Having lost 135-114 against the Golden State Warriors last week, the Philadelphia 76ers had the chance at getting revenge.
On the back of multiple Joel Embiid-inspired performances in Los Angeles, the Philadelphia 76ers faced the reigning NBA champions, the Golden State Warriors. On the west-coast road-trip, the 76ers had a strong first-half performance against the Warriors but fell off during the third quarter.
This happened again as the 76ers gave up a 24-point lead in the third quarter, but was anyone surprised? The Warriors are the most deadly third-quarter team in the lead. The Warriors like to give their opponent a chance, then to only blow them out of the water in the second-half.
The talent of Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons was on show in the first half, they single-handedly dominated the Warriors. The reigning NBA champs had no answer for them. Conversely, the duo was very quiet in the second-half, as were every other 76er.
The Philadelphia 76ers had a tremendous start to the game, perhaps the best in recent memory. We were all in amazement as we witnessed the 76ers put 47 points in the opening quarter on the reigning NBA champions, with much help from four three-pointers from Robert Covington. This is the most point given up by the Warriors in a quarter this season. The 76ers were looking pretty with a 47-28 lead.
The excellent performance continued as the 76ers led the Warriors 74-52 at the half. But as we all know, the Warriors are the most lethal team in the third quarter in the NBA. No lead is ever safe against this team.
As expected, the Warriors mounted a great comeback in the third quarter. What was puzzling was Brett Brown had a lineup consisting of T.J. McConnell, J.J. Redick, Luwawu-Cabarrot, Dario Saric and Richaun Holmes whilst Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson were still in the game. This lineup allowed the Warriors to cut the lead down to five, a Curry scored 20 of his 35 points in this quarter.
It didn’t help that the 76ers missed their first 14 three-point attempts in the second-half, they just couldn’t buy a bucket.
Ultimately, it was a very disappointing loss considering the lead the 76ers had. However, it’s a great learning curve for the young guys, let’s hope they learn from this second-half meltdown.
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