The Philadelphia 76ers suffered a tough 114-109 loss to the Phoenix Suns at home where they let a 14-point lead slip away in the third quarter. The Sixers had a tough time getting anything going late in the third quarter and early in the fourth as coach Doc Rivers went to unconventional lineups.
He had to give Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid a break to get them ready for the stretch run and he had a lineup where Furkan Korkmaz was the point guard and he was the only true ball-handler. While Korkmaz has been solid as a backup guard, he was getting pressured by both Chris Paul and Elfrid Payton at times and he couldn’t get the Sixers into their offense.
As the trade deadline continues to rapidly approach, Rivers explained the lineups and he lamented an obvious need.
“It’s tough. We have no choice,” said Rivers. “We have to get another guard. We just do. Even if Furk and Shake (Milton), we need a point guard, and we’re looking, but they don’t grow on trees.”
Doc Rivers: “We have no choice. We need another guard.” #Sixers
— Ky Carlin (@Ky_Carlin) February 9, 2022
The Sixers were able to get away with the fact that they didn’t have a point guard on the floor initially. They got good play out of Georges Niang and Andre Drummond in those lineups while Danny Green was able to hit a triple and the Sixers extended their lead.
They weren’t able to have the same luck in the second half.
“In the first half, we got away with it,” Rivers explained. “We actually stretched the lead. It’s funny, I told Sam (Cassell), if I’m the Suns, when I come back out in the second half with that lineup, I’m picking up full court, and that’s what Payton picked up and changed the tempo of the game. There’s not a lot you can do with it. I think we handled it well, it just took us out of our stuff.”
Rivers was then asked if the addition of a guard would come from the outside rather than internally.
“Yeah,” Rivers finished. “We may do nothing, obviously, and you can only do something if there’s something there, but that’s clearly something we’re looking for. That and size.”
The trade deadline continues to approach and all eyes will be on the Sixers up until the 3 p.m. EST deadline on Thursday.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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