The Philadelphia 76ers took the court in Brooklyn without star big man Joel Embiid and looked like they weren’t particularly interested in being there. The combination of Embiid’s absence and the team’s uninspired play resulted in an ugly 109-89 loss to the Nets, snapping the Sixers’ five-game winning streak.
The beating was as thorough as the final score implies. The Sixers failed to win a single quarter and didn’t score more than 23 points in any quarter.
Embiid’s absence was glaring. With the Sixers running a defensive system that attempts to funnel opponents into the paint, the Nets had a field day without the big man patrolling. Al Horford, who started at center for Embiid, didn’t look healthy and struggled to move, compounding the defensive situation. As a result, the Sixers gave up a whopping 64 points in the paint. That number represents a season-high for Philadelphia.
Philadelphia also struggled to put the ball in the basket, shooting just 43% from the field and an abysmal 19.2% from beyond the arc. The starters had a particularly rough night from 3, shooting a combined 2-for-19 from deep.
Horford was just 5-of-15 from the field and 0-for-6 from deep despite getting some really good looks. In his defense, he hasn’t played the last two games and the combination of rust and probably not being 100% likely played a role. Horford finished with 10 points, nine rebounds, and five assists.
Tobias Harris carried the Sixers early but didn’t have the kind of game the team needed of him with Embiid out, finishing with 17 points, six rebounds, and three assists.
Ben Simmons had 20 points but only five rebounds and three assists, and like Harris, he didn’t handle as much of the load as the team needed.
At the end of the day, it was a disappointing performance. No one stepped up offensively in Embiid’s absence and the big man’s importance on the defensive end was clear. The fact that Brooklyn was playing the second game of a back-to-back adds to the frustration.
It’s also fair to wonder if maybe there were several players who weren’t feeling 100%. Embiid missed the game with an illness, and Matisse Thybulle left the game with an illness as well. It’s possible a bug may be affecting the team at the moment. Even if true, it’s not an excuse and the team still should have been more competitive, but it’s something to consider.
Despite the disappointment and the poor optics of the showing, it’s important not to overreact. There are going to be clunkers in an 82-game season, and Sunday was one. But if the Sixers respond and quickly return to playing at the level they had been leading up to Sunday, this loss will be quickly forgotten.
The Sixers will try to do just that when they host Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat on Wednesday.