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After getting pounded by the Mavs in a 53-point loss on Thursday, the Sixers took the Rockets to the brink – in Houston – last night. In a game that featured 16 lead changes and 16 ties, the Sixers found themselves trailing by seven with around five minutes to play, but, IMPRESSIVELY, they managed to storm all the way back to take a three-point lead with 51 seconds to play. FIRST WIN COMETH, RIGHT? Wrong.

On the next play, James Harden drove the lane and was fouled by Michael Carter-Williams. Brett Brown, reacting to the call, kicked the ball(!) out of frustration. It hit a cameraman. Technical foul. Harden was given an extra free throw. He missed the first one (technically the technical), but made the next two.

Still up one, MCW lost the ball on the Sixers’ next possession. Harden then scored on a layup, and MCW’s ensuing game-winning attempt rimed out. Sixers lose by one.

The play-by-play of the final minute reads like the script of a dark comedy:

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We spoke to Sixers CEO Scott O’Neil on the podcast yesterday (excerpts posting later, interview will be posted early next week) and he echoed the sentiments shared by MCW on Derek Jeter’s Players’ Tribune on Thursday– Sixers players and coaches are playing their hardest and trying their best to win games. No argument here. MCW and Brown are not intentionally throwing games, but they are swimming up the stream that is the organization’s tanking effort. And losses like this will bring out the conspiracy theorists:

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Shoutout to the Mexican dude throwing up gang signs

Brown talked about the kick after the game:

“I deserved it,” Brown said of the technical. “I lost some composure. I wasn’t sure about the foul. I tried to kick the ball back to the referee almost out of disgust and he did what he should have and called a technical.

“I would have had a hard time sleeping for a long time if James had made it. I was pleased he missed it, but it is something I have to be better at.”

Harden may have missed it, but he did make the next two. So it all depends on how choose to view it. Either way, he got an extra free throw. You could say it’s all a technicality.

The Sixers are 0-9.

Bright spot: Tony Wroten. He had 19 points and eight assists and did this:

http://youtu.be/JDgae79R3YM

Full game highlights after the jump.

http://youtu.be/tpvti-snrkM