The Philadelphia 76ers have championship aspirations for the 2019-20 season. They certainly have the talent to get it done, but they need to clean up the mistakes they have made in plenty of games to begin the season.
In Monday’s 101-96 loss to the Toronto Raptors, the Sixers committed a lot of errors down the stretch that allowed Toronto to end the game on a 13-2 run to close out Philadelphia. The game was a bit of a litmus test for the Sixers as they were facing the defending champions and the team that eliminated them in the 2019 playoffs. It seemed like it was a missed opportunity being in the driver’s seat late despite the lackluster game from superstar Joel Embiid.
Ben Simmons, who finished with 10 points, 14 assists, and nine rebounds acknowledged that the Sixers let one slip away as he stated:
I think it was just overall the whole game – a lot of mental errors that we didn’t correct. Joel had a tough night, so that also doesn’t help. When we look back at this game, we know that we should’ve won this one, but Toronto made plays.
Simmons committed a bad turnover late as he and Tobias Harris had an opportunity for an alley-oop late with Philadelphia down by one, but Raptors star Pascal Siakam stepped in and intercepted the lob and the Sixers had to foul. Simmons had seven turnovers on the night and it was something that attributed to the loss overall.
Harris stated:
Yeah, definitely too many of them. The last three minutes, too many to count, so that’s the most disappointing thing about tonight’s loss, for sure…I mean, we have to be better. (In) the late fourth quarter we have to be better engaged offensively and defensively — executing on both ends of the floor.
These are easy mistakes to clean up as it is more about mental focus than anything else. They will return home on Wednesday, where they were undefeated on the season, to play host to the Sacramento Kings. That will give them a chance to bounce back before hitting the road again. [lawrence-related id=20064,20057,20050]