The Philadelphia 76ers were picked to be one of the teams in serious contention of winning an NBA title heading into the 2019-20 season. That’s what happens when a team adds talents like Al Horford and Josh Richardson to an All-Star duo of Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons. However, 12 games into the season, they certainly don’t look the part of title contenders.
After falling to the Oklahoma City Thunder 127-119 in overtime on Friday night, the Sixers have now lost five straight games on the road and five of their past seven overall. Naturally, for a team as talented as the Sixers, there will be some frustration as Richardson stated:
Yeah, naturally because we are competitive. We want to win. When you’ve got a lot of guys who desperately want to win, naturally there is frustration. We’ve got to figure it out.
This team is much better than the 7-5 record they have posted so far. The projected starting lineup has only played five games together for a variety of reasons, but the little mistakes they have made that have led to losses must be corrected.
The good that came out of Friday is Tobias Harris breaking out of his shooting slump on a night where he made 3-for-4 from downtown. Also, they saw a more aggressive Simmons in the second half and that leads to optimism that it will continue.
Their next game is against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday in the finale of a 3-game road trip. [lawrence-related id=19354,19347,19339]