GRADES: Houston Rockets 118, Philadelphia 76ers 108
By Ashley Foltz
The Philadelphia 76ers lose their fourth straight on the road to the James Harden-led Houston Rockets.
Much like the previous games for the Philadelphia 76ers, this was a rough one to watch all the way through.
The Sixers held the NBA’s second-best offensive team, the Houston Rockets, to just 20 points in the first quarter, which showed a tremendous amount of hope for the rest of the game. That hope faded quickly.
Ben Simmons started off the game defending Russell Westbrook but ended up switching onto James Harden eventually. Simmons held his own for the most part, but Harden eventually figured out how to work the Sixers’ defense.
Trey Burke immediately showed why he shouldn’t be a part of a trade package in the near future. In just five minutes on the court, he scored five points. He ended the half with nine points, two assists, six rebounds, and shot 4-for-4 from the field.
The second quarter started off with five easy points for the Rockets in just one trip down the court. During the non-Harden minutes, the Sixers really needed to take advantage, but sloppy plays and unwise shots led to the Rockets to gain even more momentum.
The Sixers allowed 23 points in about five minutes in the second half. This was mostly due to not hustling back on defense in transition. Clint Capela destroyed Joel Embiid down the court a handful of times.
PG. Philadelphia 76ers. BEN SIMMONS. A+. <strong>42 mins | 29 pts | 13 reb | 11 ast | 3 stl | 4 blk | 3 TO | 13-20 FG | 0-0 3PT| 3-7 FT | 5 PF | – 8 |</strong><p>Earning his 25th career triple-double of his career, Simmons showed up to play tonight. He seemed to be the only Sixers to get back on defense and attacked the rim throughout the game. This was probably one of Simmons’ best games this season.</p>
Philadelphia 76ers. JOEL EMBIID. C+. <strong>33 mins | 20 pts | 12 reb | 3 ast | 2 stl | 1 blk | 3 TO | 7-17 FG | 0-3 3PT| 6-6 FT | 4 PF | – 4 | </strong><p>After missing the previous horrendous game on New Year’s Eve, I thought Embiid would have wanted to show out and step up against the Rockets. He made some significant plays on defense but offensively he was lacking a bit.</p>. C
Philadelphia 76ers. TREY BURKE. A. <strong>16 mins | 11 pts | 3 reb | 3ast | 0 stl | 0 blk | 1 TO | 5-7 FG | 0-1 3PT| 1-2 FT | 3 PF | – 1 | </strong><p>Earning more minutes tonight due to the absence of <a rel=. PG
SG. Philadelphia 76ers. TOBIAS HARRIS. B+. <strong>42 mins | 24 pts | 2 reb | 2 ast | 0 stl | 1 blk | 0 TO | 8-18 FG | 2-4 3PT| 6-6 FT | 3 PF | – 7 |</strong><p>Nothing super extraordinary from Harris tonight. He did his job, shot fine from the field, had a few assists and rebounds. He’s becoming more consistent in this sense which is nice to see.</p>
F. <strong>34 mins | 7 pts | 8 reb | 2 ast | 0 stl | 0 blk | 0 TO | 3-8 FG | 1-4 3PT| 0-0 FT | 1 PF | – 6 |</strong><p>Horford has just been nonexistent in the past few games. He contributes a few assists here and there and grabs a sprinkling of rebounds when he’s on the court, but other than that he’s not adding anything to help this struggling team.</p>. PF. Philadelphia 76ers. AL HORFORD
Josh Richardson got his first points of the game off a three about halfway through the third, which was not ideal. A minute later he hit another which shed some light on the game, but that was the last of the light the Sixers would see. The Sixers cut their 16-point deficit down to a six-point deficit, but trailed by 15 points again almost immediately. The only stops the whole quarter appeared to come from the back of the rim which deflected a few of Westbrook’s dunks.
Three-point shooting for the Sixers was an absolute mess. They went 6-for-24 from beyond against the Rockets’ 10-for-30. A steal by Furkan Korkmaz, who got in position to get Tobias Harris a dunk, cut the Sixers’ deficit to just five. It was of course then is answered right away by a Rockets dunk.
Next. Richardson's shooting earns Player of the Week. dark
The Sixers will finally head back to the Wells Fargo Center to hopefully come together and break this unbearable stretch of losses.