OKLAHOMA CITY — The Philadelphia 76ers were always going to have a struggle against the Oklahoma City Thunder. And true to that, the Sixers emerged from Sunday afternoon with a 129-104 loss to the reigning NBA champions.
That’s not the loss that currently smarts for Philadelphia. The 76ers should have found a way to beat the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday. They were a better team on paper than the Chicago Bulls, but lost to them on Friday night. They didn’t take care of business in the games they needed to, which is of paramount importance in the NBA.
So, the Sixers own a three-game losing streak as they prepare to face the Memphis Grizzlies Tuesday night.
Philadelphia hasn’t won four consecutive games since the beginning of the year, but it also hadn’t lost three straight until now. It’s given them their biggest challenge of the season. They are reeling of sorts; they aren’t playing well on the aggregate. And they are amid a five-game road trip that doesn’t feature the right opponent that can stop a losing streak.
“We didn’t take care of business against Brooklyn and Chicago,” 76ers point guard Tyrese Maxey said. “But at the same time, we have to let those losses go. We have to look forward. We have three games remaining on this trip, and we have to figure out a way to win them all. I think we’re in the right mindset in the locker room. I think everyone is in good spirits. We have two games out west, before we get back to our side of the country and go back to New York (to face the Knicks).”
The Sixers are not as good a basketball team as the Thunder. Maybe we are being a bit obvious in that statement. So, Sunday’s outcome boils down to OKC locking in defensively in the second half, turning a 64-62 halftime lead into a blowout by the end of the third quarter and then cruising to a win.
Nonetheless, that doesn’t mean there haven’t been some issues creeping into the 76ers over the last week or so. The biggest and most consistent is that the Sixers continue getting cooked during the third quarter. That’s happened all season, regardless of the competition. In terms of basketball, it’s the most alarming weakness Philadelphia has, and it’s been something that the 76ers haven’t been able to get a handle on.
The Sixers have been a good fourth-quarter team, yes. However, against good teams like the Thunder, a bad third quarter will put you into such a deep deficit that the fourth quarter won’t matter. This is a Philadelphia franchise aiming to enter the postseason and make an impact. The Sixers can’t do that while consistently playing bad basketball for a significant amount of minutes. If there is anything to take from Sunday afternoon’s loss, it’s how quickly a good team can take a two-point halftime lead and extend that lead to over 20 points, if the 76ers don’t do the right things.
“We had a big amount of turnovers, and that put our defense in a lot of trouble,” Philadelphia head coach Nick Nurse said. “There were about 14 in the second half, and that’s just way too many. They turned up the pressure defensively, but about a good 10 of those were our fault. We didn’t play well enough on the defensive end. We never got our defense established in the second half. It was a rough game for us in terms of keeping the ball in front of us.”
Beyond their third-quarter maladies, the 76ers haven’t defended well over the past week. Their offense hasn’t created as many quality shots as it has earlier in the season, and there are a few guys in the rotation that haven’t played as well over the past week. What has to happen for Philadelphia is a quick change in its quality of play. Losing streaks occur when teams pile on bad days, and the 76ers have had a bad week. They have to figure out a way to turn that around.
More importantly, they will have to do it against opponents who are fully capable of beating them if they aren’t playing well. Memphis hasn’t been great this season, and neither have the Dallas Mavericks. Still, they are two teams that will be difficult to beat in a road environment. The possibility exists that Philadelphia can encounter a 0-5 trip. The Sixers will need to be the ones digging themselves out of their current rut. Their schedule won’t do it for them.
“This is the process,” Philadelphia rookie VJ Edgecombe said. “This is the NBA journey. You go through points where you’re getting wins, and you go through points where the wins are difficult to come by. We have to embrace the journey either way.”
This is where Philadelphia needs to get healthy and stay there. Sunday afternoon’s loss was played without star center Joel Embiid, who sprained an ankle Friday night in Chicago. The 76ers have also been missing Kelly Oubre Jr. and Trendon Watford for extended periods of time. The Sixers have been playing without major parts of their rotation for over a month, not counting Embiid.
Where this matters is over a significant amount of time. A team, even a deep one, will feel the effects of losing a starting-level player for weeks on end. They are starters for a reason. The Sixers may have finally hit a wall, playing without several key guys. Even with Embiid and Paul George available in two of the last three games, making shots consistently has proven to be a challenge.
Edgecombe and Maxey are correct in saying that ups and downs are cyclical. Still, the 76ers currently aren’t playing well, and it is up to them to figure out a turnaround.
“We have to figure it out, that much is for sure,” Maxey said. “The third quarters have to be better. I tried to come out today and be aggressive, and I thought I did that on Friday, which kind of helped us. I got into the paint and passed a few times. At the end of the day, I want to get the ball to my teammates. They are really good at what they do.”