The Philadelphia 76ers are the top team in the East and sometimes, that can cause a lack of effort and energy in games against teams they should definitely beat. On Saturday, they took on the Cleveland Cavaliers who are 14th in the East and they fell flat on their face in a 112-109 overtime loss at home.
They were not able to match up well with Cleveland all night and the Cavaliers ran them out of the gym. It was obvious from the jump that the Sixers did not have the right energy outside of the star duo of Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons who combined for 66 points.
“I just thought we came out flat,” said coach Doc Rivers. “We had zero energy tonight. Give them credit, they played so much harder than us throughout the game. Through the game, I thought we had one quarter with energy, the third quarter, other than that, they basically got the shots they wanted. Late game, they got the offensive rebounds, the back cuts when they needed them.”
As Rivers mentioned, the Sixers did play with some spunk and some energy in the third, but it was not enough. A championship-level team has to be able to play well for 48 minutes against a bad team and Philadelphia was not able to do it on Saturday.
“We didn’t start off the game the right way,” said Embiid who had 42 and 13 rebounds. “We picked it up in the third, but we got to start the game that way and we got to play all 48 minutes the same way.”
Considering how great the Sixers have been all season and how bad the Cavs have been, the human nature factor could have crept in. The Sixers have just a few games before the All-Star break and they could have been looking ahead a bit to that time off.
“Definitely,” said Simmons who had 24 points. “I mean, that happens. They’ve already had our number. They’ve beaten us in Cleveland and we know they play hard. They’re tough to play.”
Either way, this is a game that the Sixers should have won even while missing Tobias Harris. They have to show up every night and bring that consistent effort. This is just another learning experience for them.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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