The Philadelphia 76ers lost this one in typical Sixers fashion, turning the ball over 24 times on the night.
This one was ugly from start to finish, but it got especially bad at the end. The Philadelphia 76ers, after leading by a solid margin for most of the night, struggled to get anything going down the stretch before eventually falling to an undermanned Grizzlies squad.
Memphis isn’t good, which made this loss even more frustrating. They’re a below-average team that was missing key pieces, so there wasn’t much of an excuse for under-performing in this one. The Sixers held the advantage across the board, and the score sheet showed that in all but one area: turnovers.
Philly turned the ball over 24 times, going on a giveaway spree in the fourth quarter. The Grizzlies were able to ride the hot hands of Myke Henry and Tyreke Evans to take the lead early in the fourth, while dreadful late-game execution kept the game out of Philly’s reach.
For the first three quarters, things were still pretty ugly. The Sixers led throughout, stretching their lead to 14 at one point in the third quarter. The oddest sequence of the night game in the third, when Wayne Selden tried to dunk just on Justin Anderson.
Selden was pushed in mid-air by Anderson, but the extent of that contact was debatable. Selden had some words afterwards and was (questionably) given his second technical foul, which was followed by a Flagrant One on J.A. That highlighted some poor officiating that went both ways.
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While the fourth quarter problems with overshadow a lot of what happened tonight, Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot was an overwhelming positive, especially in the first half. He shot 6-8 from three while putting together a season-high 20 points. This was the second straight start in which TLC stepped up big.
The team needed that with both J.J. Redick and Jerryd Bayless out.
Joel Embiid was quiet by his standards and dealt with some foul trouble, but still put together 15 points and 14 boards. He made some poor decisions down the stretch, but the whole team compounded that with laughable ineptitude in the final minutes.
Speaking of poor decisions, Robert Covington might have — quite literally — thrown the game away. After the Sixers forced a steal on an inbounds pass trailing by two with nine seconds left, Covington gathered the ball and shot a contested fadeaway from the corner.
The Sixers didn’t need three points and had plenty of time to kick the ball out and look for a better shot off some penetration. It was a rushed shot and one that Covington simply shouldn’t have taken. It inevitably sealed the win for Memphis.
Next: Sixers, Eagles should compete for a long time
Now sitting at 22-21, the Sixers will look to bounce back Wednesday against the Chicago Bulls. This was a disappointing loss in what has been an overwhelmingly positive January for Brett Brown’s squad.