WASHINGTON–The Philadelphia 76ers were looking to build off their recent 8-game winning streak and continue to move up in the standings in the Eastern Conference, but they did not start the right way on Tuesday against the Washington Wizards.
Philadelphia was solid offensively as they shot 47.5% from the floor, but they couldn’t stop a nosebleed as the Wizards shot 55.8% from the floor and they made five triples. On top of that, Washington committed 12 turnovers in the first half and the Sixers only turned that into 15 points.
The Wizards had built a 16-point lead as they were able to execute well on the offensive end. The Sixers were able to chip their way back into the game, but they came up short with some questionable execution in the fourth and it resulted in a loss in D.C.
“If we had a came back and won, it would have been a steal to me,” said coach Doc Rivers. “I didn’t think we had the right approach. I thought we came into the game, you can see it early, we thought it was gonna be an offensive contest, and we were just gonna outscore them. We put no defense into the game until the second half and we had to do zone to do that, but then, it was almost like the basketball gods down the stretch. Yeah, you don’t deserve it.”
This is the third straight game where the Sixers have fallen behind by double digits. They were able to come back and win the previous two games, but eventually, the basketball gods will put an end to that. It happened on Tuesday.
“In the first half, same thing,” said Joel Embiid. “Not being physical enough starting the game. We had a good start, we forced a lot of turnovers, but we couldn’t finish them off, and defensively, we just haven’t been there. So we got to be better.”
With that being said, the Sixers have said recently that they feel confident enough that they can come back from any deficit. That nothing really fazes them out on the floor. It seemed to catch up to them against the Wizards.
“I love that in us,” said Rivers. “I want to have that. I want us to have—we’re down by 20–I want you to be cocky enough to believe you can win every game so I’m all for that, but got to do it by playing the way the Sixers play. Philadelphia basketball. Being physical, rebounding, getting deflections, moving the ball. I didn’t think we did any of that tonight and that’s why we lost.”
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