For the team with the second-best defensive rating in the NBA (108.9), the Philadelphia 76ers have an abnormally high number of stretches where they look absolutely abysmal defensively. More often than not, those poor stretches come at the beginning of games. The Sixers come out lethargic on the defensive end and fall into a big of a hole, then find a sense of urgency and ‘lock in’ later in the game.
Sometimes they’re able to complete the comeback because Joel Embiid and James Harden are dang good at basketball. Sometimes they aren’t. Tuesday night fell into the latter bucket, as the Sixers gave up 67 points to the Washington Wizards in the first half, only to fall just short in erasing the nee-Bullets’ advantage for a 116-111 defeat.