Sixers blow 15-point second-half lead, fall to Memphis Grizzlies

Nick Nurse stood with his arms raised and hands clasped over his head, the 76ers’ coach seemingly trying to will his team to a defensive stop.

Instead, Paul Reed committed a foul on the Memphis Grizzlies’ Vince Williams Jr., who then made the go-ahead free throws with less than four minutes to play. And the Sixers never regained what had been a 15-point second-half lead.

The result was one of the more disastrous defeats of the season for the Sixers, who fell 115-109 Wednesday night at the Wells Fargo Center.

“We kind of dried up from everywhere [offensively],” Nurse said after the game. “ ... We just really needed to guard the ball a little better and get a defensive rebound or two, and probably would have been in better shape.”

The loss came against a Grizzlies team that continues to be plagued by injuries — they played Wednesday without standouts Desmond Bane, Marcus Smart, and Ja Morant — during its forgettable 22-41 season. The Sixers’ loss also was another blow in the tightly packed Eastern Conference standings, where fourth and eighth place were separated by a half-game entering Wednesday.

Buddy Hield gave the Sixers (35-27) a last-ditch chance, burying a three-pointer to cut the Grizzlies’ lead to 111-109 with 24.9 seconds remaining before Memphis’ Luke Kennard and Jake LaRavia hit four game-clinching free throws.

But the game turned at the start of the fourth quarter, when the Grizzlies began the period on a 30-11 run to turn that double-digit deficit into a 111-104 lead with less than two minutes to play. Following Williams’ free throws, the Grizzlies extended their advantage when LaRavia collected an offensive rebound and putback dunk, before Jaren Jackson Jr. sank four free throws.

During that final quarter, the Grizzlies totaled 11 second-chance points, went 11-of-11 from the free-throw line, and held the Sixers to 7-of-28 from the floor and 1-of-7 from beyond the arc.

The Sixers were also shorthanded Wednesday, beyond the ongoing absence of reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Joel Embiid. All-Star Tyrese Maxey guard remained sidelined with a concussion — Nurse said before the game that Maxey was still experiencing “very mild” symptoms Wednesday — while veteran newcomer Kyle Lowry rested on the second night of a back-to-back.

That left Cameron Payne (16 points on 6-of-17 shooting, five rebounds, four assists) and Jeff Dowtin (10 points, six assists), both of whom have been with the Sixers for less than a month, as the primary ballhandlers. Reed (17 points, 11 rebounds) was also productive before fouling out in his return to the starting center spot, after Mo Bamba held that role the previous three games.

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Kelly Oubre Jr. remained a sixth-man spark with a team-high 25 points on 7-of-21 shooting from the floor, anchoring the Sixers’ 43 bench points. But they were hampered by another ineffective offensive night from Tobias Harris, who went 3-of-12 from the floor finishing with eight points and six rebounds.

Following a sluggish defensive start, the Sixers outscored the Grizzlies, 33-19, in the second quarter and led by as many as 12 points in the frame. Aiding that turnaround were 16 second-chance points, 13 points off eight Memphis turnovers, and a 30-16 edge in bench points. That advantage reached 15 in the third quarter, on a follow dunk by Nico Batum.

The Sixers will host the New Orleans Pelicans Friday night, before playing two consecutive road games against the New York Knicks on Sunday and Tuesday.