Sixers Flounder in Loss to Pacers

By Sean Kennedy (@PhillyFastBreak)

Indiana 112, Philadelphia 85 – Box Score

31 turnovers. That’s a week’s worth of giveaways for a lot of teams. But for the Philadelphia 76ers, they’re generous enough to share the ball with the opposition that many times all in one night. It was truly a rare occasion from even a team with chronic turnover issues.

31 turnovers is the most by an NBA team since Larry Hughes and the Warriors turned it over 31 times in 2000: https://t.co/pXrwdvRpHc

— Derek Bodner (@DerekBodnerNBA) November 19, 2015

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Tasked with a winnable game against a Pacers team missing both George Hill and Rodney Stuckey, the Sixers were still within 3 points as late as with 4 and a half minutes remaining in the second quarter. However, Philadelphia turnovers on 3 of the next 4 possessions helped spark a 9-0 Indiana run that gave the Pacers a double-digit lead, which only snowballed from there.

That sequence was capped off by the Sixers getting a technical foul for having too many men on the court. Brett Brown yelled at Jahlil Okafor to get in the game, and Jah went right out onto the court rather than heading to the scorer’s table, which would have necessitated someone coming out. Usually, I would say it’s an innovative strategy for the Sixers to try and grab that first win by sneaking an extra guy out there. Wednesday night, though, it probably would have just been one more player to help turn the ball over.

Paul George showed he’s fully healthy after sitting out most of last season, dropping 34 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 steals in just 32 minutes. Aside from that, there’s not much more to say about this contest. It was arguably the ugliest game of the year in a season which has had plenty of ugly games already. For everyone’s sake, lets hope Friday night’s effort against Charlotte is markedly improved.

Other Game Notes:

• Nerlens Noel has largely not been the same player since his wrist injuries last week. Tonight was the nadir for him. Noel recorded just 2 points and 3 rebounds, and those weren’t even his worst numbers on the evening (see tweet below). It also came out that Noel “has had some knee problems with some tendinitis”. Good times in Philadelphia.

Nerlens Noel failed to record a blocked shot, steal, or assist for the first time in his NBA career. #sixers

— Derek Bodner (@DerekBodnerNBA) November 19, 2015

• Robert Covington has yet to shake off the rust from his injury-forced absence. RoCo hit just 4-13 shot, missing all 5 of his three point attempts (including one ugly airball). He also had 4 turnovers, which was just about obligatory if you took the court in a Sixers uniform Wednesday night. I’m still going to give him another couple games to get his legs back, but Covington has still yet to even make a three on the season.
• T.J. McConnell scored a career-high 16 points, as teams are noticing his reluctance to shoot and giving him all sorts of space. To his credit, he did make 7 of 9 shots, including 2-3 from behind the arc. The shift in defensive style against him is hurting his playmaking though, as he only recorded 3 assists against 5 turnovers. Any of the outside shooters making a shot or two probably would have helped though.
• Let’s end on a somewhat positive note, as Okafor was able to score against the Pacers front line. He finished with 14 points on 6-11 shooting, showing off his ability to face up against his defender and go to the basket with a couple nice moves in the first half. Okafor was also a team-worst -30 on the evening, and committed 3 turnovers with zero blocks, so it wasn’t all good for the rookie. Nor was it for any Sixer on this night.