The Philadelphia 76ers’ perfect start is over, and the thing that helped keep them afloat Sunday night was the same area that has been working for them all season: turnovers.
After opening with three straight wins, the Sixers fell 106-93 to the Detroit Pistons and were held to their lowest scoring total of the season. It was a rough night all around, especially with Philadelphia playing on the second night of a back-to-back and missing Joel Embiid and VJ Edgecombe. Detroit was also shorthanded, though, sitting Jalen Duran and Ausar Thompson.
Even in defeat, the Sixers kept winning the turnover battle. They came into the game averaging 19 forced turnovers per night, then came away with 17 more against Detroit and turned those into 20 points off turnovers.
Philadelphia also limited its own mistakes enough to build a clear edge in that category, as the Pistons scored just 10 points off the Sixers’ 11 turnovers. Through four games, Philadelphia has won the turnover battle every time, a strong sign for a roster still learning each other on the fly.
The bigger concern was everything happening around the edges of that effort. The Sixers were hammered on the glass, getting outrebounded 54-37 and giving up 15 offensive rebounds that led to easy second-chance chances for Detroit.
But the frontcourt was extremely thin, so that outcome was hardly shocking. Philadelphia started LeBron James as teh de facto center in the game, after all.
The more troubling issue was the shooting. The Sixers hit only seven of their 27 3-point tries, finishing at 26 percent from deep. No one really caught fire, and Tyrese Maxey, LeBron James and Jaylen Brown combined to shoot 3-of-14 from long range.
That marked the third time in four games that Philadelphia finished under 30 percent from beyond the arc. The Sixers shot 25 percent from 3-point range against the Cleveland Cavaliers and 28 percent against the New York Knicks.
It’s early, and the roster has enough shooting to expect better nights ahead. Still, this is the kind of number the Sixers need to clean up fast.
In Other News...
Jaylen Brown Keeps Sixers Fans Watching This Celtics Drama
Even after the Celtics have moved on to other business, the Jaylen Brown-Jayson Tatum storyline still has a way of finding an audience in Philadelphia. Browns latest response to Tatums insistence that there is no animosity between them only added another layer to a relationship that has followed both players beyond Boston, especially now that Brown is wearing Sixers colors and any friction between the two is suddenly relevant to a different fan base.
Brown did not exactly close the door on the subject, instead pointing to Tatums public relations team and stopping short of saying he wants to clear the air privately. The bigger mystery is still the same one hanging over the exchange: the two stars have different versions of how much Tatum knew about Browns move from the Celtics to the Sixers, and neither has laid out the full story. For Sixers fans, it is a reminder that this is not just old Celtics drama. It is a subplot tied directly to one of their most prominent players. [Read more 🡒]
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For a Philadelphia team watching the East unfold around it, that kind of early growth across the conference matters, especially with Joel Embiid set to miss a game while managing plantar fasciitis. The Sixers have their own health concerns to track, and while the Nets are still searching for their first win, the emergence of a couple of promising pieces gives Brooklyn at least one reason to stay patient. [Read more 🡒]
Jaylen Brown Just Added Real Heat To The Sixers Celtics Rivalry
Jaylen Brown has given the 76ers-Celtics rivalry a little extra edge before the season even gets rolling. Brown, now on Philadelphias side of the ledger, weighed in on Jayson Tatums reaction to Brown being traded to the Sixers and suggested his former Celtics teammate was not fully candid about it. The comments only add to a relationship that has long carried more complexity than the usual former-teammates reunion.
Now the spotlight shifts to the calendar, with Philadelphia and Boston set to see each other multiple times in the regular season and the first meeting coming Nov. 10. Brown also told Tatum to stay ready, which is the kind of line that tends to linger when two stars with a complicated history are headed for repeated head-to-head matchups. For the Sixers, it turns a familiar Eastern Conference showdown into something with a little more personal bite. [Read more 🡒]