Sixers discuss defensive failures in the first half in road loss to Pacers
The Philadelphia 76ers are still working through a lot of adversity at the moment as they are missing quite a few important players. The Sixers entered Saturday’s matchup with the Indiana Pacers still shorthanded and they had to rely on others to step up, but it wasn’t enough in a 118-111 loss to the Pacers.
A big reason for the loss was Indiana getting off to a hot start. The Pacers shot a blistering 67.4% in the first half on their way to scoring 70 points by halftime. They shot 9-for-15 from deep, led by a 5-for-6 showing from Justin Holiday who had 20 points, and they led by as many as 20 in the first half.
The Sixers battled back and they were able to pull back to within single digits, but the poor effort in the first half really hurt them in this one.
“Listen, we didn’t deserve to win tonight,” said coach Doc Rivers. “They shot 57% from the field, 67 I think at halftime, and we fooled them off a little bit. They played harder. They beat us in transition, I think they had 18 transition points in the first half, we cut it in the second half to make the game manageable, but when you’re on the road, and you get down 20 and you dig yourself a hole, it’s hard coming back, it is. Give them credit. They were better prepared. They were the better team tonight.”
To Rivers’ point, the Sixers held the Pacers to 46.2% from the floor in the second half, but it just was not able to make up for the poor play initially. A team can’t win a game in the first half, but they can certainly lose one with a poor effort so this is a tough lesson to learn.
“In the first half, we gave them too much momentum where they upped the lead,” said Tobias Harris who had 32 points and 11 rebounds. “We knew going into the game who their shooters were and we really didn’t execute. Holiday comes out and starts rolling and he’s always been a knockdown shooter throughout his career really, but every time we’ve played him, he’s always been effective.”
Holiday was a big difference in this one as he finished with 27 points and he shot 6-for-8 from deep. Once he got rolling in the first half, he was tough to stop.
“Certain communication issues,” added Tyrese Maxey. “Not following the game plan, not following the scout, and then just competitive nature. We had some moments in the first half where our competitive nature slipped and that’s one thing we can never let slip. It starts with myself as well. There were some plays I could’ve made.”
It goes to show the Sixers that they need to bring it from the jump and it can’t just come at halftime or anything like that.
“We shot ourselves in the foot early,” said Andre Drummond. “We came out slow all of us, the first and second unit. You can’t give teams 20 points on the road and expect to come back and win. It’s very hard to do that, especially on the road. We came out in the second half and did the best we could, play that we know, just wasn’t enough to come up with a win.”
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