The Philadelphia 76ers continue to have their struggles on the road after they lost their third straight game to begin this four-game trip on Monday to the Miami Heat. This particular loss was very concerning as they gave up a ridiculous 137 points with 81 coming in the second half.
On top of that, they were not able to find an offensive groove in the second half as they were not able to keep up which led to a blowout loss.
The frustration levels were clearly shown in the second half as they had their issues on both ends of the floor. Tobias Harris, who had a miserable night scoring just six points on 3-for-12 shooting and he missed all six of his attempts from deep, knows the frustration is there, but they need to stay positive.
“I mean, obviously, we’re frustrated,” said Harris. “We have to stay positive and battle through. It’s just a part of the season. You have your highs and you have your lows. It’s really how you weather that storm and get through it. Obviously, we want to play better and be better. We have expectations for one another. We have to keep our head high and just be ready for the next one and go out and learn from this game and keep going.”
The Sixers had a big issue in the second half and that was not getting Joel Embiid the ball. He only had four shots in the second half and it was a big issue that needed to be addressed.
Coach Brett Brown and Embiid had different viewpoints on it, leading to more frustration, but Harris suggests the zone defense caused the issues with Embiid.
“They have a good zone,” he said. “They’re well-presented in the zone with length. They do a good job with filling the gaps and where they know where Joel is going to be or just clogging up the middle of the lane. Every time they’ve presented a zone against us, it’s been pretty tough for us.”
Tobias Harris reacts to the zone defense the Heat employed and how it bothered Joel Embiid #Sixers pic.twitter.com/QxDzBisnCw
— Ky Carlin (@Ky_Carlin) February 4, 2020
To Harris’ point, the Heat won three of the four matchups this season and the zone defense was a key component of each win. They were able to frustrate the Sixers enough to get them out of rhythm and they were able to get enough rhythm on their offensive end to really get these wins for Miami.
On an overall level, the Sixers now have to got to focus up and get a win on Thursday against the Milwaukee Bucks. They cannot have another winless road trip. They’ve had a few of those already on the season. [lawrence-related id=24891,24883,24875]