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After starting the season with five-straight victories the Philadelphia 76ers were riding high. As a result, they had climbed all the way to the top of ESPN’s NBA power rankings. But a lot can change in a week’s time, and after a thoroughly disappointing West Coast trip during which the team dropped three out of four contests, the Sixers have suffered a precipitous fall in this week’s edition of the rankings.
Philadelphia has fallen all the way to the eight spot, trailing the Lakers, Clippers, Bucks, Celtics, Jazz, Nuggets, and Raptors. Two of those teams, the Jazz and Nuggets, handed the Sixers losses during the west coast swing.
Falling seven spots in a single week hurts, but it’s hard to say it was undeserved. The Celtics are off to a 7-1 start, while Toronto is 7-2 and coming off a win against the Lakers that snapped Los Angeles’ seven-game winning streak. Meanwhile, Denver also has seven wins in addition to its recent win over the Sixers, while Utah is even with the Sixers at 6-3 but also holds a head-to-head victory over Philadelphia.
The events of the West Coast trip were disappointing, but it’s also fair to take them with a grain of salt. West Coast trips are inherently difficult, and the fact that it came early in the season as the new-look Sixers look to build chemistry only added to the difficulty. The team was without Joel Embiid for two of the games due to his suspension and was without Ben Simmons for basically one and three-quarters of the trip after he was injured early in the game against the Jazz.
Despite all that, it’s also fair to be concerned. The team was in position to win both the Pheonix and Utah games but failed to do so, and it blew a 21-point lead in the loss to Denver. The fourth-quarter offense was anemic against the Nuggets and the Sixers settled for too many difficult shots. In addition, turnovers continue to be a serious concern. Adding to the frustration is the fact that Joel Embiid’s conditioning once again appeared to be a factor in the three-game losing streak and Ben Simmons has yet to show any signs of progression.
It’s incredibly early and way too soon to be pushing any panic buttons, but to be sitting at 6-3 after a 5-0 start is frustrating. The recurring issues are problematic, but we also don’t want to overreact to a tough stretch of games during which the team wasn’t really at full strength.
The Sixers got back on track with a win over the Hornets on Sunday and will look to build on that Tuesday when they host the Cleveland Cavaliers. Hopefully, the team will start climbing its way back up the rankings and look more like the team that was good enough to hold the top spot just a week ago. [lawrence-related id=19074,19064,19038,19021,19002]
