Turnovers were the name of the game for the Philadelphia 76ers, who lost tonight at home against the Indiana Pacers. In the name of playing their butts off, the Sixers pushed the pace in both their full court and half court offenses, and the turnovers came when they pushed too hard. Philly committed 5 halfway through the first quarter which set the tone for the rest of the night. Bobbling the ball, drives and dishes to no one, offensive fouls, you name it, the Sixers did it, and ended the night with 29 turnovers, topping their 27 from Monday night against the Dallas Mavericks.
With all of these turnovers, the Sixer offense couldn’t get into a groove, besides a few minutes in the second quarter. Philly had a lot of trouble getting the ball to Jahlil Okafor and instead relied on more drives to the basket, not what you want from a team lacking an elite (or good) ball handler. Many times the ball handler could not shake off his initial defender and had no clear view to the rim or a pass for an easy bucket, with a perfect example of this being JaKarr Sampson driving to the basket late in the fourth quarter. After being unable to see the basket or a teammate on his drive, he kept dribbling, even making a full 360 degree turn around the restricted area, and ended up putting up a contested shot. It was ugly, ugly offense indeed.
Philadelphia’s only hope would have been to play lock-down defense against Indiana, even keeping Paul George in check. They executed this plan in the first quarter and for most of the second but could not keep it up, as PG-13 went on a one-man run to extend the Pacers’ lead right before the half. He continued his barrage to start the second half along with the rest of the Pacers, extending their lead and tallying another game in which the Sixers are blown out in the third. The rest of the game was a cakewalk for Indiana with the 76ers not posing a serious threat.
Player of the Game
It’s almost impossible to give this award to anyone from the Philadelphia 76ers with such a poor showing. TJ McConnell had a decent game with a career-high 16 points and chipping in 6 rebounds, but coughed up 5 turnovers to 3 assists. There was a Nik Stauskas sighting in the beginning of the game, but he could not keep up his positive momentum. Even Philly’s best players, Jahlil Okafor and Nerlens Noel, never made a lasting impact on the game.
I have to give this award to Philadelphia’s game announcers, Alaa Abdelnaby and Mike Zumoff, for keeping this game interesting despite what happened on the court. While I do miss Malik Rose behind the mic, Alaa’s positivity is engaging and he knows when to talk about the team when they are performing well, and when to talk about other topics when the Sixers start to stagnate, even having a small running joke about Alaa and his Duke-iness. Compared to other announcers they are not too homerish and provide more level-headed analysis than others out there… and yes, that was a subtle shot to Tommy Heinsohn and his Celtics.
One more thing: You HAVE to see the following play by Jahlil:
This kid is something special.
Next: Philadelphia 76ers Reasons for Optimism #1 They'll Eventually Win
Looking Ahead
Philadelphia ends their home stand and heads down to Charlotte to face the Hornets on Friday. Will they win before December?