Sixers Now Alone at the Bottom

By Sean Kennedy (@PhillyFastBreak)

Houston 116, Philadelphia 114 – Box Score

The Philadelphia 76ers have now lost 27 straight games, which is a longer string of defeats than other any team in US major professional sports history. In a lot of ways, this isn’t too surprising. Given both the construction of the roster and the inordinate number of injuries the team has faced this season, losses should be expected more often than not. However if you’ve watched the team play over the past week or so, at least for the first three-and-a-half quarters of games, you would find this drought impossible to believe.

For the fourth straight game, the Sixers held a significant lead over their opponent in the fourth quarter. This team around, they were up 7 on Houston with under 7 minutes remaining in the contest. The former Rockets on the Philadelphia roster were playing possessed. Robert Covington finished with a career-high 28 points, hitting 6 of 9 from three, while tallying 7 rebounds, 5 assists, and 8 steals (also a career-high for RoCo). You could see he wanted this game more than most, not only to avoid that 27th straight defeat, but also to prove something to his old organization.

Meanwhile, Isaiah Canaan also had a nice offensive performance, recording 23 points on 4-10 shooting from three. Canaan did not want to come out of the game when Brett Brown brought in rebounders for an intentional missed free throw opportunity in the closing seconds, as if his 5’11” frame wouldn’t matter because he wanted it badly enough.

Yet, it wasn’t enough, as the Sixers once again fell apart down the stretch. A 10-0 Houston run sparked by last year’s MVP runner-up James Harden turned the game around for the Rockets. The Beard went off for his third-career 50-point game, finishing with an even five-zero, to go along with 9 rebounds, 8 assists, and 9 turnovers. During that run, he scored 7 straight points and then set up Corey Brewer in the corner to get fouled on a three. After a tough Jahlil Okafor turnaround jumper finally went down, Harden dropped another quick 5 points to put his team in a commanding lead.

It wasn’t even particularly bad defense by the Sixers. Harden simply did his usual contortions driving through the lane to draw contact, hit step-back threes that are basically unguardable, and did things that only someone capable of playing at a MVP level can do. It must be nice to have something like that in your back pocket, even for a Rockets team that’s seeing their own season spiral out of control.

As for the Sixers, they’ll have to summon up the willpower to come back from yet another heartbreaking defeat and try to find their first win Sunday in Memphis. The organization also has to deal with the whole cloudy Okafor off-the-court situation, as in addition to his street fight Wednesday night, it’s come out that he tried to punch a guy in Old City in early October, only to get a gun pulled on him. It’s not great news that the team’s rookie big man’s go-to-move isn’t a drop-step in the post, but rather a right hook outside the club. We’ll see where that leads in coming days and whether the Sixers can finally pull this monkey off their back.

Other Game Notes:

• Jerami Grant had one of his better games, scoring 18 points on 3-7 shooting from behind the arc. Grant started at power forward in place of the injured Nerlens Noel (knee soreness), and also played long stretches of the fourth quarter at center. It would seem the Jerami Grant at small forward days are over.
• Although the Sixers were without Noel, they did get some reinforcements with Richaun Holmes and Nik Stauskas both returning to the lineup. With Kendall Marshall and Tony Wroten’s returns just a couple weeks away, we may see a full team on the court for Philadelphia before too long.