Ben Simmons, Sixers explain what went wrong in 2nd half of loss to Pacers
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The Philadelphia 76ers got off to a hot start on the road on Tuesday against the Indiana Pacers. They built up a 16-point lead and they kept a double-digit advantage for the most part, but the Pacers used a big second half to knock off Philadelphia 103-94 and stop their 8-game winning streak.
After scoring 62 points in the first half, Philadelphia only scored 32 in the second half as they could not find the bucket at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. They only shot 29.5% from the floor in the second half and only shot 2-for-14 from deep compared to 58.1% and 6-for-12 from deep in the first half.
Ben Simmons made his return to the lineup and he was able to push the pace a bit more in the first half compared to the second half. Playing with pace is always a big thing for him and the team’s offense and they were not able to get it done in the final 24 minutes.
“Pace and we didn’t convert very much when we tried to get some buckets, and that played into it,” said Simmons afterward. “We had some good looks overall. We also didn’t move the ball as well we wanted to and defensively, we didn’t get enough stops.”
Coach Doc Rivers took it a step further and he was clearly upset with his team’s lack of execution in the second half.
“I thought the second half, really I thought the last four minutes of the second quarter, I think they went on a 7-2 run,” he started. “I thought we had some turnovers in one bad possession and I thought that started to change the game. Then I thought the first five minutes of the third, we were just horrible offensively. It’s rare that I’ve said this is an offensive loss, but this was an offensive loss tonight for sure.”
The Sixers are normally a team that will use their defense to fuel their offense. They will get out in transition thanks to the turnovers they are normally able to create, but that just was not there in this one. The offense in the second half was non-existent.
“Defense, I think, in the first half, we were really locked in,” said Tobias Harris who led Philadelphia with 25 points. “We were able to get some good stops at times, able to get out in transition. Transition has been our best offense all season and where we’re at our best because we’re locked in defensively. Third quarter, they just had too many good looks and open looks as well. I would relate that to the defensive end for sure.”
Indiana scored 12 points off Philadelphia’s turnovers and it was another stat that showed the offense could not find a groove in this one.
“I thought our defense overall held in,” Rivers finished. “Heck, half their points or 12 out of 13 of their points came off just bad passes and turnovers so they only had 103 with that. Defensively, we were fine.”
The Sixers will now move on to South Florida to take on the Miami Heat on Thursday.
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