After 116-106 win against Orlando, Rivers addresses why Sixers are warriors on the road, instead of at home

ORLANDO, Fla. — It was an obvious question under the circumstances.

Before Wednesday’s game against the Orlando Magic, Doc Rivers was asked why the 76ers are better on the road than at home.

“That’s the question of the year right now for us,” Rivers said.

It was a question that was hard to explain because the Sixers were better at home a season ago.

“I do think a lot of it is [COVID-19] health and protocols and all that stuff,” Rivers said. “And another thing is, we dropped some close games at home that we had a chance to win.”

The Magic probably had a similar feeling about themselves while exiting Amway Center Wednesday night.

The Sixers escaped with 116-106 victory to extend a pair of winning streaks. It was their fifth straight win and fifth straight road win.

They can thank Seth Curry for saving the day.

That’s because he came up with big shots after the Sixers were clinging to a 109-106 lead with 1 minutes, 54 seconds remaining. The shooting guard made a 20-foot jumper 14 seconds later to put the Sixers up five. Then on the Sixers’ ensuing possession, he buried a short jumper to give them a seven-point cushion.

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The win also gave the Sixers (21-16) a 14-8 road record. They’re tied with the Brooklyn Nets for the most road wins this season. The Sixers will look to improve upon their 7-8 home record on Friday against the San Antonio Spurs.

Joel Embiid finished with a game-high 31 points, marking his fifth straight game with 30 or more points. It was also his eighth consecutive road game with 30 or more points.

Tobias Harris broke out of his shooting slump by scoring 22 points on 9-for-19 shooting to go with two blocks and two steals. While he won’t use it as an excuse, the standout has been hampered by the aftereffects of COVID-19 this season.

With 20 points, a season-high 12 assists, and seven rebounds, Curry was three rebounds shy of a triple-double. Furkan Korkmaz (20 points) and reserve center Andre Drummond (12 points, eight rebounds) were the Sixers’ other double-figure scorers.

Danny Green, however, missed both of his shot attempts while failing to score a point in 23 minutes, 49 seconds of action. He also had zero rebounds, assists, steals, turnovers and blocks. Green did record a personal foul and was a minus-13. Green looks out of sorts in his second game back from being sidelined with COVID-19.

Cole Anthony paced the Magic (7-32) with 26 points. Orlando dropped to 2-14 at home.

The Sixers have come a long way from the team that suffered through a 12-26 road record two seasons ago. Back then, road losses were tough to avoid no matter how well they played throughout the game. These days, the Sixers look like a team destined to win on the road, regardless of how poorly they play through three quarters.

“We addressed that the first day of training [a year] ago, my first practice walking in,” said Rivers, who’s in his second season with the Sixers. “I was as frank as you can ever be to a team that you don’t know with guys. I basically said, ‘We are disgraceful on the road, and there’s no excuse for that. When you look at your home record then, and I said, how are we this bad on the road?”

Rivers didn’t buy any of the excuses. He informed his players that going on the road is their job. The coach thinks guys understand now when they go on the road, the No.1 priority is to be ready for the game.

“And I think our guys are doing a good job of that,” Rivers said.

Harris came into Wednesday’s game shooting a career-low 45% from the field. That included him making just 28.7% of his three-pointers.

This comes one season after shooting a career-best 51.2% from the field, including making 39.4% of his threes.

“Last year was a historic year for Tobias,” Rivers said. “I hope that wasn’t his best year of his career. But everyone has one … So clearly, he’s not getting the numbers that he got last year, but that’s OK, like just keep playing. It’s a long season. That’s what I keep telling all our guys.”

Perhaps things will turn around for Harris.

If so, maybe the matchup against the Magic is a start.

Harris initially struggled, missing his first three shot attempts.

However, his Sixers teammates got him more involved. That led to Harris scoring his first basket on a 27-foot three-pointer to knot the score at 26 with 2:14 left in the first quarter. Then Harris converted his next shot attempt, a layup, with 58.9 seconds remaining in the quarter.

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He followed that up by assisting on Drummond’s layup on the Sixers’ ensuing possession. Harris appeared to be in a groove and had better body language than in Monday’s game against the Houston Rockets.

“Honestly, my energy,” he later said of what was working well for him. “Allowing my game to come to me, trying to find ways to not overthink and not over-press. Just go out there and find joy and have fun out there.”

Harris will tell you that his defense opened up a lot of things offensively for him.

The power forward scored nine points on 4-for-6 shooting in the second quarter en route to having a solid night.

“He’s shooting about the same shots as last year, the same amount,” Rivers said. “You know they’re different, though. I told him that. I always tell him that.”

Last season, the Sixers got a lot of shots in transition with Ben Simmons pushing the pace and distributing the ball. Simmons, however, has yet to play this season after requesting a trade.

“This year, we’re not getting those shots as much,” Rivers said, “and Tobias was a big benefactor of that, now that’s bringing the ball up more.”

Simmons’ absence has apparently negatively affected Harris’ game. Rivers disagrees. He thinks it’s a matter of Harris getting used to playing differently this season.

“But he’ll catch up,” Rivers said. “I have 100% confidence that he would. He’s as professional as you can have in this league. Not just on our team, but this league. And everybody on our team sees that. That’s why there’s never an issue.”

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The Sixers went to a lineup featuring Embiid and Drummond, the backup center, with the team trailing by seven with 4:04 left in the third quarter.

In that lineup, Embiid played power forward and reserve power forward Georges Niang moved over to small forward. Curry and Korkmaz were the other players in the lineup. Harris and Myles Powell later subbed in for Curry and Korkmaz, respectively, before Embiid was subbed out with 33.5 second left in the quarter.

At that point, the Sixers were down 87-85 after pulling within one point earlier with the Twin Towers lineup.

This was the first game for Rivers and Powell after they cleared protocols. It also marked Braxton Key’s first game in a Sixers uniform after signing a 10-day contract earlier in the day to COVID-19 hardship exception.

Their presences were welcomed, as the Sixers had six players and two coaches miss the Magic game. Point guard Tyrese Maxey, swingman Matisse Thybulle, post player Paul Reed, and guard Jaden Springer are sidelined while in the COVID-19 health and safety protocols. Meanwhile, Shake Milton (back contusion) and Ben Simmons (personal reasons) were also sidelined.