This Sunday, the fourteenth of December, would represent the eight-month anniversary since the Philadelphia 76ers won a game on their home court. Holding an 18-point lead with about seven minutes remaining, it looked like they would end the drought. The Wells Fargo Center was rocking, fans were smiling (even the woman that had beer drenched all over herself) and the anti-tanking fans were enjoying the game. It looked like it was going to be a happy night for Brett Brown.
As you read this now, the streak is still alive and the 8-month mark will be eclipsed. What happened? A lot of brutal play down the stretch.
“That’s a cruel loss,” Brett Brown said. “That is a very cruel loss.”
Suspect number one in administering the cruel play against the Sixers was Mike Conley Jr. The man responsible for knocking over one of the beers on the woman’s lap did more damage to the Wells Fargo crowd than just that.
As the 18-point lead was diminishing, the Sixers still had a favorable spot in the game, leading 102-94 with 2:31 left, Mike hit a three. Then with less than 45 seconds left, he cut a six-point Sixers lead in half. He would then draw an offensive foul from a struggling Michael Carter-Williams, and Memphis suddenly had the ball in a one-possession game. Who other than Conley was there to convert a lay-up to make it a one-point game, and then the Grizzlies were in business.
The Sixers nearly threw the ball away with :12 left, but Hollis Thompson secured it, drew the foul and sank both free throws. After a Memphis timeout, it was again Conley to hit a three as time expired to tie it.
With the balloon deflated, so too were the Sixers. Memphis controlled much of the overtime, and led by seven with less than 20 seconds left. A late Thompson three cut the lead down, but Memphis ultimately walked away with a five-point victory.
Lost in the loss for Philadelphia were some impressive performances. For one, the Sixers outrebounded the Marc Gasol/Zach Randolph-led Grizzlies in rebounds, 45-42. Carter-Williams also recorded his second triple-double of the season, and it was the sixth time he reached double figures in more than one category since Nov. 29. However, his five turnovers in the fourth and overtime quarters were enough to do-in the Sixers.
Brett Brown summed the mismatch up perfectly before the game when he said, "To think we're going to beat them apples to apples, we're not," he said. "They've got better apples." Those “better apples” proved to be more fresh as the game wore on.
