The Sixers continue their trip through the Texas Triangle tonight as they take on the Houston Rockets, one night after getting absolutely shellacked by the Dallas Mavericks, and two night before facing the reining champion Spurs. This might as well be the Bermuda triangle with how lost the team looked last night.
Really this all began last Sunday when the Sixers were blown out by the Raptors in Toronto. The team found itself down by 41 points during that game, and Brett Brown called them out for not being competitive or playing with enough grit. With 3 days off between games, and the return of their de facto leader Michael Carter-Williams, I think everyone expected some sort of bounce back against the Mavs. Instead we got a 123-70 blowout loss to the Mavericks which included things like: largest half-time deficit in Sixers history; Largest margin of victory in Mavs history; more TOs (28) than made FGs (23) for the Sixers; and maybe the best stat, the Mavs scored more points (73) in the first half that the Sixers scored IN THE ENTIRE GAME (70). The Sixers have lost the last 2 games by a combined 85 points. I'm going to venture a guess that playing with passion was a theme in the locker room after the game and in shoot around this morning. Perhaps maybe something on defending the pick and roll as well, which the Sixers did a horrendous job against last night, as nicely outlined in this post over at Liberty Ballers.
Tonight presents no less a challenge in the Houston Rockets, currently sitting in second place in the stacked Western Conference with a record of 7-1. Most pundits believed the Rockets would be good this year, but not true contenders unless Dwight Howard started playing like 2009 Dwight Howard. Well, Dwight is currently averaging 20 ppg on 61% shooting to go with 11 rebounds and 2 blocks. So yeah … they are contenders. I would say the only bright spot for the Sixers tonight is that these two teams have already played each other. Back on November 3rd, the Sixers played a spirited game against the Rockets, losing 104-93 in the end but staying close for much of the game. Dwight had only 11 pts as Nerlens Noel had some real success fronting him in the post. The Sixers went toe to toe with one of the major title contenders just eleven days ago, and hopefully that knowledge and familiarity will help them find their competitive footing again tonight.
For the Sixers this year, the difference between being just regular bad versus historically bad is not going to be the on court game but the mental one. When bad losses like the Raps game happen, you can use it as motivation and provide a bounce back effort (what we all were hoping for) or you can roll over and die (Mavs game). This team has to find a way to at least remain competitive, if not solely for the mental health of the players, staff, and fans. Many of us are, and remain, fans of the plan being implemented by Hinkie and Co. But none of us want the Sixers to be the answer to every ignominious trivia question about the NBA.
Game Notes:
- Michael Carter-Williams has 6 inches on Rockets starting PG Isaiah Canaan. McDubs had a nice line in his return with 19pts, look for him to abuse his shorter counterpart to keep his game rolling.
- Lifetime series between these two teams is tied 68-68, but the Rockets have won 2 straight.
- The Rockets shot 16-34 (47%) from downtown in the last matchup between these teams. Sixers are going to have to really run the Rockets off that 3pt line if they want to stand a chance in this game.
- The Rockets only loss so far this year came against the Golden State Warriors.
Projected Lineups:
Sixers
PG Tony Wroten
SG Hollis Thomas
SF KJ McDaniels
PF Luc Mbah a Moute
C Henry Sims
Rockets
PG Isaiah Cannon
SG James Harden
SF Trevor Ariza
PF Donatas Motienjunas
C Dwight Howard
Injuries: Sixers: Joel Embiid (Out, foot), Jerami Grant (Out, ankle), Alexey Shved (Questionable, back), and Jason Richardson (Out, Rotting Corpse)
Rockets: Terrence Jones (Out, calf) and Patrick Beverley (Out, hamstring).
Prediction: I predict we do see some fight from the Sixers tonight, but it won't be enough. Rockets over the Sixers 125-108 in a barn burner.
