Cold-shooting Sixers lack fight in a lopsided defeat: ‘It has to be a grind every single night’
The Sixers finished just 9 for 39 from three. The Clippers shot 58% overall. But there was more to this loss than that.
Just before demolition of the Spectrum began in 2010, Julius Erving stepped to a podium outside the former Sixers arena and reminisced about the time security guards dressed like Santa Claus used fistfuls of holiday spirit to subdue troublemakers.
“And I saw this big commotion up in the stands,” said Erving, standing outside the Spectrum then, “and I looked up and the Santa Clauses were throwing haymakers at the unruly fans, and the unruly fans were returning the haymakers, so we had to stop the game to check that out.”
Unfortunately for Nick Nurse, no such fight existed for his team Sunday evening as the host Sixers were clobbered by the Los Angeles Clippers, 125-99, and James Harden on a night in remembrance of the Spectrum.
At one point in the second half, Nurse’s team trailed by 33 points.
“Tonight,” Nurse said, “the physicality, the energy was off. Picked a tough night to kind of have everybody kind of go a little bit energy draining, right?”
On a night when the franchise honored its beloved former arena, the likeness of which adorned center court at the Wells Fargo Center, the Sixers’ woeful perimeter shooting may have conjured memories of bricks among the Spectrum’s rubble.
Perhaps more importantly, it also seemed to lower morale, which also lessened its defensive resolve, a theme Nurse has seen before this season.
“I mean, it’s been affecting us all year that way,” he said. “I think just at the start of the game when you see that you’re actually doing some good things and some of your better players are getting those [good] looks and they just continually don’t go in, I think it does affect your defense in a couple ways.”
The Sixers finished just 9 for 39 from three. Deep misses sometimes yield deep rebounds, Nurse suggested, which can lead to fast breaks that also can break down a defense.
» READ MORE: Sixers can do little right in a blowout home loss to the Clippers
“Then you’re kind of playing a little bit off of some disappointment,” Nurse added, “you did all that work to get a great shot, and it just doesn’t go in again. So, but hopefully those will start going in.”
Rookie sensation Jared McCain’s 18 points led the way, but the price was inefficiency. He finished 3 of 15 from the field with only 2 of 11 makes coming from behind the three-point line.
Still, the Sixers trailed just, 62-50, at intermission before a lifeless start gave the Clippers an 86-58 lead with 5 minutes, 15 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
The Clippers shot 58% overall and scored 39 points and 35 points in the first and third quarters, respectively.
Harden led all scorers with 23 points and added a game-high eight assists.
It might, However, have been the ease with which Harden and the Clippers scored that led to boos from some fans and early exits by others.
“It has to be a competition,” said Sixers guard Tyrese Maxey. “It has to be a fight. It has to be a grind every single night. Every single move, every single shot that they take, it can’t be easy.”
Later, Maxey, who finished with 17 points on 5-for-13 shooting, added: “You can’t let guys dunk on us. You can’t let guys get wide open threes, and we’ve got to get better at that.”
The Sixers were once again without new acquisition Paul George, who has another bone bruise to his left knee. George suffered a similar injury Oct. 14 and will be reevaluated Monday, the team said. Joel Embiid also remained sidelined for what the team called left knee maintenance.
Nurse said he had been hopeful given his team’s recent performance in losses to then-undefeated Cleveland on Nov. 13 and Friday’s win against Brooklyn that snapped a five-game losing skid.
If it’s a bright spot you seek, Maxey said the hamstring that forced him to miss several games feels better. He even stayed in the game during a second-quarter stretch when he said he was “supposed to come out.”
Perhaps Maxey’s burgeoning leadership skills are another light. He responded with resolve when asked a question regarding the closed-door meeting last week, the details of which were leaked to ESPN.
“It’s difficult when stuff like that gets out, especially when you’re trying to build on it,” he said. “That we were trying to talk among each other and try to help each other … be better, not just as a group, but as an organization. And we have to let it go. I mean, it is what it is. It got out, whatever. We figured that part out, and we’ve got to be resilient. We’ve got to go out here every single night.”
Later, he added: “But we’re only literally 16 games in. So it’s a long season. So either we’re going to lay down and let teams come in here and have field days against us or we going to go out there, play with some pride, and go win some games.”