Warriors Stop the Sixers’ Bid for 82-0 in a Rout

By Sean Kennedy

Following Philadelphia’s 3-0 start to the season, it was all aboard the Sixers bandwagon. National publications were devoting entire columns to why the team was playing so well and placing them first in the league in their power rankings, everyone in the city was buzzing about the superstar potential of Michael Carter-Williams following his Eastern Conference player of the week honors, and even PTI had a segment discussing our boys in red, white, and blue. So naturally, in a high-profile matchup against the Warriors, the Sixers went out and laid an absolute egg in a 110-90 loss. Call it the inevitable regression to the mean, or call it just one of those nights that occur during the course of a long season, but don’t let it completely erase what the team accomplished during the first three games of the season. Just as they obviously weren’t as good as they looked the first three games, they aren’t as bad as a 39-point third quarter deficit would indicate (although we’ll likely see a few more of these games before this season concludes).

So how did the Sixers go from the NBA regular season champions to master tankers overnight? First, as mentioned in our preview, the Warriors were ready to exploit Philadelphia’s terrible three-point defense.  However, the bulk of the damage came from an unexpected source, as former Sixer Andre Iguodala set a new career-high with 7 threes in a game (topping the 6 he made with the Sixers 11/06/05 at Toronto). It was an all-around stellar effort from AI9, who experienced a much better return to Philadelphia than his performance here last year with Denver. In addition to his game-high 32 points, Iguodala also took part in a couple of highlight reel plays, finishing a half-court alley oop from Steph Curry, and making a crazy athletic behind-the-back pass from the corner to David Lee under the basket for a lay-in.

Aside from their poor three-point defense , the team also had problems holding on to the basketball (24 turnovers) and getting back on transition defense. The old adage maintains that teams that want to run don’t like to be run against, which certainly appeared to hold true for the Sixers in this contest, as far too often Warriors players were streaking down court as alone as Frank the Tank heading for the quad.

So the dream of an undefeated season comes to an end and the tanking train appears to be back on track. It’s safe to say that despite being just 4 games into the season, we’ve already seen both the extreme highs and lows from the Sixers. Don’t sweat this game too much, remember Andrew Wiggins.

Box Score

Notable Observations:

• Steph Curry had about the quietest triple-double you’ll ever see with a final line of 18 points, 10 rebounds, 12 assists, and 5 steals. Curry was actually 0-6 from three-point range in the first half while Iguodala stole the show, but scored the first 7 points for the Warriors in the second half as his team opened the floodgates. So even in what was initially an off night, there were plenty of inventive passes and beautiful teardrop shots from the former Davidson guard to amaze the crowd and viewers at home.
• Michael Carter-Williams had one of those games fans expected to see from the raw rookie before setting the world on fire last week and making The Hyphen a household nickname. The Warriors opted to mark MCW with Klay Thompson, whose length appeared to give the Sixers guard some problems. Carter-Williams did finish with 18 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists, but on just 4-17 shooting with 6 turnovers, and with much of those counting stats coming in garbage time (i.e. the entire fourth quarter). Remember, the kid is just 22 years old, mama said there’d be days like this.
• Surprisingly, the Sixer with the best performance was Evan Turner, who ended the night with 18 points on 7-12 shooting and 7 rebounds. Turner started the game 0-5 from the floor, as it looked like he wanted to get into a pissing contest with Iguodala who was hounding him defensively. However, the former #2 overall pick rebounded nicely, hitting his last 7 shots and continuing his efficient start to the season.
• Thad Young struggled in his tough match-up with Warriors power forward David Lee. Lee has a solid post and mid-range offensive game, and used his bulk and skill around the hoop to drop 18 points in just 26 minutes. It was an off game all-around for Young, who also missed a couple of his usual finger-rolls around the basket in addition to losing the outside range from the Chicago game.

Tanking Implications: 

Nights likes these are what many fans envisioned before a 19-0 run to start the season turned the basketball universe on its head. A team that was in large part built to tank went out and lost a game to a possible title contender. Not a huge surprise there. You’d still like to see a more competitive contest and a more consistent effort from Carter-Williams, but as mentioned, generally par for the course with a rookie in his fourth career game. 4/5 tanks.