The Philadelphia 76ers put forth one of their most disappointing efforts of the season Thursday night in Washington, losing to the Wizards 119-113.
Things started off fine in the nation’s capital, with the Sixers scoring 33 first-quarter points and building an eight-point lead.
The second quarter proved to be an utter disaster as the Sixers were outscored 40-22. The Sixers defense got torched, in particular by Davis Bertans, and the offense couldn’t keep pace. Suddenly, their eight-point lead was a 10-point deficit.
The teams played even in the third quarter, and the Sixers trimmed a few points off the deficit in the fourth but it wasn’t enough as they simply didn’t make enough plays and couldn’t get out of their own way.
Two things jump off the stat sheet. First, the Sixers committed 21 turnovers. That’s simply way too many. Making matters worse, the biggest culprits were the team’s two cornerstones, the guys who handle the ball the most. Joel Embiid had eight while Ben Simmons had seven. That duo holds far too much responsibility for the success of the team to be that careless with the basketball.
The other is the defensive glass. The Sixers won the overall rebounding battle by a narrow 44-41 margin, but surrendered 13 offensive rebounds to the Wizards, subsequently getting outscored 21-9 in second-chance points.
As a result, Washington got up 13 more shot attempts than the Sixers and was able to offset a decent offensive night from the Sixers. Philadelphia shot 53.2% from the field and 46.4% from 3 to Washington’s 45.6% and 40.7%. Between the turnovers and offensive rebounds, the Sixers simply gave the Wizards too many extra opportunities.
Outside of his turnovers, Joel Embiid had a nice game with 26 points and 21 rebounds, earning 14 trips to the free-throw line.
Tobias Harris poured in 33 points to go with seven rebounds and three assists. Ben Simmons added 17 points, 10 assists, five rebounds, and three steals. Al Horford chipped in 11 points and five rebounds, while Furkan Korkmaz added eight points getting the start for Josh Richardson.
The Sixers didn’t get much from their bench, as the second unit contributed just 18 points, 11 of which came from Raul Neto. One bright spot from the bench was the six assists from Matisse Thybulle.
There’s really no way around it, this was a game the Sixers were expected to win and they put forth a sloppy, disappointing effort. The loss marks the 10th straight loss for the Sixers in Washington, where they haven’t won since 2013. It also ends the team’s four-game winning streak. They’ll look to get back on track Saturday when they host the Cleveland Cavaliers.