The Philadelphia 76ers were riding high heading into Cleveland on Sunday. The team had not yet lost in the Doc Rivers era whether it be preseason or regular season and they were feeling good about themselves after Saturday’s win.
Then, the Cavaliers brought them down to earth. With Joel Embiid being a late scratch, the team came out flat and they committed 21 turnovers in a 118-94 loss on Sunday. Ben Simmons committed a team-high six turnovers as he was trying to lead the charge, but the team as a whole just did not have it.
“When that happens, you still got to be able to play and get through it, there’s no excuses for that to affect your team,” said Rivers. “It’s going to happen all year. Guys think they can go out, we wait, we wait, and then they tell us they can’t. Jo won’t be the only one, and so somebody else has to step up. I didn’t think we stepped up today at all.”
They certainly did not as they were never really in this game, to begin with. Philadelphia was outscored 35-26 in the second quarter as they trailed by 14 at halftime and they never were able to get back in the game. Embiid’s absence should not have affected a team this talented in this capacity.
“It could have played into it,” said Simmons. “At the end of the day, he was not there, we were on the floor. He had no control so it could have, may not, but that’s on us. We got to just lock in and play better, regardless of the situation.”
On the flip side, this has happened plenty of times in the Embiid era. There have been plenty of times when the big fella will be a late scratch and it should have been nothing new for this team.
“I would attribute it to just our play out there,” said Tobias Harris who led Philadelphia with 16 points. “We knew when we started the game that Joel wasn’t out there. For us, we still got to play basketball. We turned the ball over way too many times tonight. On top of that, we just didn’t have a real focus and energy on the defensive end, and they never felt us all game. That’s really where it starts and where it really ends for us on the defensive end.”
For the Sixers, this now has to serve as a bit of a wake-up call as they head into their next game against the Toronto Raptors at home on Tuesday.
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