It’s starting to feel like there’s something in the water in Orlando. Coming off arguably their biggest win of the season on Christmas day, the Philadelphia 76ers promptly undid the good-will generated by that win over the Bucks by losing to the 13-17 Orlando Magic Friday night. The Sixers fell for the fourth straight time in Orlando.
After the big win on Wednesday, the possibility of a letdown loomed and a somewhat sleepy atmosphere at Amway Center certainly didn’t help.
The result was a clunky first half that saw neither team reach 50 points as the Sixers carried a 47-46 lead into the break.
Philadelphia extended the lead to eight in the third quarter, only to see the Magic close the period on a 17-6 run, taking a three-point lead in the process.
The Sixers closed to within one with 8:26 remaining, but the Magic again responded and pushed the lead back to 11 with just 2:46 left in the game. The lead remained at 11 with 1:49 to go, when the Sixers suddenly appeared interested and almost pulled off a remarkable comeback.
The team closed the fourth quarter on a 15-5 run, coming up just short in their comeback effort as a desperation Joel Embiid 3-pointer missed at the buzzer.
While the comeback effort was valiant, in all honesty the Sixers didn’t deserve to win the game. They’ve made a habit of lacking focus and effort against “lesser” teams, and that continued Friday night. If Philadelphia had played the entire game, or probably even half of the game, with the same intensity it showed over the final three minutes it likely wins the game going away.
For a team that did a lot of talking in the offseason and preseason about expecting to challenge for the top seed in the East, the continual letdowns against mid and lower-tier teams are unacceptable and if it continues the Sixers will be lucky to have home-court advantage in the first round. You would think that their home dominance would serve to stoke the team’s hunger to have home-court advantage, but so far that doesn’t appear to be the case.
Joel Embiid and Tobias Harris led the way for the Sixers, posting matching double-doubles with 24 points and 11 rebounds each. Josh Richardson added 15 points and six assists, Ben Simmons had 13 points, nine rebounds, seven assists, and four steals, and Al Horford chipped in seven points and five rebounds. It was a disappointing night for the Sixers bench as Furkan Korkmaz, James Ennis III, Trey Burke, and Mike Scott combined for 14 points.
After a dominant performance against the Bucks on Wednesday, it was frustrating to see the Sixers swing all the way to the other end of the spectrum. The trend of constantly playing down to the competition is disturbing, and if the team doesn’t get it corrected it will cost them precious seeding come playoff time.
Things don’t get any easier for the Sixers, who will play the second of a back-to-back tomorrow in Miami against the Heat. [lawrence-related id=22240,22227]