Sometimes, winning isn’t everything. Sometimes, a team needs a loss to put things in perspective in order to grow and build as a team.
For the Philadelphia 76ers, that’s exactly what they’re banking on after a heartbreaking 117-116 overtime loss to the Miami Heat on Saturday. It was a game that was right there for them to take, but they missed the opportunity and now they’re left hoping to learn and grow from it.
“This group has responded well,” said coach Brett Brown. “They are sunk, everyone is hurt. It stinks to lose. We are going to figure out what we could have done better, stay together, and move on. It is a different type of loss than last night’s loss (Friday to the Orlando Magic). They both are unpleasant, but for a different reason.”
Brett Brown on the character of his group after this loss #Sixers pic.twitter.com/7vqrfh2vA0
— Ky Carlin (@Ky_Carlin) December 29, 2019
Unlike the loss to the Magic on Friday, the Sixers did play with some energy, albeit an inconsistent effort level, but they just made a few different mistakes that cost them this one. They are easily correctable and fixable with the right focus and determination.
“Every loss has to build character, you can’t just sulk about it,” said Josh Richardson. “We’ve got to take things from yesterday (Friday and take things from today (Saturday) and we’ve got to be like computers. Keep taking in new data and putting it in our game plan.”
Philadelphia faces the Indiana Pacers to continue the road trip on New Year’s Eve and that’s where the focus has to be at with this team.
“We’ve got to get a win in Indiana,” said Ben Simmons. “That’s our next game so we’ve got to put our energy into the next game.” [lawrence-related id=22387,22381,22372]