PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers needed something to feel good about. After an 0-3 start, it was almost as if the sky was falling among the fan base and the city.
Compare Philadelphia’s poor start to the other pro sports teams in the city, and the fan base just couldn’t comprehend there were still 79 games to go in the NBA grind.
After the Sixers knocked off the Indiana Pacers on Monday, 120-106, James Harden took the podium afterward, and it looked like he was able to finally breathe a sigh of relief.
“It felt like we were 0-82!” Harden laughed. “It felt good. It’s a work in progress. As most as you want things to happen overnight and us to be 4-0, we’re 1-3 so we just got to keep continuing to work, continue to build really good habits, and live with the results, but we got to hang our hats on a defensive man.”
The Beard had a masterful night going for 29 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds on the night while Joel Embiid chipped in with 26 points and five rebounds as well.
“I mean, from the fan’s perspective, they probably wanted me to be traded and the whole team to be sent down to the G League,” Embiid added. “To me, there was no pressure. 0-3, three games in, and, like I said, fairly new team. Everybody’s tried to find that way. I thought today was a big step offensively and defensively.”
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The biggest thing with the Sixers was making sure everybody was on the same page. That was the message at shootaround on Monday morning, and it carried over to the win over the Pacers.
“It started this morning,” Embiid said. “Coaching staff, coach Doc (Rivers), making sure everybody was on the same page about what we were doing offensively and defensively, and he carried that tonight. So we just need to keep on building on what we we’re building and keep doing it.”
The Sixers will hit the road for a four-game trip starting with the two matchups with the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday and Friday.
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