The Philadelphia 76ers were hit in the mouth early Wednesday by the Phoenix Suns.
After a good start from the Sixers, the Suns responded in a big way. They outscored Philadelphia 39-24 in the second quarter, then 30-19 in the third as they cruised to a 115-102 victory against the Sixers. Phoenix outscored Philadelphia 55-40 in the contest and dominated the offensive boards.
“It took the life out of us a little bit,” Kelly Oubre Jr. told reporters of Phoenix’s second quarter. “We have to do a better job of maintaining our balance throughout the other teams’ races. They are so talented. We kind of thought it was worse than it was. They carried this momentum throughout the match. Many thanks to Grayson Allen who gave a great effort tonight for them and was the catalyst for their victory.
It was a tough overall effort for the Sixers on what turned out to be a long night. The Sixers shot just 43.2 percent from the floor, compared to 50 percent for the Suns, and Phoenix made 19 triples, including nine from Allen.
According to Oubre, the Sixers got hit in the mouth and that was it. They were unable to respond and Philadelphia suffered a tough loss to begin this 4 game road trip.
“We need everyone to step up, be focused and focused,” Oubre added. “Be very disciplined and I just want to play hard. We had the group that finished the game and we were just playing hard. We weren’t the most talented group or anything like that, but we kept fighting and fighting and you see you’re chipping away at the lead a little bit and if we had done that on second and third quarter, that probably would have been the case. in a different scenario. Play hard, fight for 48 minutes.
Coach Nick Nurse started rookie Ricky Council IV with two-way player Jeff Dowtin Jr. along with Oubre, KJ Martin and Mo Bamba to start the fourth quarter. The Sixers had a good run to cut the deficit to 11, but it wasn’t enough to make up for a slow start.
“We were just playing for free,” Oubre finished. “Those guys didn’t have a lot of pressure on them. we just played for free, played together. We got some saves and the guys were making shots. It’s not rocket science. We all go out there and play together and good things happen.
The Sixers will look to bounce back on Friday when they visit the Los Angeles Lakers.
