Back to back disappointing losses for the Sixers

If you are like me, for a minute in January you were worried the Sixers were not going to end up with the worst record in the league, and intern, would not have the best chance at securing the number one pick in the lottery. Well, I no longer have that fear, and neither should you. The Sixers took part in their second straight game that made you wonder if the team with “PHILA” written across their chest had any desire to be on the floor. Washington scored 38 first quarter points, 20 of which came in the paint.

There was no one individual who gave the Sixers trouble rather it was poor team defense that lead to easy buckets for the struggling Wizards. The Sixers switched on every pick and roll which resulted in bigs out at the three point line and guards responsible for defending the rim. The troublesome part of the game was that most of this poor defense came in the half court setting. One player who stood out in a negative way was Nik Stauskas. The former first round pick played very poorly on the defense end. He started the game guarding Bradley Beal who finished with a team high 22 points in just under 32 minutes of action.  

The team did not help their defensive woes on the other end of the floor by having a poor night shooting. Ish Smith had 22 point on 11 of 25 shooting. Isiah Canaan was one of the few players who actually played well. He had 18 points, but more impressively he was a plus 13 in a game were the Sixers trailed by twenty for large stretches. Okafor was hamstringed by foul trouble which never allowed him to get into the normal offensive grove Sixer fans have become accustom to seeing. They did make a third quarter push that gave fans a glimmer of hope, but they never cut the lead to anything less than 9. This push seemed to happen because the Wizards had been leading by such a comfortable margin for so much of the game. In the last 96 minutes of basketball the Sixers have not had the lead.  

They lost by twelve, but the score did not reflect game; I would be writing with the same tone if they had lost by twenty. The Sixers will be back in action Saturday night at the Wells Fargo Center when they square off against the Nets.