Sixers fizzle against Phoenix Suns in first game after long road trip: ‘It’s always tough’
“I try not to talk about it. I just try to bring a ton of energy,” coach Nick Nurse said of the first contest at the Wells Fargo Center after a trip that included four Western Conference games.
As the 76ers and Phoenix Suns took the floor following a fourth-quarter timeout, a voice from the stands hollering, “We need a stop!” cut through the Wells Fargo Center.
Instead, Kevin Durant drilled one of his lethal fadeaways, then a wide-open three-pointer to push the Suns’ lead to 14 points with 3 minutes, 4 seconds remaining.
That effectively ended a 109-99 clunker of a loss for the Sixers on Monday night. One could partially attribute that to the schedule — a belief around the NBA is that the first home game following a long road trip is challenging. But instead of coming out lethargic, the Sixers fizzled in the second half.
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“It is always tough,” coach Nick Nurse said of coming back from a six-game road stretch that included four Western Conference games. “I try not to talk about it. I just try to bring a ton of energy.”
Sixers players gave varying answers when asked how true that first-home-game-after-a-long-road-trip theory is (or feels). All-Star point guard Tyrese Maxey agreed it is difficult, while starting wing Kelly Oubre Jr. countered with: “I’ve actually never heard that.” Veteran forward Paul George added that the Sixers got their cross-country flight out of the way Friday, when they traveled from San Francisco to New York for Saturday’s blowout win over the Brooklyn Nets.
The Sixers (14-20) took Sunday off and did not have a shootaround Monday morning in an effort to combat lingering “goofed up” sleeping patterns from the three-hour time difference from the West Coast, Nurse said.
Instead, the Sixers held a brief walk-through about two hours before tipoff. Coaches went through a rundown of lineups and game plans without former MVP Joel Embiid, who missed the game with a sprained foot, along with a few Suns schemes. Scouting reports were still being passed out in the locker room around 6 p.m., during the period open to the media.
The quick turnaround yielded what Nurse called an “awesome” start against an opponent facing its own turbulence, as Bradley Beal and Jusuf Nurkić were moved from the starting lineup to reserve roles for the underachieving Suns. The Sixers led by as many as 12 points in the first quarter and held Phoenix to 38.1% shooting from the field at halftime.
But the Sixers simply could not hit shots and went 39.1% from the floor — and 16-of-26 from the free-throw line (61.5%) — in the latest example of a persistent problem. They ended Monday ranked 25th in the NBA in field-goal percentage (44.7%) and three-point percentage (34%) on the season, even though Nurse said he liked many of the shots generated.
George (13 points, nine rebounds, five assists) went 5-of-18 from the field and is now making 41.4% of his shots in his first season with the Sixers, far below his career average of 44%. Maxey (31 points, 10 assists) is shooting 34.5% from beyond the arc in 2024-25 and was 6-of-14 on Monday. He also played nearly 44 minutes because of a backup ballhandler situation that has turned tenuous ever since standout rookie Jared McCain went down with a torn meniscus in mid-December. Kyle Lowry missed Monday’s game with a hip injury, while Reggie Jackson and Jeff Dowtin Jr. played a combined 11:45 — all in the first half.
“You’re shooting wide-open shots, and, continually, it doesn’t go in,” Nurse said, “it seems to affect other parts of the game.”
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Like a Sixers defense that was excellent early but fell apart following intermission, when the Suns (16-18) shot 64.1% including a staggering 8-of-10 for 20 points from Beal, who finished with 25. Durant’s made threes in the fourth quarter all felt like daggers, including those consecutive buckets to create the 14-point lead and another three-pointer to make it 107-96 with 1:24 remaining.
The result means a Sixers team that had gained momentum during its recent road stretch now has lost three of its past four games and remains out of the play-in picture.
The good news? Their longest trip between now and mid-March is three games.
“We’re not the only team that has to do it,” Maxey said. “… Every team in the NBA has to do it, so that’s not an excuse that we can make.”