The scene in the home locker room was not an unusual one after the Sixers fell to Cleveland on Friday night, 117-115. Reporters milled about the center of the oval-shaped room. Attendants, dressed all in black, scurried here and there, cleaning up after the players.
Veteran guard Eric Gordon, who did not play for the 34th time in 40 games this season, dressed quickly and headed for the door. Jabari Walker and Kyle Lowry lingered at their lockers. Tyrese Maxey and Trendon Watford, long-time friends
and next-door neighbors in this space, commiserated at theirs. And Jared McCain, the slumping sophomore guard (also a non-participant on this night, and soon to be assigned to the G-League), was still in uniform as he sat and stared at his phone.
At the far end of the room, next to the door leading to the areas that are off-limits to civilians, an illuminated message board listed the menu for the players’ postgame spread: Meatloaf (with sweet, tangy glaze, crispy onions) … Honey-glazed chicken … Blackened barramundi (and Cajun remoulade) … Collard Greens … Hoppin John’s (rice and black-eyed peas) …
Somehow home cooking has not agreed with the Sixers this season. Somehow they are 10-11 within Xfinity Mobile Arena (and 12-7 outside it), a troubling trend for a team that at the very least has playoff aspirations.
They are the only team in the league that is above .500 overall, and below it at home. Moreover, they have never in their history finished above the break-even mark while losing more than they’ve won in their own gym.
Strange, no?
When asked point-blank why they can’t win at home, veteran forward Kelly Oubre Jr. playfully recoiled.
“Oooh, that’s a hard-hitter right there,” he deadpanned, before saying that the Sixers are prone to “lapses where we’re up, the (opposing) team gets momentum, goes on runs and we get a little bit frantic.”
Certainly the team’s spate of ill health has played a part in its home struggles. Paul George and Joel Embiid have each missed nine games in Xfinity, while Oubre sat out 12 (and 19 overall) after suffering a knee injury in mid-November. Watford also had an extended absence.
Coach Nick Nurse was not eager to pin the problem on injuries, though he is hard-pressed to explain it otherwise.
“But I would say that the prep has been great here at home,” he said. “The guys have been great as far as their concentration, the way they’re approaching the practices in the morning, all those kinds of things.”
Still, they have dropped nine of their last 14 home games, including four of their last five, after going 5-2 to start the season. Nurse said he and his staff have mulled lineup changes, changes to the group opening the second half and strategic tweaks.
“Hopefully,” he said, “it will just be one of those funky things we can just turn around. We need to, because we’ve got a lot of games coming up at home.”
There are four this week — Monday against Indiana, Tuesday against Phoenix, Thursday against Houston and Saturday against New York. There are also home dates against Sacramento, Milwaukee and New Orleans the last week of the month.
Friday’s game, the Sixers’ second straight against the Cavaliers in South Philly, was a study in frustration. While the Sixers got off to a slow start in Wednesday’s 133-107 drubbing, they faltered down the stretch in this one, frittering away an 11-point fourth-quarter lead and ultimately losing on Evan Mobley’s dunk with 4.8 seconds left, off a feed from Jaylon Tyson.
Tyson, a second-year wing, was brilliant all game long, with a career-high 39 points, including seven three-pointers in nine attempts. As Oubre said, “He had a halo over him tonight. He was shooting to God’s net.”
Tyson rescued the Cavs on a night when their leading scorer, Donovan Mitchell, missed nine of 13 shots and settled for 13 points, nearly 17 beneath his average.
“We made someone else beat us, and (Tyson) did,” Maxey said.
There were other oddities on Cleveland’s side of the ledger. Philly native De’Andre Hunter, who seemingly can’t make a shot against anybody else this season, lit up his hometown team for the second straight game, scoring 16 off the bench. Another Cavs sub, Tyrese Proctor, came in shooting 29.5 percent from the arc, but nailed three of five triple tries while scoring 13.
Embiid poured in 33 points to top the Sixers. Maxey added 22 but shot 9-for-23 from the floor against Tyson’s sticky defense.
Then there was VJ Edgecombe, the prize rookie. Somehow he took only five shots, making four. Nurse acknowledged that Edgecombe could have been more aggressive, especially in the open court. At the same time the coach said it was “just one of those games where the ball didn’t find him much.”
Little things like that added up. Quentin Grimes missed a layup and Maxey came up empty on a corner three, either of which could have stanched the bleeding when Cleveland went on a game-tying 13-2 flurry midway through the final period.
The Sixers recovered and went up seven, but Tyson sandwiched his last two bombs around Hunter’s fast-break dunk over Embiid, leading to a hectic final two minutes. Cleveland ultimately won it when Tyson collected Lonzo Ball’s inbounds pass against a fronting George, drove the baseline from left to right and shoveled a pass to Mobley, who was left unattended when Embiid came with defensive help.
And just like that, the home fans were left disappointed. Again.
“They were just kind of in their own rhythm and their own flow,” Oubre said of the Cavs, “and we’ve got to disrupt that. We could be more disruptive throughout the game and be more physical and tough with our play – not being dirty, but just going out there and letting the other team know that we’re here to stand in front of you. We’re not going to let you get what you want.”
That’s correct in a larger sense, too. The Sixers need to make a stand on their own court, need to find a recipe for success. Otherwise the home cooking is going to continue to be unsatisfying, no matter how much tangy glaze or Cajun remoulade is added to it.
