The Philadelphia 76ers are a team playing with high expectations in the 2019-20 season. They have visions of the Larry O’Brien trophy dancing in their heads after a flurry of moves in the offseason. The team is off to a 7-3 start, but it has not been pretty.
They had to rally from double-digits, squeak out close games, and barely get past lesser teams, but they somehow find a way to win. The biggest example was on Tuesday night when they had to rally and hold off the Cleveland Cavaliers 98-97 to win the game.
Winning these close games is impressive, but it’s not always ideal. Coach Brett Brown is wary of what his team is doing late in close games:
It’s a blowtorch and it is violent. You’re just watching that game unfold, and you can’t make some of that up. I’m the coach, so I have to figure it out. Some of those turnovers certainly were head scratching. I do give our guys credit for not crumbling. We knew that if we needed to do anything, it was play defense and defense we played.
The Sixers did make enough plays down the stretch to win the game and at the end of the day, that’s all that matters, but this is the NBA where any team can win on any given night. They just need to keep their head up and continue to play, but it is a dangerous game they’re playing.
Josh Richardson stated:
You are going to win some of those, hopefully more than you lose, but I understand that in the NBA it is hard to win. There are going to be games where you don’t come out on top. For me, I think it’s good for us to experience this. To play with this pace and then to slow it down when things get tough, we have a good foundation to lean on and we are all for it.
The Sixers will now head to Orlando on Wednesday to face the Magic as they look to win a third straight game. [lawrence-related id=19189,19181,19170]