When LeBron announced his move to Los Angeles this summer, the rest of the East quietly rejoiced. The Cavs have had a stranglehold on the conference crown since he returned to Cleveland in 2014, making four consecutive trips to the Finals and delaying the progress of the East’s upstarts in the process.
Yet that small handful of talented young teams has been readying themselves for this very moment, as LeBron’s departure has opened a pathway to the coveted East crown and a chance to play for an NBA championship. Going into the season, the conventional wisdom was that the cream of that crop was the Boston Celtics and the Philadelphia Sixers, given their star-laden rosters and their impressive postseason runs last spring.
But so far, that hasn’t exactly been the case. It’s been the Raptors and Bucks, with one loss apiece through the first two weeks, who have quickly established themselves as the class of the East. While Boston continues to work out the kinks as they reintegrate their two best players into the lineup, the Sixers’ rocky start is a bit more curious.
Their 122-97 blowout loss at the hands of the Nets on Sunday certainly didn’t inspire much confidence. In their defense, it was the second game of a back-to-back after a big win over the Pistons on Saturday night that Joel Embiid categorically dominated with 39 points and 17 rebounds.
But their lackluster performance against Brooklyn underscored all of the problems that have been plaguing them in the early part of the season. Philadelphia was atrocious with protecting the ball, coughing it up for 28 total turnovers — the most around the NBA this season — which the Nets capitalized on for 39 points.
Needless, head coach Brett Brown wasn’t pleased with his team’s effort, and in his comments after the game, gave a rather accurate assessment of the Sixers’ place in the current pecking order, which should be just alarming enough for his players to take notice.
brett brown: “we are not, right now, at this present moment, amongst the royalty in the east. and we understand that. and it’s a badge that we want.”
— James Herbert (@outsidethenba) November 5, 2018
When it comes to illustrating the Sixers’ issues, second-year point guard Markelle Fultz is a frequent and readily available target, and he didn’t make things any easier on himself on Sunday when he logged just nine points and zero assists in 25 minutes of action, missing badly on his one and only attempt from behind the arc.
This fultz 3 was …. BAD pic.twitter.com/UDLoV4ZiBm
— drew (@sixersruinedme) November 5, 2018
And he wasn’t alone in that category. The Sixers couldn’t buy a shot from downtown in Brooklyn. In fact, they didn’t hit their first three-pointer until midway through the third quarter. Robert Covington and J.J. Redick, the team’s only real long-range threats, were a combined 2-of-11 from three-point land, while Philadelphia shot just 4-of-20 overall from behind the arc for the game.
Yet Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons were both strong, as usual. Embiid put up a big double-double with 16 points, 15 rebounds, four assists, and a block, while Simmons chipped in 20 points, 12 rebounds, and three assists. But when your two best distributors from the point guard position combine for three total assists in the game, something is amiss.
The Sixers will try to write this one off as a schedule loss, but there are real problems to address moving forward if they want to be taken seriously as a legitimate challenger in the East come next spring.
