Inside Sixers: Subdued reactions to Kyrie Irving trade, Whataburger debates and more from an uneven week

NEW YORK — James Harden stood in front of his locker inside Madison Square Garden in a black and white get-up that included a fuzzy hat.

His wardrobe was flashier than his explanations, after the 76ers blew a 21-point first-half lead for the second time in a week in a 108-97 loss to the Knicks Sunday night. When asked what his team was not able to sustain or recapture following their exceptional start, Harden responded with “everything.”

» READ MORE: Sixers fall apart after first quarter, lose to Knicks, 108-97

With the way the 34-18 Sixers have rolled for nearly two months — they are 22-6 since Dec. 9 and entered Monday in third place in the Eastern Conference — any defeat feels a bit jarring. They went 2-2 during the past week, also surrendering a big advantage in a loss to the lowly-yet-pesky Orlando Magic last Monday night. Yet coach Doc Rivers said after Sunday’s game that sharpening emotional and mental fortitude is the next step the Sixers must take collectively — especially after falling to a Knicks team that was playing on the second night of a back-to-back set, expended significant energy in their comeback to force overtime against the Los Angeles Clippers Saturday, and played Sunday without starter RJ Barrett, who was a late scratch due to illness.

“We’re just not there yet, and that’s OK,” Rivers said. “We’ve got time. … When things aren’t going well or someone is not getting shots, you just keep hanging in there and pulling for each other and you figure it out.

“That’s our next step as a group. We’ll make that step. I can almost guarantee you we’ll make that step.”

Here are some other behind-the-scenes moments that peppered the week.

As Rivers settled into his seat for Sunday’s pregame media availability, he quipped, “Slow news day?”

About an hour prior, reports had popped that All-Star guard Kyrie Irving was being traded from the Brooklyn Nets to the Dallas Mavericks in a blockbuster move.

When asked if he would like to expand, Rivers playfully deflected to another notable headline by calling President Joe Biden’s decision to shoot down the Chinese spy balloon “a terrific move, and I’m glad they waited until they got over the ocean.” When another question more seriously circled back to the Irving trade, however, Rivers said he was notified of the deal while getting on the bus to The Garden.

» READ MORE: For the Sixers, NBA trade deadline could be more about shedding salary than adding talent

“Obviously, Kyrie is an amazing basketball player,” Rivers said, “and you’re putting him with another amazing basketball player [in Luka Dončić], so we’ll see how it works.”

When asked following Sunday’s loss about how the trade could affect the Eastern Conference race, Harden — who was Irving’s teammate with the Nets until a rocky conclusion to his tenure with last year’s deadline trade to the Sixers — and Tobias Harris were even more vague.

“It’s a trade that happened,” Harden said.

Added Harris: “Nobody on the Sixers got traded today, so I don’t care about that.”

Coincidentally, Sunday was the Sixers’ second consecutive trip to The Garden when significant news broke. On Christmas morning, during the pregame window open to the media, ESPN reported that Harden would consider returning to the Houston Rockets this summer if he turned down his player option and became a free agent.

» READ MORE: Daryl Morey believes the Sixers are championship contenders. But he will ‘turn over every rock’ as trade deadline nears.

As both teams took the floor before Friday’s game in San Antonio, a photo of Rivers as a Spurs player popped up on the video board.

The Sixers coach was being recognized as part of the Spurs’ 50th anniversary celebration. After the game, Rivers joked that he is “trying to get that same body again.” Yet it was fitting the Sixers’ visit to the AT&T Center fell one day after Rivers had been named NBA’s Eastern Conference Coach of the Month for January.

Rivers called finishing his playing career in San Antonio from 1994-96 as a “really important time for me, because I was literally trying to find myself.” There, he got to be around legendary coach Gregg Popovich and CEO R.C. Buford as they began to build the Spurs into a dynasty. That experience helped spark Rivers’ interest in coaching, before the Orlando Magic hired him as head coach in 1999.

“They really talked me into coming,” Rivers said. " … Just being around this organization absolutely changed me and the way I saw some things basketball-wise, so I will be forever indebted to that.”

Even NBA players participate in the sometimes-heated debate over fast-food/fast-casual burger chains.

Whataburger, which originated in Texas and is headquartered in San Antonio, was at the center of such discourse this week. Chatter began following Wednesday’s home win against the Magic, when Dallas-area native Tyrese Maxey defended Whataburger to Harden — though conceded he believed the quality had dipped in recent years. Harden, who is from Los Angeles but spent parts of nine seasons playing in Houston, said he prefers In-N-Out but does not “crave” it like other California folks.

When the topic surfaced again in the locker room in San Antonio, Maxey revealed Whataburger had been his dinner of choice the previous night. Then, after the Sixers’ win over the Spurs, Maxey enjoyed another burger from the establishment at his locker. He said he hoped to snag a honey butter chicken biscuit Saturday morning, before the Sixers flew to New York City.

» READ MORE: Sixers mailbag: Breakups, Tyrese Maxey’s role, and Montrezl Harrell questions