The Philadelphia 76ers suffered yet another embarrassing loss Wednesday night, this time at the hands of the New York Knicks. With an opportunity to enter the All-Star break on a high note, the Sixers instead chose to float through 48 minutes, allowing the Knicks to dominate them on their own home court by a final score of 138-89.
On both sides of the court, the Sixers struggled on both sides. Offensively, the Sixers knocked down just two of ten shots from three-point range. Defensively, Philadelphia struggled to contain Karl Anthony-Towns and Mikal Bridges, who combined for 20 first-quarter points.
The second quarter saw the Sixers' struggles only increase as they once again gave up 36 points to the Knicks, while only mustering 19 of their own. Philadelphia once again struggled to shoot from range, or even simply get shot attempts off, as they missed all five of the three-point attempts they managed in the quarter.
Teams simply cannot win shooting so poorly and infrequently in the modern NBA. If only the team had a shooter waiting in the wings to take said shots.
With the game nearly over at the half, the Sixers oddly played their best quarter in the third, which has consistently been the quarter they've produced the worst in. Even still, Philadelphia was only able to limit further bleeding, "holding" the Knicks to 32 points while scoring 29.
Down by 33 points after three quarters, one would expect the Knicks to remove as many crucial players as they could, while the Sixers would preserve their own and insert the backend of the bench, hungry to prove themselves.
While that was mostly the case, the Knicks left in trade deadline acquisition Jose Alvarado, who proceeded to drop four threes on the Sixers with ease while New York's remaining reserves also picked about Philadelphia.
The Knicks added Alvarado, who finished with 26 points, for just two second-round picks. It's not entirely fair to simply say the Sixers could have made a move of equal impact so easily, but after the team's complete lack of additions made and the notable subtraction of a young contriubuter it's fair to question their confidence in this team.
The Sixers would once again be boatraced in the quarter and fall by nearly 50 points. After the game, Nick Nurse said the team lacked the mental and physical energy needed to win, as well as the preparation to do so. According to Nurse, the team failed to execute the game plan, though what exactly that game plan was cannot be said for certain.
Mercifully, both for Philadelphia and their fans, the Sixers will take a brief repose for the upcoming All-Star weekend. Sixers guards Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe will take part in the various festivities, but should still be able to find time to rest, much needed as they both are among the league's leaders in minutes per game.
The Sixers won't take the court as a team again until Thursday, Feb. 19, when they will host the Atlanta Hawks for a 7 p.m. tip-off.
