Entering Monday night, the Philadelphia 76ers hold a 7-5 record, and many of those wins were built off of furious comeback wins. While the team has faced a lot of huge deficits this season, they have been able to mount some serious rallies in fourth quarters, so they have definitely been the best escapees in the campaign thus far.
Much to the chagrin of fans, the 76ers have trailed in most of their games this season — the biggest culprit being their putrid showings after the halftime break. Through 12 games, Philly is the lowest-scoring team in the league in third quarters, norming just 24.2 markers per game during that frame. Conversely, they are the fourth-highest scoring unit in fourth quarters, averaging 30.1 points therein.
These 76ers have become your typical comeback kids, but this strength of theirs, while impressive, is far from a sustainable design. It definitely has an expiration date in and of itself, and the team will be much better off avoiding being in those situations where they have to overexert themselves to complete huge comebacks in the first place.
The 76ers cannot be comfortable being the comeback kids this season
Having the ability to erase huge deficits is pretty indicative of this team’s raw talent and grit, but the very fact that they often find themselves having to get out of these early holes is a sign of their lack of consistency for a full 48 minutes.
The 76ers cannot get comfortable making that into a habit of theirs. If they want to make a deep run in the playoffs, they will have to level up their maturity as a group, and that means avoiding being down by a lot to their opponents and play catch-up each and every time.
Against teams with ample experience and solid veteran presence, the 76ers will find it much more difficult to stage those comebacks they have grown accustomed to doing so far this season. Of course, that will be more frequent when the playoffs begin and teams start to put a bigger emphasis on starting strong.
So far, the 76ers have become slow starters after the halftime break, and that is a recipe for disaster. As everyone knows, teams make the most drastic adjustments before the third quarter begins, and the 76ers being laggards during that period is a concerning trend moving forward.
Hopefully, as the season progresses, the team will be able to snap that trend, lest they risk laying the groundwork for another early and disappointing playoff exit.