The Sixers were probably fortunate to split their two games at Detroit

The 76ers have played at times this season as if they can be a viable contender in the Eastern Conference. What they showed Monday night is that they still aren’t good enough to just show up and beat a bad team when they are off their game and the opponent plays harder than they play.

In Monday’s 119-104 loss at Detroit, the Pistons committed more than twice as many turnovers as the Sixers, 19 to 9, and still won going away.

Yes, the Sixers were without Joel Embiid, who missed the game because of back tightness. Still, the Sixers should be able to beat a young Pistons team (4-13) even without Embiid, or at least have been more competitive.

The Sixers have to prove they can win once in a while without Embiid. They are 0-4 this year without him, but that’s another story.

In Saturday’s 114-110 victory at Detroit, the Sixers proved that they could beat a team when they aren’t at their best. The problem Monday was that Detroit was better than it was on Saturday, and the Sixers regressed. The Sixers didn’t play great in either and were probably fortunate to earn a split.

The Sixers just didn’t appear to have the focus needed Monday. They committed too many fouls, and Detroit went 32-for-38 from the foul line, where the Sixers were 15-for-20. In addition, the Sixers allowed guard Delon Wright to score a career-high 28 points.

When the Sixers are missing one All-Star, their other has to perform, but Ben Simmons committed too many needless fouls and played less than seven minutes in the first half, saddled with three fouls. The Sixers trailed by 14 at intermission.

Each time Simmons has bright moments, and he had plenty over the weekend, it gets the fan base hoping he could do this consistently. But after scoring 11 points in the fourth quarter of Friday’s 122-110 win over the visiting Boston Celtics and getting 20 points, including 16 in the first half, in Saturday’s win over Detroit, Simmons again regressed.

He played only 21 minutes and 27 seconds, and the Sixers need him on the court much more than that, whether Embiid plays or not.

“Without Joel and with Ben in early foul trouble, your team gets really thin,” Sixers coach Doc Rivers said.

It was more than just Simmons. Shake Milton had five fouls, Seth Curry shot 2-for-10, and Dwight Howard and Danny Green had a minus-23 and minus-19 rating, respectively. There was plenty of blame to go around.

“We were not connected tonight,” Rivers said.

They really weren’t in both games against the Pistons, who showed that the Sixers (12-6) have plenty of work to do.