Sixers Botch the Outro in Late Loss to Jazz

By Sean Kennedy

Approaching the franchise-record mark for futility on what was a 15-game losing streak coming into play, it looked like the Sixers were finally going to break that skid and come away with a victory. A 5-0 run capped off by a Tony Wroten dunk tied the game at 91 with just under three minutes left to play. Unfortunately, Philadelphia’s achilles heel came back to bite them, as the Jazz drew up a perfect play out of the timeout to get a wide-open three for Alec Burks in the corner. As opponents have been doing all season, Burks drained the shot, and a number of Sixers shots just rimmed out on ensuing possessions as Utah pulled away for a 104-92 victory. The Sixers are now 4 losses away from the franchise-worst losing streak of 20, also tying the franchise-worst mark with 13 straight home losses in the process.

Aside from the loss, the story of the night was the phenomenal play of Tony Wroten. Slumping a bit of late, the second-year guard busted out in a big way, hitting his first 6 shots from the field, all of them in the paint, on his way to a career-high 30 points. Wroten shot 12-15 on the game, playing with a much more controlled fury in attacking the rim (I even saw him go right once!). Wroten’s play was the main electrifying factor in a night between two teams playing some sloppy, undisciplined basketball.

The Sixers may have been undisciplined, but didn’t lack for effort on the defensive end in this contest. They looked to be double-teaming and gambling for steals more than usual, which did lead to plenty of open threes for the Jazz (10-23 from downtown on the game), but also resulted in a bushel of run-outs for the Sixers. Wroten had 4 steals and Michael Carter-Williams had 5 steals (all in the first half), as he had a loaded line with 7 rebounds and 9 assists as well. Unfortunately, MCW couldn’t finish around the rim, shooting just 2-13 on the night, or the Sixers would have won this game easily. It’s all well and good to go right at the basket when he’s one-on-one with a smaller guard, but it would behoove the rookie to develop a little floater when he’s up against shot-blocking big men like Derrick Favors. Although it was there best chance to break the losing streak given the opponent and the schedule situation for the Jazz, the Sixers never stopped fighting and they’ll have other opportunities going forward. I still don’t believe 36-straight is in the cards.

Notable Observations: 

• Despite scoring 18 points, Thad Young secured zero rebounds in a team-high 39 minutes of action. It was the first time in his career that Thad failed to grab a rebound playing more than 22 minutes. He was certainly giving his all, clearly frustrated with the losing streak and doing everything possible to have it come to an end. Young was going to war with Marvin Williams in the post, trying to score in the final minutes, and also started jawing with Richard Jefferson on the Utah bench. Just a really weird statistical outlier from Thad on the evening.
• Eric Maynor twice turned the ball over needlessly right before the end of a quarter. In the third quarter, Diante Garrett’s shot missed following the turnovers, but Garrett’s runner at the end of the first quarter successfully beat the buzzer. In both situations, the Jazz trapped Maynor, who then forced a pass out to no one rather than just holding the ball and letting the last few seconds of the quarter tick off. Maynor has to do a better job assessing the risk-reward of those plays; the mistakes were inexcusable.

Tanking Implications:

This performance was like watching a Tony Wroten best-of clips compilation. Despite his team-worst -19 plus/minus on the game, I would attribute that more to his anchoring the second units, where he was literally the only player capable of scoring for long stretches, than a true measure of his impact on the game. MCW showed flashes of his stat-stuffing ways, excluding his inability to finish at the rim on the night, and the team fought back to make it a tie ballgame in the final minutes. Honestly, I would have liked to see the Sixers earn a victory here to keep their spirits up, but from a tanking perspective, this was the perfect outcome. Milwaukee better win a few more games. 5/5 tanks.