Poor Shooting Dooms Sixers in Loss to Pistons

The Philadelphia 76ers lost to the Detroit Pistons, 76-97, to continue their losing streak. Poor shooting was the story as they shot less than 30 percent for the first 3 1/2 quarters. Not good. Joel Embiid was a bright spot as his minutes were expanded. This was such a poor shooting game for the Sixers that they ended up with a new name. Whenever the Sixers shoot worse than 30 percent during the game, they are known as the Brixers.

The Brixers managed to stay within single digits during the first quarter even though they shot 20 percent from the field. One thing they did was go to the free throw line. In the first quarter, Brixers scored seven more points than the Pistons from the strip. A stunning stat: Brixers shot 21.1 percent for the quarter, even with three players shooting at least 50 percent from the field.

The Brixers stuck around very closely until a few minutes left in the second quarter. Finally, the terrible shooting and turnovers seemed to put the Pistons in position to expand the lead to 14 points. By the half, they were down by 13, and shooting 25 percent. The Brixers were in trouble.

In the second half, things really seemed to continue as before. Joel Embiid seems to have the tools to be a star in this league. There was a sequence where he and Andre Drummond exchanged some…bodily contact. After that, Embiid scored on a foul and started jawing at the home crowd. It was fantastic. Embiid took the challenge head on and that is exactly what you want to see.

Even still, the Brixers struggled as their deficit grew more and more. Their shooting from the field improved as the game went on and finally went over 30 percent around the mid way point of the 3rd quarter. By then, they were down by 22 points, so the game was virtually lost at that point. To keep things positive, they did continue to go to the line and shoot well.

Now that they are better than 30 percent shooting, they can be referred to as Sixers again. It's time to wrap up this recap though. Sixers were led in scoring by Embiid, who had a preseason high 15 points. Jerami added 12 points. Pistons were led in scoring by Tobias Harris with 18 points. It could have been worse. Sixers scored 7 more points from the free throw line. So, if the teams tied from the line, Sixers could've lost by 26 points.

What can be said? Embiid was the only bright spot in this game. The Sixers face the Miami Heat in their preseason final on Friday.