Sixers desperate to break pattern of fourth-quarter collapses: ‘We couldn’t quite make the play to win’

The 76ers are fighting to improve their postseason position, but there’s a problem to work through in this season’s stretch run.

That problem reared its head Wednesday in a 108-107 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers at the Wells Fargo Center.

Some folks might say a blown call by the officials on the final possession was the reason for the setback. But the Sixers, who’ve had a recent knack of unraveling in the fourth quarter, couldn’t overcome two costly turnovers in the final 60 seconds.

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“Well, at 104-101, we had the ball [on the] sideline and Tyrese [Maxey] breaks into the backcourt wide open and slips and falls, and they get a [foul shot] out of that,” coach Nick Nurse said. “We come down and score. We have their full-court press and they knock one off of Kelly [Oubre Jr.] and out of bounds. So we have a couple of turnovers there and we couldn’t quite make the play to win.”

After Oubre’s turnover, Kawhi Leonard was fouled while scoring a cutting layup. His foul shot gave the Clippers a 105-104 cushion with 44 seconds remaining.

But Buddy Hield responded with a three-pointer, on the ensuing possession, to put the Sixers up, 107-105.

The Clippers called a timeout with 22.7 seconds left. That led to another Leonard three-point play to put Los Angeles back up, 108-107, with 15.7 seconds remaining.

The game concluded with Oubre having his shot blocked by Leonard at the buzzer. The referees acknowledged after the game that a foul should have been called on Clippers swingman Paul George on the play.

The Sixers had one basket and two turnovers in the final minutes. That enabled the Clippers to outscore them, 7-3, down the stretch.

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“I think that kind of just started with me tripping and falling, like it’s just a domino effect, honestly,” Maxey said of how the game ended. “I broke open, tripped, fell, and they get [a point] off that. It kind of just went downhill after that. A couple of turnovers late, a couple of execution things that we did, and came back and bit us.”

The Eastern Conference’s eighth-place Sixers (39-34) realize they must improve in that area in their final nine games. They believe this was a game they let slip away.

“We have to take care of the ball,” Maxey said. “We have to finish games. I felt like a couple of times we lost Kawhi, like on the one that he got the first and-one on and then on the second one, that’s just a play where if he beats us, we have to let him lay it in.

“We’re up two, he lays that in, and then we come down and get the last shot, and hey, either one of us makes a shot to win the game or we go into overtime.”

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Instead, the Sixers committed fouls on both of Leonard’s layups and trailed by one in the closing seconds. The six-time All-Star scored 10 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter on 4-for-4 shooting. He struggled in the first three quarters, scoring seven points on 3-for-15 shooting.

He and the Clippers exploited the Sixers’ small-ball lineup and took advantage of point guard Kyle Lowry. Lowry, who turned 38 on Monday, sat out the fourth quarter.

Lowry is the team’s best ball handler and floor general. Meanwhile, the Sixers played without a center in the final 8 minutes, 5 seconds. Leonard scored the Clippers’ final six points in large part because the Sixers had zero rim protection with centers Mo Bamba (12 points, 11 rebounds, two blocks) and Paul Reed (five points, seven rebounds, three blocks) on the bench.