The Philadelphia 76ers went into Brooklyn on a high as they had won five games in a row, including wins over top tier teams like the Boston Celtics, the Denver Nuggets, and the Toronto Raptors, but they came down with a thud in Brooklyn.
Missing Joel Embiid, the Nets blitzed the Sixers in the paint scoring 64 paint points and outrebounding Philadelphia 52-38. It all resulted in a tough 109-89 loss on Sunday.
“I think we had a hard time defending Brooklyn on the boards,” said coach Brett Brown. “I thought our transition defensive, in general, was below average. That was sort of the defensive nightmare tonight. We just didn’t play well defensively. Some of it I give Brooklyn credit, they’re really hard to guard, especially Spencer Dinwiddie’s ability to get into the paint and attack the rim in significant ways without Joel Embiid.”
Al Horford, returning after missing two games, had nine rebounds and the rest of the Sixers were not able to keep big men DeAndre Jordan and Jarrett Allen off the glass for Philadelphia to have a chance in this one.
“I didn’t feel like he looked slow, I felt like it’s going to take a little bit of time playing basketball again,” Brown said of Horford. “Then you’ve got a runaway train in Dinwiddie playing downhill in pick-and-rolls and you’re having to try to figure some stuff out and make decisions in sort of warp speed time. Dinwiddie is a hard guard.”
The Sixers had been playing some good basketball, but this was their third game in four nights and they seemed to be a bit sluggish.
“I felt overall we did,” said Brown. “It was a combination of the things that I just said and we struggled guarding at the rim at the start, we couldn’t put the ball in the hole, and the accumulation just produced a third period result where we got it to eight and then they just took off. It’s tough to overcome those things on the road.”
Philadelphia will have two days before welcoming back Jimmy Butler for a second time with the Miami Heat on Wednesday. [lawrence-related id=21400,21392,21383]