The Philadelphia 76ers have certainly had a rough go at it in recent games. After two emotional wins at home, they have completely fallen apart again on the road dropping the first three games of the trip where they are giving up an average of 126.6 points.
The loss to the Miami Heat on Monday was especially concerning after they gave up 81 points in the second half and finished by giving up 137 points in a blowout loss. There were some concerns from the players that there needs to be more physicality and they need to be better defensively and that’s what they focused on at practice on Wednesday.
“It’s all connected,” said coach Brett Brown. “I always go to the defense. Like why aren’t we playing better defense? You look at the road record vs. the home record. Why is that? You really analyze why I think it is and it’s kind of all connected, there’s a physical and mental toughness, there’s a defensive mentality, there is a physicality for sure and it’s all intertwined. Those are the ingredients, in my opinion, that I’ve seen that win regularly on the road.”
The Sixers own the best home record in the NBA at 22-2, but then there’s the eyesore of a road record at 9-18 that’s completely holding them back from going where they want to go. Clearly, they have not brought the same mentality that they do at home out on the road with them. At home, they’re absolutely stifling, but on the road, they’re almost like a turnstile.
“You don’t have the best record in the NBA at home and then all of a sudden be as ordinary as we have been on the road without some of those reasons being the answer to the problem,” the coach added.
Ben Simmons, who has improved as a defender in all aspects of the word, has not been able to find his way on that end of the floor recently. He had a tough game against the Boston Celtics and then was left helpless against the Heat as he was a minus-31. That contributes to the road issues.
“When you look at plus-minus, there’s always asterisks involved, that is not at all the holy grail as a benchmark to judge somebody,” Bron continued. “It’s an easy number to go because we all see it. There is some truth, but it is not even close to being the total of truth. I think he’s a league Defensive Player of the Year candidate, a prominent candidate, the last few games for him and for us weren’t of that standard and they need to be as they were on Christmas Day.”
The Sixers will need to focus and fix the defense in preparation for a huge matchup with the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday to conclude what has been a nightmare road trip so far. [lawrence-related id=24982,24973,24955]