The Philadelphia 76ers’ road woes turn into injury woes as Joel Embiid exits early with a reported shoulder sprain.
A road loss to one of the worst teams in the Eastern Conference is always a call for concern. The level of play from the Philadelphia 76ers of late is alarming, and potentially an indication of the team’s near future.
Late in the first quarter, Joel Embiid bumped into Ante Zizic, which reportedly resulted in a shoulder sprain. A trip to the locker room, a return to the bench, and then finally a retreat back to the locker room spelled the end of the night for the star center.
The team’s road woes have been well articulated as their home/road splits are approaching historic levels. As unexplainable as it is, the blame has to eventually fall on Brett Brown. This is a game recap, but the game simply can’t be assessed properly without discussing the lack of innovation in play calling and the repeated lack of fire the team displays when on the road.
Fair or foul, a lot of that has to fall on Brown.
As for the game, Philadelphia trailed Cleveland 28-17 at the conclusion of the first quarter. The team failed to narrow the gap during the second quarter and entered the locker room down 55-44.
The second half provided little to report on as well. A Kevin Love three-pointer pushed the Cleveland lead to as many as 20 points before an 11-0 run by Philadelphia trimmed the lead to only nine, 70-61. Philadelphia entered the fourth trailing 77-68.
Philadelphia had a chance when they trimmed the lead to only five, 85-80, on an Al Horford three-pointer, but a 6-0 Cleveland run quickly stymied any momentum. The rest of the game proceeded to be a race to the buzzer.
The Sixers’ next game is tomorrow night, Feb. 27 at home against the New York Knicks.