: 24 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 0 turnovers

Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images

Dowtin received his first career NBA start and did not look the least bit out of place in the opening introductions. He exploded 11 points and two assists in the first quarter, hitting a bunch of high-difficulty pull-up jumpers and fadeaways in a perfect 5-of-5 showing from the field. Dowtin wound up with a career-high 24 points on 11-of-20 from the field, and made a pair of nice reads out of the pick-and-pop to find big men for threes. He even pulled a T.J. on T.J. McConnell himself midway through the fourth quarter, coming away with a steal in the backcourt and finishing for a three-point play. The 27-year-old currently on a two-way contract is starting to put some nice tape together in a bid to get another NBA gig beyond this season.

Adem Bona: 16 points, 9 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 block, 2 turnovers

Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images

Bona was another Sixer who came away with a career-high in points in defeat, falling one rebound shy of his second double-double of his career. He’ll hopefully cut down on the fouling with more experience, but you love Bona’s energy on both ends of the court, fighting for positioning underneath to collect four offensive rebounds. Some of his buckets were of the workmanlike variety, but the big man flashed some more advanced stuff with a turnaround hook shot out of a post seal, a little dribble drive across the baseline for a reverse lay-in, and of course, his thunderous dunk driving down the lane in the third quarter. Adem also showed nice touch on his shot from the foul line, going 6-of-7 from the charity stripe. The 2024 second-round pick has done everything he needed to do to show he’s ready for a backup center role next season.

Oshae Brissett: 14 points, 1 rebound, 1 steal, 1 block, 2 turnovers

Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images

Brissett was signed to a 10-day contract via a hardship exemption earlier in the day. Considering he literally just met all of his teammates, it was an impressive showing from him, particularly in the fourth quarter where he scored 13 of his 14 points and went 5-of-5 from the field. The forward showed off nice touch from the outside in shooting 3-of-5 from behind the arc against his former club, and made a couple nice defensive plays as a helpside defender in the first half. I’m intrigued enough to want to see more from the former Syracuse product.