What was your favorite part of that fourth quarter?

Was it Joel Embiid missing the game-tying free throw?

Shake Milton getting elbowed in the face and being called for a foul?

Ben Simmons fouling out on a sloppy play from behind?

Tobias Harris missing the rim entirely?

Matisse Thybulle contesting another jumper he doesn’t need to contest?

Was it when the Sixers failed to foul until there were 10 seconds remaining on the clock?

Good on Shake for nailing the game winner after a tough outing against Indy, but it should have never come to that point in the first place. The Sixers entered the fourth quarter with a 14-point advantage, blew another late lead for the 10,000th time this season, and then had to pull a minor miracle to walk away with a win. They gave up 43 fourth quarter points to San Antonio just two nights after conceding 46 to Indiana in the same period. That was a horrible performance and it shouldn’t be sugar coated because the young point guard hit a big shot down the stretch.

After the game we only got four questions for Brett Brown, with a Sixers employee asking the first one. Three of the questions were complete fluff, but thankfully the Inquirer’s Marc Narducci was able to get in a query about the pitiful fourth quarter, to which the head coach replied:

“I think it stinks. I think it’s not anything that we are, or believe in, or talk about. We were very lucky to win tonight. In two close-out periods, against Indiana was 46 points and tonight it was 43 and that is not gonna get anything of any importance done. The good news, like I told (the team), if you looked at the roster and felt that this team can’t shoot and can’t score, it’s hard to fix that part of it if it were true, but it’s not true. We will find ways to score and we’ve shown that both nights. The bad news is the numbers I just said. The good news is that it is well within our reach, immediately, to flip the switch. We have to have an immediate paradigm shift, and admittance that we can’t afford to pick and choose.”

“It’s not who we are and it needs to be fixed. Fixed it will be, and it needs to start with the mentality, and our players understand that.”

Embiid began his Zoom availability by saying, “this is not good lighting, look at my face, what the hell is this shit?” That provided a bit of comic relief before he channeled Andy Reid in regard to the fourth quarter defense:

“We gotta do a better job. We came to be the best defensive team in the league, so we just gotta take the challenge. It wasn’t enough throughout the whole game. The last few games, we haven’t been able to keep our man in front of us, so we’ve got to do a better job. I’ve got to do a better job of protecting the rim and we’ve got to correct some mistakes.”

Good thing these games don’t really matter. I mean, they do matter in the standings, but the standings aren’t a big deal since there’s no home court advantage. That’s why we can treat them as glorified tuneups ahead of the playoffs, when hopefully the Sixers will flip the switch and start playing defense in games that actually do matter. If they continue in this form it’s going to be an ugly exit which will justify somebody’s firing or trading.

Fourth quarter head-scratching and a comedy of errors

Very poor Brett Brown game overall.

Not sure what’s going on with the guard rotation, for starters. Raul Neto played more minutes than Alec Burks last night, and there was a long stretch in the fourth quarter where the Sixers were hemorrhaging the lead while Shake Milton remained on the bench, having played only 19 minutes while shooting 5-7 at that point. Neto, to his credit, did hit a couple of shots to get the lead back to nine, but he doesn’t defend well enough to warrant being out there in the fourth.

There was also a point in the quarter when Ben Simmons, playing with five fouls, was inexplicably used as a center. That’s bad enough on its own, but then consider that the Sixers were having trouble on the glass all night long, giving up 13 offensive rebounds, six total to Tyler Zeller and Drew Eubanks, one of whom is on a two-way contract while the other wasn’t even in the league when play was postponed in March. These decisions are head-scratching.

It’s really hard to watch. Horrible fourth quarter turnovers, poor defense, sluggish offensive possessions, etc. Look at this short clip of mistakes:

Lazy stuff, which begs the question –

Where’s the killer instinct? They should be putting these teams away, and instead we’ve got BASEBALL WRITERS like my guy Kevin Cooney out here looking like Nostradamus:

By the way, this is a Spurs team without LaMarcus Aldridge, Bryn Forbes, and Trey Lyles. They’re currently 10th in the west and playing for the opportunity to get blasted by the Lakers, so you’d think they’d be the team just sort of going through the motions, right?

If anybody cares, this is the 40th time the Sixers played a “clutch” game this season, which we define as games that are + or – five points with five minutes remaining in the game. Only three other squads have played more clutch games than the Sixers, who are now 24-16 in these contests. It shouldn’t be that way. They’ve got enough talent to close teams out and execute down the stretch, but they don’t and that’s the sign of poor mental makeup and poor coaching.

Really bad stuff from the Sixers overall. The best case scenario here is that Brett is just fucking around with a 10-man rotation to ease his team into the playoffs, where they hopefully ratchet up the defense. And I know Glenn Robinson and Mike Scott’s availability would make the rotation a little smoother, but sometimes it feels like he’s throwing darts at a dartboard (while blindfolded) when making these lineup decisions, especially in the second half.

Other notes

  • Only two turnovers in the first quarter, so a really strong start in that department. They coughed it up 13 times last night compared to 21 in the Indy game, which helped make up for a poor defensive rebounding night. San Antonio was +6 in total field goal attempts.
  • Brett Brown’s technical foul was whatever. If you want to stand up for your players, I get it, but make it count. It just seemed like weird timing.
  • Mixed bag with Josh Richardson point guard minutes. I’d rather just see them go back to Simmons as a ball handler when Shake is off the floor.
  • Not a huge fan of that timeout at the five minute mark of the second half. Yeah, it was a static offensive possession, but at that point the Sixers were on a solid run it felt like that gave the Spurs a break. They ran a back door lob out the timeout and Dejounte Murray sniffed it out, leading to a transition three on the other end.
  • Simmons’ defense has been disappointing. Hopefully he’s just pacing himself coming off the back injury.
  • Burks needs more playing time.
  • Harris has looked really steady in Orlando thus far. Positive sign there. He’s playing well.
  • Prior to the fourth quarter turnover, Joel Embiid was having a fantastic night navigating double teams and passing out of trouble.
  • If Embiid continues to play this way in the playoffs, the Sixers will have a chance against anybody.
  • Al Horford +17 off the bench. How bout that? He hit some shots, grabbed some boards, threw a couple of assists.
  • The fake crowd noise absolutely stinks.
  • Great to hear Ron Brooks do the national anthem, even if it’s on TV.
  • This team is exhausting to watch and I’m not sure how much more I can take. They have too much talent to be meandering through these fourth quarters and blowing double digit leads.

Good morning. Watch out for the hurricane and stay safe. Don’t do anything stupid.