The Philadelphia 76ers were missing superstar big man to Joel Embiid on Sunday when they faced the Brooklyn Nets on the road. Due to this unfortunate fact, that normally means the Sixers play at a much faster pace with Ben Simmons leading the way.
However, that was not the case as they only had eight fastbreak points compared to 23 for the Nets and it caused a lot of issues for Philadelphia all night long in a 109-89 loss.
“The pace was too slow,” said Simmons who finished with 20 points and five rebounds. “There were a lot of lapses defensively – off ball, especially with (Joe) Harris on ball. They just had a lot of those actions where it’s tough to guard, but we have to get back and watch the film.”
It was a tough night all-around for the Sixers who also allowed 64 points in the paint with Joel Embiid out. Al Horford returned after missing two games with a left leg injury, but he and backup Norvel Pelle could not make up for the loss of the big man.
“Too many layups,” said Pelle. “Just too many layups honestly. That’s it. I felt like I wasn’t defending the rim as best as I could, but we’ll fix it…we definitely came out and tried to play as fast as possible and whatnot, but the result was a lack of defense.”
With the Sixers wanting to play at a faster pace, it led to a few turnovers that allowed Brooklyn to get out and run at will. Philadelphia did commit 16 turnovers which led to 21 Nets points.
“I think it is a little bit,” said coach Brett Brown. “We ended up having 16 turnovers, probably having two too many. I feel like the speed notion that we wanted to play we felt like that was still the right formula. It’s just that the defensive side of things let us down. I think the statistical facts of what we shot from three and what we shot from the free-throw line shows our starting group had a rough night putting the ball in the hole and the accumulation of a few things equal a long night.”
The Sixers will now have two days off before returning home to host Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat for the second time this season on Wednesday. [lawrence-related id=21421,21400,21392]