Sixers Struggles Are All Too Familiar
The Philadelphia 76ers have felt the pain of being close before.
The last half decade of basketball has enough what-ifs and close calls to dizzy even basketball’s most casual fan.
Thus, Monday night’s last-second attempt at a victory clanking off the back of the rim will hardly register amongst the franchise’s most difficult moments in its current era.
If it went down, the conversation postgame may have been entirely different. An exciting finish to an excruciating game. A gutsy comeback victory on a night where the team didn’t play its best.
In defeat, however, the team showed signs of many ills that have doomed them before.
“It’s good teaching stuff,” Doc Rivers said postgame, addressing a question about the team competing in three close games after the All-Star break.
There is undoubtedly plenty to learn from, but there is a doubt as to whether the lesson will be received in time.
–
Like a college student stumbling into their early Friday morning class, the 76ers’ effort on Monday night reeked of a hangover.
The slow start, coupled with sloppy play throughout the game, allowed the Miami Heat to build as much as an 11 point lead. Most glaringly, 20 turnovers resulted in 22 points for the Heat.
“I just thought we were really sloppy tonight, sluggish,” Rivers said. “But I think in those games, you still got to find a way to win the game. Tonight we didn’t.”
Rivers was almost prophetic in what he told Sixers’ radio play-by-play voice Tom McGinnis in his prerecorded pregame interview. The pair talked about turnovers, Rivers saying the Sixers needed to cut down on “pick sixes” that allow other teams to steal and score so easily.
Joel Embiid, who admitted postgame to being “careless” with the basketball, committed six turnovers in the loss. One of those came in the final 90 seconds of the first half, telegraphing a one handed pass to his old buddy Jimmy Butler who stole and scored it.
The play represents the greater disconnect at hand. A coach who preaches teaching and a team who doesn’t appear to be learning.
Early in the season, there was plenty of concern voiced about Tyrese Maxey’s role on this team as he didn’t seem to offer the same explosive offensive package as he flashed a season ago.
Now 60 games into the season, there is still not a clear idea how Maxey’s skillset is accommodated in this offense. Sure, Monday night was a step in the right direction, but how do he, Embiid and Harden best exist with one another?
Having him come off the bench has resulted in a lot of wins, but has it helped push this team any closer to a title?
Beyond the concerns of the team’s top tier talent, this roster is starting to show its holes. Three back-up big men, but not one that has emerged as a consistent, positive contributor. A number of guards, but not one that inspires confidence as a back-up ball handler.
Monday night was the second consecutive game where the supporting pieces left a lot to be desired.
And despite whatever they may have learned from this one, it was the second consecutive loss in what should have been a winnable game.
–
This six game stretch that the 76ers are embarking upon to begin the stretch run of the season is by no means easy.
Monday night presented the ultimate get right game before a back-to-back that features a pair of road games against a pair of playoff teams.
With a home game against a group that had lost its last four, the Sixers could right the wrongs of Saturday night’s loss to the Celtics with a decisive effort. After all, this Heat team had by nearly 30 points to the Bucks just a few days ago.
“For us, I think we’re right there,” Embiid preached after Saturday’s loss.
It’s a fine thing to say, but only if the team backs it up on the court.
The lackluster effort to open Monday’s game showed you a group that just isn’t as locked in as the two teams above it right now in the Eastern Conference standings.
–
In reviewing the game, there was a strikingly similar assessment done of a previous Sixers game in which Doc Rivers appeared as a head coach.
Only in this one, it was one where he was on the opposing bench.
Prior to the pandemic stoppage of 2020, the Sixers hosted a Los Angeles Clippers team that came into the season billed as one of the title favorites. The Clippers found themselves entering the game closing in on their 40th win and in the midst of a tough February stretch.
The Clippers came out flat, battled back, but didn’t have the execution necessary to take control of the game in the latter stages. The 76ers won 110-103 in a game where the Clippers showed many of the flaws that would be their undoing.
This critique of the game was from The Athletic’s Jovan Buha…
The bad habits the team has displayed at its lowest points this season — too much iso-ball; inefficient, contested shots; head-scratching unforced turnovers; and stagnant off-ball movement — surfaced in one of their biggest matchups of the season.
The aftermath of that game included Marcus Morris calling the game a “learning experience” for both him and the team, not unlike what Rivers was trying to get across in his postgame press conference.
Despite the pair of superstars on the roster and a seemingly deep roster, that Clippers team never quite got where they wanted to be and Rivers was gone by season’s end.
No, that Clippers’ stretch and team don’t perfectly mirror what the last two games have been for the Sixers. It does, however, show that teaching it and reflecting on it isn’t quite enough this time of year.
At some point you have to show you can just do it, something this Sixers’ team hasn’t consistently proven that it can do quite yet.
