Brandon Apter, Sports Talk Philly editor 
The Philadelphia 76ers (22-37) kept pace with the Golden State Warriors (50-9) through the first two quarters, but couldn't keep up in the second half, falling by a final score of 119-106. The Sixers had some turnover issues in the first half, but they managed to shoot themselves out of it. It was a different story in the third and fourth quarters, as the miscues allowed the Warriors to pull away.
Philadelphia shot better than the Warriors overall (45.7/44.9) and from three-point range (29.4/20.7), but Golden State dominated in the paint, 62-48, and forced 22 Sixers turnovers, a lot of which came in the third quarter. The Sixers bench did a good job of keeping the team in the game, outscoring Golden State's reserves 48-22.
Following a 28-point, 10-rebound effort on Saturday in New York, Jahlil Okafor (-15) looked like a completely different player this evening. In 17 minutes, he scored just four points and turned the ball over seven times. Jah got into foul trouble early, sitting with two in the first and three in the second before picking up his fourth early in the third quarter. Okafor's backup, Richaun Holmes, put in a solid effort, finishing with 15 points, four rebounds, three blocks and two assists in 26 minutes. Despite struggling all night from the floor, Dario Saric still put together a good stat line with 21 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. Gerald Henderson finished with 16, while Robert Covington filled up the stat sheet, scoring 15 to go along with eight rebounds, two assists and four steals.
On the Warriors end, Steph Curry's ice cold night from downtown didn't make a difference in this one. The eight-year vet missed all 11 of his shots from beyond the arc, but still managed 19 points, six assists, four boards and two steals. Kevin Durant led all scorers with 27 points in addition to eight rebounds and four assists. Meanwhile, Dramond Green tallied a double double with 14 points and 11 rebounds, finishing the night +22.
The first half was pretty back-and-forth for the most part. Philadelphia kept pace with the Warriors, trailing by just one after the first 12 minutes. Golden State's came out firing in the second though, putting together a 21-6 run to go up by 11. The Sixers reponded with a 14-6 run of their own, cutting the lead to six midway through the quarter. Nik Stauskas locked things up at 54 a piece with just over two minutes to go in the half. The Warriors entered the break up by three, 59-56. One of the highlights in the first half came from a Rodriguez/Holmes alley-oop. Richaun has really excelled with extended minutes and he's bound to see them with Noel in Dallas.
Richaun Holmes went into airplane mode. ✈️ #SCtop10 pic.twitter.com/F2jFfV21NW
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) February 28, 2017
Golden State struggling big time from beyond the arc in the first half, shooting 1-for-16 overall. Steph Curry missed all seven of his attempts while Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson went a combined 1-for-8. The Sixers held the Warriors to 39.5 percent shooting in the first half. Meanwhile, despite Jahlil Okafor and TJ McConnell being in foul trouble, Philadelphia managed to shoot 46.2 percent from the floor and 35 percent from three-point range. Gerald Henderson led the Sixers with 12 at the half, Richaun Holmes came off the bench to score eight and block two shots.
Philadelphia came out of the locker room sloppy with the basketball, as Golden State quickly got out to a 10-point lead after the first two minutes of action. The Sixers cut that lead to seven following a Covington steal and slam with just under five minutes to play in the third. The Warriors kept the pedal on the medal, though, outscoring Philly by 10 in the third to take a 93-80 lead into the final quarter. The Sixers pulled to within 10 with 4:37 to play, 106-97, but they wouldn't catch Golden State, suffering a 119-108 defeat.
Up Next:
The Sixers head to Miami for a match-up with the Heat on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. Philadelphia defeated Miami on February 11, 117-109, snapping their 13-game winning streak.
