By Josh Liddick, Sports Talk Philly Staff
The Philadelphia 76ers went on the road to face the Washington Wizards on Thursday night, continuing preseason play before the start of the 2016-2017 season. The Sixers were coming off of a blow-out loss against the Memphis Grizzlies, after previously facing the Wizards in Philly last week.
This time, the Sixers visited the Verizon Center and looked to improve off of their 1-3 record.
Washington controlled the pace of the game early on, as the Wizards outscored the Sixers 26-16 in the first quarter. Limited in minutes played by the Sixers coaching staff, Joel Embiid made the best out of his time on the court, proving himself as the star of the team while Ben Simmons is recovering from injury.
Embiid was in the zone for the fourteen minutes played, as he contributed eleven points and twelve rebounds.
BIG 🏃🏾 MAN 🏃🏾 RUNNIN 🏃🏾 POINT https://t.co/yA932OzNBj
— Philadelphia 76ers (@Sixers) October 13, 2016
Even though the Wizards outplayed the Sixers in most aspects of the game, Embiid played extremely well for a big-man, contributing from the top of key, as well as down low in the post, both to the basket and off of the glass.
JoJo On That Beat https://t.co/BfG92WdH8T
— Philadelphia 76ers (@Sixers) October 13, 2016
Wizards' star point guard John Wall returned from injury in this game, and was trying to become a big contributor for his team Thursday night against Philadelphia. Luckily, the Sixers defense limited Wall to nine points. However, Wall's nine assists helped Bradley Beal score 22 points for Washington.
The Wizards were led by Beal in scoring, Wall led in assists and power-forward Andrew Nicholson led the team with twelve boards.
While the Sixers were all-around led by Embiid with his double-double in only fourteen minutes, they got solid bench play as well. Jerami Grant went 6-10 from the field in twenty minutes off the bench. His fourteen points on the night led the Sixers. Richaun Holmes also came into the game and played twenty minutes, contributing ten rebounds himself. Holmes also shot 4 of 6 from the free throw line.
Free throws seemed to be the main story for the Sixers on the night, as the team shot 86.2% from the stripe. Embiid most notably shot 7-8 from the stripe, as both T.J. McConnell and Dario Saric were a perfect 3-3 and 4-4, respectively.
With the loss, the Sixers fall to 1-4 overall during the preseason. There isn't a whole lot more the team can do to win, especially with big injuries to Simmons, Jahlil Okafor, and Nerlens Noel. The Sixers have one more chance to get a win in the preseason, and snap their four game losing streak, on Saturday as they'll head back home to Philly to face the Detroit Pistons at 7 p.m.
