The final score on Friday night read that the Philadelphia 76ers lost their fourth straight game to the Houston Rockets and they completed a nightmarish 0-4 road trip. However, there were some positives in the eyes of the Sixers that can be used to move forward.
One was that the Sixers did not lie down. After trailing by as many as 36 and accepting the loss in their previous matchup with the Indiana Pacers, the Sixers battled back in this one. They trailed the Rockets by as many as 18 and they battled back to get it to within single digits before James Harden put them away.
“I liked the way our guys competed,” said coach Brett Brown. “We got down, and we fought back. I think we got it to 105 or 100 after being a very erratic type of game, but I like the spirit of our group.”
Fighting back was a big thing for this Sixers group. They were embarrassed on New Year’s Eve in the loss to Indiana and Friday’s effort was much, much better. Of course, there are no moral victories for a team that has championship aspirations, but this is a step in the right direction.
As a team, point guard Ben Simmons saw some things that the team can take moving forward.
“I think defensively communication was a lot better,” said Simmons. “Offensively, we were just more aggressive in attacking the rim.”
Philadelphia, as repeated on a regular basis, is an oddly constructed team. They are going against the current NBA trend of small ball and are going large with Joel Embiid and Al Horford down low. There are some clear issues that need to be ironed out, but that does not mean that it’s all over and the experiment was a failure. They have to continue to grow as a group and push through.
“Just try different things,” Simmons added. “We just have to stay locked in though. We can’t be too distant from each other. We just have to be a team.”
They will get their next chance to grow on Monday when they return home to host Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the upstart Oklahoma City Thunder. It won’t be an easy game, but being at the Wells Fargo Center should do the team some good as they are 16-2 at home. [lawrence-related id=22659,22650,22639]