Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Despite recent slipups, there’s no reason for fans to panic
There was the lack of strength of the late-season schedule, crammed with disinterested opponents.
PHILADELPHIA »
There was the puzzling habit of allowing lesser teams remain competitive into the fourth quarter, underlined by a two-point victory over visiting New Orleans, which didn’t have Zion Williamson or Brandon Ingram.
There was a decline of effectiveness of the second unit, a critical component to what Doc Rivers has in mind for the postseason.
There was the regression of Shake Milton. There was the eternal possibility of Joel Embiid taking a night off. There was the Ben Simmons Thing.
And then, just when fans could find no additional fountains of angst, just when the year 1983 began its annual haunt, just when everything should have been peaking for the Sixers, there was a 103-94 loss Tuesday to the inferior if desperate Indiana Pacers. That one included one of each. Embiid out? Check. Play down to a lesser opponent? Check. Waste a big lead? Check. Simmons lackluster in the stretch? The same.
“Honestly,” said Tobias Harris, “this was a terrible loss for our group.”
There were elements that would suggest that. The defense didn’t rotate well. The shooting was off. The Sixers settled for 13 points in the third quarter and 19 in the fourth.
So is it all unraveling at the wrong time? Did the Sixers peak too early? Did they just sneak through a tough Eastern Conference to (soon) win the No. 1 postseason seed in a compact 72-game season?
And, mostly, can they be revived in time for the tournament?
The best answer came from an industry-leading coach, an $8 million a year value, a proven champion, an NBA legend.
“If you overreact,” Rivers said, “you get yourself in trouble.”
So there it was: The truth, wrapped in one recent response.
Consider that New Orleans game, a one-off made interesting by Stan Van Gundy’s commitment to a 2-3 zone. That’s basketball. That’s why people pay to park at arenas. Something fun could happen. And that turned into a fine professional basketball game.
The Sixers didn’t play their best. But look at what happened in the last 1:10, when there wasn’t a point scored by either team. In particular, consider the last two New Orleans possessions. That’s when the Sixers, seemingly indifferent for much of the second half, turned ferocious at the defensive end. With 19.2 seconds left, they extended their defense just a touch and forced Lonzo Ball into a turnover. Then, with 10.7 seconds to go and New Orleans in position to win or force overtime, George Hill so smothered Eric Bledsoe that the Pelicans’ guard could only drive into trouble and flip a cheap pass toward the ankles of a baffled Willy Hernangomez in the lane. Two possessions. Two chances for New Orleans to make a difference. Two turnovers. Two instances of the Sixers showing what they can be when they decide to be at their best.
The only concern: Waiting too late to make that point.
“We’re not playing well,” Danny Green said. “We are not playing our type of basketball. We’re getting wins, but I don’t like the way we’ve been getting them. We have to be more locked in.
“That’s nothing against the teams in this league. Any team can beat you on any night. But if we want to play like a No. 1 seed or a contender, we need to play to our potential. We need to play better. We are not playing the right way offensively or defensively.”
Of course, the Sixers will have to improve in about a week, when there won’t be any more opportunities to doze past teams like the Oklahoma City Thunder, which did not bring a major-league roster to the Wells Fargo Center two weeks ago and lost by 31.
But Rivers’ team will have earned the top Eastern Conference seed and the advantage that a soon-to-be-filled building will carry. Should it not have any major injuries in the next three games, it will enter the playoffs wellcoached and whole.
The Sixers may not be playing their best at the end of different kind of season. But don’t overreact, as the man said. The Sixers have had troubling hours in recent years. Even if it requires some looking for the signs, this isn’t one.