The Philadelphia 76ers actually remembered how to win again for a week at home. What’s more, the Sixers beat the Brooklyn Nets and Indiana Pacers while almost knocking off the Miami Heat in between. As such, the Sixers should have been in good shape to challenge the Los Angeles Clippers on March 20 -- except for the fact that the game was in Los Angeles.
Once again, the Sixers lost whatever touch they had when they left Philadelphia, as the Clippers knocked them out by 101-72. Any possible hope that the Sixers turned a corner last week was shattered by the Clippers, who secured their second blowout win over Philadelphia this season.
Los Angeles put on a big show at the Wells Fargo Center on Feb. 11, but Philadelphia made it a mere 17-point loss in garbage time. In this case, the Clippers didn’t let up after they fell into an early eight-point deficit. Although the two teams were even after one quarter, the Sixers never really threatened after that.
The Clippers were up by as many as 20 points midway through the third quarter. On a night where the Heat erased a 27-point deficit midway through the third against the Cleveland Cavaliers, a 20-point hole looked like child’s play. Unfortunately, the Sixers are not the Heat -- as they’ve been endlessly reminded of in the last three years -- and the Clippers are not the Cavaliers.
Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and Los Angeles’s other stars barely needed to play in the fourth, yet Philadelphia couldn’t show any last-minute life anyway. It was as if the Sixers’ last three recent wins never happened, and in the big picture, they really didn’t.
Despite coming off a 3-1 home stand, the Sixers will not finish with a winning record this year because they are now 6-24 on the road. Of course, there are many reasons for this poor season other than this current 14-game road losing streak, but it is one of the more glaring excuses.
The last few games against the Nets, Heat and Pacers reminded the Sixers of what could have been this year. However, the reality check against the Clippers reminded the Sixers of what this year has actually been.
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