Busy day in Camden. Lots of media in attendance, including a Serbian TV crew that spent 30 minutes filming Boban for some kind of special or documentary. He’s a popular guy.

Brett Brown spoke first, and had some things to say about the team’s disappointing two-game losing skid, a skid that put a damper on a six-game win streak that included victories over the Bucks, Pacers, and Celtics.

“I get there are lulls in season,” the head coach said. “I get there are games in an 82-game schedule where you just don’t perform well. The last two games that have gone by, we need to address and own some things, led by me. I’m the coach. Today was about that and was about competing in sort of the last real opportunity we have to practice prior to the playoffs.”

What did he tell his team? What needed to be “owned” after those two losses?

“It’s always defense,” he said. “It’s always defense. And it’s attention to a game plan. We’re not Golden State, where they have a history where they’ve won championships and they’ve been with each other. You don’t sort of pick and choose, as much as they might be able to, but we’re not there. We’re on 3.0 76ers. We don’t have the luxury to pick and choose (when we show up). To not do that and find a way to secure the third spot through our defense, through our attention to the scouting report, through some things offensively as well. Normally that’s not my problem (the offense). I know we went on a drought the other night, but in general that’s not the problem. And (it’s about) trying to make sure that here we are and respecting our opportunity to claim the third spot. That’s important. Those are the types of things we discussed.”

Tobias Harris more or less echoed that sentiment.

“We didn’t go into those games with the right energy, especially defensively,” the power forward added. “Offensively, I didn’t think we moved as much as we needed to out there, moving the basketball side to side. Those are things we can get better at tomorrow and get ready to rock and roll.”

The good news is that the Sixers do not have a three-game losing streak this season. They’ve lost back-to-back games four times this season, following each of those skids with a victory.

Nothing but Nets

Brooklyn comes to Philly tomorrow.

They’re a bad matchup for the Sixers, a team with good guards that can space the floor and pick and roll you into submission.

They are also a possible first round playoff opponent, sitting right there in that glob of Detroit, Miami, and Orlando as the four clubs fighting for three postseason spots come April.

The Nets beat the Sixers at the Wells Fargo Center earlier this year in a game where Spencer Dinwiddie went for 39 points off the bench. In another matchup, Philly needed a Jimmy Butler buzzer-beater to escape a tight game at the Barclays Center.

“Number one, just their offensive pace, their movement out there,” said Harris of Brooklyn’s strengths. “Their system of getting up threes, going four-out/one-in with a big who can roll (Jarrett Allen). They’ve got a lot of guys who can shoot the three-ball at a high clip and can make ’em, and they have a lot of volume shooters, too. D’Angelo (Russell) has been great for them, so stopping him in the pick and roll is big. They’ve been playing really well this year.”

The Nets are now 38-37 after beginning the season with a 9-18 record. They will throw stuff like this at you over and over again:

“Brooklyn has always bothered us,” Brett Brown said. “Their style of play has bothered us. Multiple pick and roll players that can shoot threes really effectively. Those types of teams bother us. And it’s stuff like, we’re always trying to get our pick and roll defense better. We’re always trying to identify our best pick and roll defensive players and anoint them on their primary ball handlers, or simply improve other people. But pick and roll teams, which they are, spread teams, which they are, multiple three teams, which they are, and we are not, there’s a tradeoff. Points can add up in an unfavorable way. It’s an important game.”

Tomorrow’s game will wrap up a brutal seven-game road swing for the Nets.

Look at this:

It doesn’t get any easier for them at home, where they’ll face Boston, Milwaukee, and Toronto. The good thing is that the Sixers look unlikely to meet the Nets in the playoffs, simply by virtue of the difficulty of their late-season schedule.

Zhaire and Shake

They will not be a factor in the playoffs, according to Brown, who said this:

Inquirer: “As far as those young guys, Zhaire and Shake, have your expectations changed for them for the rest of the season or into the postseason at all?”

Brown: “I don’t see those guys factoring into postseason play. I don’t. It’s no disrespect to them. What we have is what we have and playoff rotations historically don’t increase, they decrease. So I’m always trying to find eight and a half, nine players that you can spin around based on what the game tells you to do. There’s always an outlier, you go to 10 from time to time, somebody makes a few key baskets or Jonah (Bolden) comes in and has a few blocks, whatever it is. But in general I think it’s going to be tough for those two young guys, who really haven’t been with us, to have a say in the playoffs is quite ambitious.”

Technically, Shake Milton can’t even play in the playoffs right now because he remains on a two-way contract. The Sixers could, however, convert that contract and clear a roster spot, so it’s not like this idea is totally out of the question. It’s more of what Brett just said, that these guys are rookies and barely even spent any time with the team this year.

Ben’s three-pointers

Ben Simmons shot a bunch of threes after practice, some solo and some during a 3v3 game that involved Shake, Boban, Haywood Highsmith, and Justin Patton.

He hit 3 of 5 in this clip below, which obviously shows a bunch of casual catch-and-shoot looks. It’s hard to see from this angle, but there’s still a lot of side spin on the ball, which isn’t ideal, but doesn’t matter too much if the ball goes in the net:

Some day. He’ll get there.