Sixers

Win Streak Over After Wizards Hit Ludicrous Shots and Sixers Stumble (Literally) Down the Stretch

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Feb 3rd, 2022 · 8:55 AM EST

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The Sixers lost 106-103 at home on Wednesday night, ending their five-game winning streak.

It was a janky type of game. Herky-jerky throughout, with a lack of continuous offensive cadence for the team, hosting a Washington squad that had lost six in a row and played in Milwaukee the night prior. Despite going 40.7% from three, starters not named Tyrese Maxey didn’t have fantastic shooting nights, and the result was 17 lead changes and eight instances of a tie ball game.

“I didn’t think we played hard, I just think we played well,” Doc Rivers said after the game. “Missed a lot of shots. I didn’t think we had offensive rhythm the entire game. You know, spacing was poor overall, just wasn’t my favorite game to watch as a coach.”

“I never thought we had momentum, I thought we had spurts tonight. It was a spurt game.”

A spurt game indeed, and the biggest moment came with 23.7 seconds on the clock and Spencer Dinwiddie working against Matisse Thybulle. Here’s what happened:

This was the game right here: pic.twitter.com/khNPmMbV7V

— Kevin Kinkead (@Kevin_Kinkead) February 3, 2022

Watching that live, you were probably thinking what I was thinking. Why didn’t Tobias Harris see a streaking Maxey in the open court?

If you go back and slow it down, you’ll see Joel Embiid actually clips him on the heel right before Harris gathers, and that causes a stumble, which forces him to regain his balance:

That part of the sequence is what it is.

But Harris then leaves his feet, almost turns the ball over, and Embiid has to grab possession with 12 seconds on the clock. At that point, you’re thinking somebody should be screaming for a time out, but on the other side of it, you’ve got Embiid 1v1 against Dinwiddie, which is an uber-favorable matchup. Alas, he can’t get the bucket that was pretty much all she wrote. It was just a messy transitional moment all around, and one they would have liked to have back.

“I don’t think it was there, personally,” said Rivers about Harris pushing that pass ahead to Maxey. “I thought it was a chance, but it would have been a narrow gap. We had a timeout there, but when Joel caught it I saw he was about to drive and I liked the angle. He may have gotten fouled.”

As for Washington, you have to give credit where it’s due:

Sixers fans not happy with the final possession, understandably so, but Washington also hit three ludicrous shots down the stretch last night: pic.twitter.com/Z2zvawmTl2

— Kevin Kinkead (@Kevin_Kinkead) February 3, 2022

Good God. Those are some insane shots. Kyle Kuzma with the turnaround baseline jumper? Montrezl Harrell hitting two foul line floaters late in the fourth quarter? On most nights (read: 99.9% of the time), that’s not happening. And there was also the soul crushing 20 foot bank shot that Raul Neto hit over Embiid. Lord almighty.

So you shake their hand and move on to the next one, as Brett Brown used to say.

“Just some mental lapses,” Georges Niang said after the game. “You know, getting away from our defensive stretch here. And, you know, they hit some tough shots. Like that Kyle Kuzma turnaround was a tough shot. Like, don’t take anything away from them, they made tough shots. But at the end of the day, you know, you want to force the other team to miss. So that being said, you know I think we did have some momentum, but like I said also we had some defensive lapses and you can’t have that late in the fourth quarter. Last game we had some timely stops, this game we didn’t.”

The annoying thing is that the Sixers are right there. They are 1.5 games out of first place despite playing the entire season without Ben Simmons. They rip off a great win against Memphis without Joel Embiid, then come back and lose at home to a team riding a losing streak and coming off a back to back.

“We got into town (from Milwaukee), landed probably around 2 a.m.,” Kuzma said. “Me, personally, I didn’t go to bed until around four. So, just the NBA is a grueling season. Nonstop travel. And people don’t really realize how tough and demanding physically and mentally back-to-backs are. You’ve gotta think. You’re going up in the air 30,000 feet after a game. Causing more swelling to your body and inflammation, and you’ve got to come out and play with not that much sleep. Probably not the best food choices. You’ve gotta go out there and compete. But, credit to the guys and everybody just staying locked in mentally and pulling out a ‘W.’ “