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It was 9:18 in the fourth quarter and Sacramento was in the midst of a 33-13 run when the Wells Fargo Center crowd started booing.

I don’t know if they were booing the ref, the Sixers, or just booing to boo, but you felt that air of inevitability inside the building.

They’re going to find a way to lose this game.

They started booing again when it was 96-90 and Dario Saric threw the ball out of play while looking for Ben Simmons in the low post.

And they booed for a third time when Robert Covington heaved up a 25-foot airball coming out of a timeout, down 98-92.

It’s seven losses in eight games for the Sixers, who blew a 16 point third quarter lead last night. Playing a back-to-back without the services of Joel Embiid, you thought they might be able to get the job done against a subpar Kings team on home court.

Instead, they didn’t shoot the ball that well, lost JJ Redick to injury in the second half, and looked like a team lacking identity without Embiid on the floor.

They’re now 1-6 when he doesn’t play, vs. 13-10 when he’s healthy. Scoring is down to 103.9 points per game without him, vs. 110.1 on a normal day. Defensively, he’s good enough for a 4 point swing, with a 108.3 PPG allowed when he’s out there vs. 112.4 when he isn’t.

None of that should come as a surprise. Without Embiid and Markelle Fultz, the Sixers are missing 66% of what we’ve determined is their “young core.” And when the remaining member of that triad is a rookie who can’t and/or won’t shoot the ball, you simply cannot expect a crop of complementary players to consistently fill the void. Continue Reading

You have to use a timeout there.

I know it’s not in Brett Brown’s late-game DNA. I know he likes to keep teams off-balance, push the pace, and not allow defensive substitutions. He even said post game that the Sixers had a play ready to go in case the Kings hit a shot on their final possession, which they did.

But we didn’t see that play materialize on the other end. JJ Redick hesitated with a semi-open look. Call the timeout there and don’t end the game on a Joel Embiid fade away elbow jumper.

Here’s how it went down:

There’s nothing wrong with Brown’s philosophy, but it doesn’t mean you can’t call an audible. Remember the first Rockets game, when they didn’t use their timeouts and lost on a buzzer beater?

Brown changed his approach in the very next game, calling a timeout with 36 seconds remaining to settle his team and draw up a low post look for Embiid, who hit what would ultimately be the game winning shot in Dallas. A young team was learning how to finish, and it started against the Mavericks.

So this is an annoying loss, considering the fact that they were up by six with 1:15 remaining and couldn’t get the job done. Add to the fact that the Sixers didn’t even play that well against a team that shot the ball at a higher clip than usual. It felt like this would be another one of those games where they would find a way to win despite not firing on all cylinders.

Now you head to Golden State with a bad taste in your mouth, when you probably should be 7-4 on a six-game winning streak. Continue Reading