LeBron James switched to center! The 76ers' "death lineup" was poorly executed as their interior defense was completely overwhelmed.

The 76ers faced the Pistons in a back-to-back home game on October 26th. With their star center Joel Embiid resting, LeBron James played center, and the 76ers fielded their "death lineup" of five small players. However, James only managed 18 points, 5 assists, and 2 rebounds, with a team-worst plus-minus of -22. 

LeBron James played center, and the 76ers fielded their "death lineup" of five small players.

Joel Embiid rested today due to management of plantar fasciitis in his right foot, which means LeBron James will play center. The 76ers' official starting five is: Ty Reese Maxey, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Jaylen Brown, Dean Wade, and James at center. This is essentially deploying a "death lineup."

However, this lineup change failed to work against the Pistons. The 76ers fell behind by 18 points at the start of the game, falling behind 7-25. They were then constantly pressured, and in the last minute of the first half, the 76ers were down by as much as 21 points. Although James, Maxi, and Brown led the team to close the gap to 4 points, the Pistons went on a run to widen the gap again. In the decisive moments, the 76ers were constantly under pressure and ultimately lost the game.

Statistically, the 76ers' interior defense remains a major problem. With Embiid resting, James was forced to play center. In this game, they grabbed 37 rebounds compared to the Pistons' 54, a difference of 17. In the first four games of the season, the 76ers also failed to win in terms of rebounds, losing by 7, 2, 22, and 17 rebounds respectively, for a total of 48 rebounds in those four games.

When asked about how to adjust when Embiid is absent, James said after the game, "This is the first time, and it's not just him, there are other guys out too, so this is the first time the starting five have played together. Throughout the season, we'll encounter all sorts of different lineups, but I think the more minutes we play, the more games we experience together, and the longer we gel, the more we'll start to understand what plays best for us."

Because James played a lot of center in the first week of the 76ers' season, he pointed out that he was willing to do so, but he said that he and the team did not plan to do so too much. "We have an MVP, so I'm not here to play center long-term because we have Embiid, but if needed, we can use this role. I can play positions 1 through 5."