The Philadelphia 76ers dropped to 0-3 on their brief four-game road trip as they fell to the Indiana Pacers on New Year’s Eve 115-97. It was an overall embarrassing effort as they trailed the Pacers by as many as 36 and were outscored by 22 points in the second quarter.
“Just our effort was not good enough,” said Al Horford. “We let them do whatever they wanted on the floor. A lot of it falls on me setting a tone on the defensive end, and I definitely take some of that blame. They just had a lot of confidence going into the lane and that second quarter really hurt us.”
Horford slid over to the center spot with the Sixers missing an injured Joel Embiid and the team’s defense suffered. However, even without Embiid, the defensive effort should not have been as bad as it was.
“I would say I think it went south with just our defensive execution,” said Tobias Harris. “Then we had a bunch of missed shots, turnovers, a lot of lack of effort overall.”
Philadelphia committed 12 turnovers and they shot only 6-for-29 from deep, good for 20.7% from beyond the arc. These concerns come after Harris criticized the Sixers for playing down to their opponent after a loss to the Orlando Magic to begin the road trip and then players suggesting a lack of consistent effort level after a loss to the Miami Heat.
All of it results in Philadelphia beginning the road trip winless through the first three games that has caused them to drop to the 6 seed in the Eastern Conference heading into the 2020 portion of the schedule. These are issues that must be solved as the team moves forward. [lawrence-related id=22497,22484,22468]