NBA China controversy avoided in cruise past some Loong Lions
PHILADELPHIA >> A preseason obligation having been caught in the swirl of something much stronger Monday, Brett Brown figured he had only one pre-game choice.
A leader of pro athletes, not a nation, Brown would endeavor to return a developing political and economic crisis into its original purpose: A game of basketball.
While the Sixers’ 144-86 victory over the Guangzhou Loong-Lions was predictably lopsided, it did nothing to worsen developing tensions between the NBA and China. A win-win. “I really don’t want to go there,” Brown said. “But if you look at my passport, I have been to China 25 or 30 times. I have been there a lot in my basketball life, coaching the Australian national team and a few times with the NBA. And every time I go to China I am just blown away by how much they love basketball.”
Such was the base purpose of the Loong-Lions’ visit, a chance for a popular team from Asia to challenge an NBA outfit under little better than training-camp conditions. But a social-media message Friday regarding protesters in Hong Kong from Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey was found to be offensive by the Chinese government, creating tension. That resulted in Rockets merchandise being removed from Chinese apparel stores, some NBA events in China being cancelled, and the potential for continuing stress.
But the Sixers and Loong-Lions played to no such distraction, even if it shed minimal light on what was next for Brown’s team. In that, the Sixers’ coach chose to remember the best of China’s connection to basketball.
“There are just massive amounts of basketball courts there,” Brown said. “And you’re looking out and there is no available court. There are just people playing on the court. I took a ‘C’ Australian basketball team to China and there were 400 million (TV) viewers watching not the true national team. And so you are just reminded of the popularity of the sport.”
The Sixers last season traveled to China for a couple of preseason games against the Dallas Mavericks.
“Our experience was A-plus,” Brown said. “In relation to this thing that is going on now, I don’t have any comment about that. I really don’t. That’s my experience from the past.”
*** Not that he or his coach found it particularly remarkable, but Ben Simmons made his first threepoint shot in a Sixers uniform.
With 2.3 seconds left in the half and the Loong-Lions back in a zone they’d used for much of the half, a wide-open Simmons let one fly to the delight of the crowd of 13,407.
“I had to take that shot,” Simmons said.
That the fans were in an uproar when he was left so wide open apparently was not a factor. “I didn’t hear anything,” he said. As for Brown, he wishes the noise would go away altogether.
“I’m 58 years old, I have been coaching for 1,000 years, I completely think it’s overblown,” the coach said. “It’s his first NBA three and it has been the talk of the summer. Let’s call it what it is. I just think it’s so overblown. We all get why it is discussed a lot. We understand that at the stage of April, May and June that it stands out. But I stand by my opinion that it is overblown and that it is going to end up growing organically just fine.”
Simmons, for one, was not surprised by his 1-for-1 three-point accuracy. “I work,” he said, “and it shows.” Simmons played 21:04 and had a team-high 21 points.
*** Ever on the load-management schedule and rarely free of injury, Joel Embiid thought he might not play in a Saturday intra-squad scrimmage. But after being limited to first-half activity in that BlueWhite game, Embiid was on that same restriction Monday.
Embiid played 13:46, all in the first half, collecting 17 points and three rebounds.
“It was good,” Embiid said of the scrimmage. “For me personally I wasn’t supposed to be part of it. But I have a schedule, so it was good. I enjoyed it and got better.”
Every Sixer, Embiid included, was healthy and available Monday. Better for them, they all emerged healthy, too.
“It is going well,” Embiid said. “I am still getting back to shape but it has been going well. I feel pretty good. So I am excited about the season.”
*** While Brown was reluctant to declare a distinct training-camp surprise, preferring to insist that every Sixer had his moments, he finally made one concession: Kyle O’Quinn stood out.
“He has an inherent competitiveness,” Brown said. “You see the look on his face when his team loses. I feel like I am the Eagles coach and we just warmed up 20 guys. I just look at all these bodies and it’s a lot of people on the court. And when you watch him with that group and he loses games, he is just very competitive. He wants his team to stay on the floor. I really love that.”
Brown will have an opportunity or two before the postseason to reimagine his rotation. But the early indication, underlined against the Loong-Lions, is that O’Quinn will be somewhere in the mix.
O’Quinn had two points and five rebounds in 12:24.
*** NOTES >> Former NBA journeyman Andrew Nicholson had a bizarre boxscore line for Guangzhou, scoring a game-high 36 points yet being a minus-47.