Some Fundamental Reasons Why the Sixers Lose Games

The Philadelphia 76ers have now lost seven games, and many of their losses are easily explained with fundamentals and basic stats.

It’s no secret to anyone who has paid attention to the NBA this season that the Philadelphia 76ers still are not that great. Although there season has been blessed with Joel Embiid highlights, they still have a big ol’ goose egg in the win column.

The Sixers have come close on several games. On Wednesday, they took the Indiana Pacers to overtime before losing. Three of their other games were lost by five points or less, and were decided in the final minutes of the game.

Some people have dug deep, pointing to flaws in the Sixers’ approach to late-game situations and substitutions. Other things that have been pointed out are the pick-and-roll offense and the failure to switch and rotate correctly on defense.

More from The Sixer Sense

• 3 Sixers players who could help Team USA Basketball
• 76ers 2k24 ratings: 3 most underrated players on Philadelphia roster
• 76ers head coach Nick Nurse bares lofty plans for Paul Reed this season
• Grade the Trade: 76ers swap Tobias Harris for superstar PG in mock deal
• Sixers Podcast: Danny Green returns + James Harden bombshell

But maybe things are a bit simpler than that. Sure, those things are factors, and do contribute to the Sixers ultimately losing games. And those factors do contribute to the other more fundamental factors I’m about to bring up. But sometimes things are easier than we like to make them.

Attempted field goals

You can’t score the basketball if you don’t shoot it enough, and compared to the rest of the league, the Sixers really aren’t doing a job of even attempting field goals. The Sixers are 28th overall in field goals attempted. Sure, their field goal success rate is pretty low at 43 percent (26th in the league) but it makes it even worse when you aren’t really attempting that many shots, either.

To make matters worse, the Sixers’ opponents are taking more shots, and also hitting them at a higher rate.

Attempted 3-pointers

Since the Sixers aren’t attempting many shots, period, it should be no surprise that the 3-pointers are not falling either. The Sixers are better in this respect, but still fall in the last 50 percent of the league at 16th overall in attempted 3-pointers.

Somehow, however, they keep their opponents low, sitting at seventh overall, showing the Sixers have been able to keep other teams from absolutely destroying them from outside of the arc.

Not only are the Sixers taking less 3-pointers than their opponents, they are sinking them at a lower rate.

Turnovers

Who knows if we will ever be done talking about turnovers with the Philadelphia 76ers. So far this year the team is turning the ball over 17.3 times per game, which is 18th in the league. Their opponents are only turning it over 12.6 times per game, which is the worst opponent ranking in the league. The Sixers need to close that margin.

Free-throws

The Sixers sit at dead last in the league in both free-throws attempted and free-throw percentage, something that has to be improved. Not only are the Sixers not getting to the charity stripe, but they aren’t making their shots there when they do get there.

Their opponents aren’t either, however, as the Sixers rank at third in the league in opponent free throws made, fifth in free throws attempted, and second in the league in low free throw success rate.

Next: Brett Brown Shines Light on the Winless Start

Free-throws somehow don’t seem to become a large part of the Sixers games this year just yet, but if they can make them a factor, perhaps they could be.