Philadephia 76ers Lose To Sacramento Kings

The Philadelphia 76ers lost sight of what should have been a win in the fourth quarter on Wednesday night to the Sacramento Kings.

It was the usual suspects for the Philadelphia 76ers in their loss to the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday night. Turnovers, late missed shots, and letting their opponents get the best of them late were all the culprits that led to the Sixers losing by 4 points in their final game before the All-Star break.

The first half and most of the 3rd quarter was all as it should have been for the Sixers. They were coming in hot off of a decent showing in their last game, and going up against a team on the road who had just dropped their fourth straight game. Despite being without Nerlens Noel, the team was still active on defense especially in the blocking front with Jerami Grant and Jahlil Okafor leading the way. The Sixers finished the game with 10 blocks, and they lead the NBA in blocks per game. Grant continues to show he is a blocking machine, and Okafor proved that when necessary, he can block too. Still, he wasn’t great on help defense tonight and on several occasions backdoor cuts got the best of him.

Okafor was having his way with anyone who challenged him, and by the end of the game he tied his career high in points with 26, 18 of those coming in the first half.

DeMarcus Cousins faired well with the big fella, scoring 28 and bringing in 12 rebounds. It’s not incredibly clear who won the one-on-one battle between the two, so I’m going to declare this one a draw.

It helped that the Sixers were hitting shots, as they ended the first half shooting 48 percent from the field. The Kings shot poorly, especially from beyond the arc hitting just 25 percent of their 3-pointers on the night.

One big shot came from Nik Stauskas at the halftime buzzer, as he hit a near-halfcourt shot to push the Sixers halftime score to 63. Nik ended the game with 16 points on 60 percent shooting and 80 percent shooting from beyond the arc. A nice nod to his former team.

Richaun Holmes scored 6 points in the first half, but wasn’t played much in the second despite his tough play and good effort to get to the hoop. Carl Landry was a notable face in the first half as well that hasn’t gotten much playing time lately, and he too was absent in the second half.

More from The Sixer Sense

The Sixers 19 turnovers and the 26 points the Kings got from those turnovers, however, pushed them to a win. Jerami Grant being out for the crucial final minutes with an injury really hurt the Sixers with Noel already out as well.

The Sixers fell apart late in the fourth, but their derailing started as soon as the quarter began. Turnovers began, and Cousins started to heat up alongside Rajon Rondo. Rondo ended the game with 15 assists and 14 points. Another player the Sixers had trouble containing was Rudy Gay who had 22. Darren Collison came off of the bench with 25 points.

Player of the game

The player of the game has to be Robert Covington who finished the game with 29 points, 6 steals, and 5 rebounds. Although he did have 7 turnovers, he showed up to play, and shot well from the field and beyond the arc. He went 7-of-11 overall and missed just two of his 6 shots from beyond the arc. Especially in the fourth quarter, he seemed to be the only player sinking his shots, and getting him and his hot hand the ball was clearly the mission. Had the Sixers won this game, they would have had to credit almost all of it to Covington’s late effort to win the game.

But of course, yet again, the Sixers failed to close out a game even against one of the NBA’s worst teams.

Draft implications

The Kings have been steadily on the decline, but as usual, a Sixers loss puts them closer to the best odds at the number one overall draft pick. As it stands now the Sixers have the best odds at the number one overall pick, and the Kings have the ninth-best odds. Remember, in this upcoming draft (and the next one as well), the Sixers get the better of their pick or the Kings pick.

To keep track of all of the Sixers draft picks, Derek Bodner has a well laid out year-by-year road map on what picks the Sixers own on his website.

Next: Sixers Offseason Needs: Shooting Guards

Next up

The Sixers have off for quite a while due to the All-Star break. Their next game is February 19th on the road against the New Orleans Pelicans. Before that though, Nerlens Noel (assuming he will be back from his knee injury) and Jahlil Okafor will represent the Sixers on the USA team for the Rising Stars Challenge on Friday in Toronto.