Joel Embiid, Sixers react to bad road loss to Pistons after collapse
DETROIT–The Philadelphia 76ers weren’t playing their best game on Thursday when they took on the Detroit Pistons in an effort to bounce back from a loss at home. The Pistons entered the contest with a 20-56 record and it seemed that this would be the night the Sixers would bounce back.
Even while they were sleepwalking through the first three quarters, they still maintained their lead. Even in the fourth, they held a 6-point lead, but the Pistons then kicked it into high gear and outscored Philadelphia 29-15 in the fourth to knock off the Sixers 102-94 behind 27 points from Cade Cunningham.
Joel Embiid led the Sixers with 37 points and 15 rebounds and he and the rest of the team discussed a collapse in the fourth quarter in the loss:
Embiid and Doc Rivers on the fourth quarter
Embiid: “A bunch of turnovers. Obviously, we missed a bunch of shots, and they got hot.”
The Sixers committed five turnovers in the fourth which led to nine Pistons points and they also shot only 37.5% from the floor and 0-for-6 from deep. Detroit shot 11-for-17 and 5-for-10 from deep.
Rivers: “I thought it was a tough game, really. I thought offensively, we just stood around. Their switching, we just played outside, didn’t move the ball as a group. At halftime, we were shooting 42% I think and I just thought the fouls bailed us out. We were awful in the first half, too. I just thought we played with very little life tonight, didn’t play together tonight at all. That’s something we’ve been doing so it’s just one of those nights. Tough one.”
Were the Sixers tired?
Rivers: “I never know that answer. I wish I could. I thought we had a long shootaround, but I didn’t think it was with a lot of energy today, but I’ve seen that, and then you come out and play great. It’s funny, I thought the first eight minutes of the game, we played pretty well. After that, I thought we just stood around. I thought—even in the first eight—I think I counted five quick no pass shots by three or four different guys, quick shots, no execution. We’ll fix it, but tonight is a good night in some ways for us to see like there’s certain ways we can’t play and tonight was one of them.”
To that point, is this loss now a wake up call?
Rivers: “I don’t know what a wake-up call is. I hear what you’re saying, but no. I don’t. I really don’t. Bottom line is, we just gotta play better.”
Embiid acknowledges chemistry issues
“We still are really working on the chemistry. We’re working on the spacing, where everybody should be at, and it’s a work in progress. We don’t have a lot of time, but that’s why we have shootaround and practices every day to try and get on the same page, but hopefully, by the time the playoffs roll around, we’ll know what to do.”
“First, we didn’t do a good enough job of getting stops. What they were doing, give them credit, they made shots, but at the end of the day, our execution defensively wasn’t there and then offensively, we had too many turnovers down the stretch to be able to give us a real shot of changing the momentum. They made a 3 and then we came back down and had a turnover. They came back down and made another play, made another shot. So, that was a tough formula, especially in the fourth quarter, of trying to come back and kind of build a lead there. So, that’s really where the game shifted.”
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