Philadelphia 76ers: 58 Days Of Desolation

Mar 15, 2014; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers forward Thaddeus Young (21) and guard Michael Carter-Williams (1) sit on the bench late in the fourth quarter of loss to the Memphis Grizzlies at Wells Fargo Center. The Grizzlies defeated the 76ers, 103-77. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 15, 2014; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers forward Thaddeus Young (21) and guard Michael Carter-Williams (1) sit on the bench late in the fourth quarter of loss to the Memphis Grizzlies at Wells Fargo Center. The Grizzlies defeated the 76ers, 103-77. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 15, 2014; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers forward Thaddeus Young (21) sits on the bench late in the fourth quarter of loss to the Memphis Grizzlies at Wells Fargo Center. The Grizzlies defeated the 76ers, 103-77. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 15, 2014; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers forward Thaddeus Young (21) sits on the bench late in the fourth quarter of loss to the Memphis Grizzlies at Wells Fargo Center. The Grizzlies defeated the 76ers, 103-77. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

It is said that time is relative, but in the case of these last two months for the Philadelphia 76ers — time is infinite. As of today it has officially been 58 days since the Sixers won an NBA basketball game … let that soak in for a minute. That is a LONG time, my friends.

A lot has happened over that time span including 26 losses by this storied franchise. If they can’t beat the Detroit Pistons tonight, then they will set the NBA’s all-time mark for futility with a 27-game losing streak. The Pistons have only won eight games over the last 58 days and thus I think this will be the night that the streak ends.

Since I think the Sixers streak will be over at 26 games, I figure we need to examine the perils of the last 58 days for this team and dissect how truly horrific it has been.

The Sixers’ record stands at 15-57 heading into tonight’s game. During their 26-game losing streak there are 13 NBA teams with more than 15 wins! Almost half of the NBA teams have won more games in the last 58 days than the Sixers have all year — yikes.

During this streak they are shooting a league worst 40.7 percent overall, 29.1 percent from 3-point range, and they have the third lowest free throw percentage at 70.6. At least they are not the worst in all three, right? Well, their true shooting percentage which factors in all three of these shots was a league low 48.6 percent (league average for the season is 53.9).

Shot Chart during their 26-game losing streak!
Shot Chart during their 26-game losing streak!

Just in case you couldn’t figure this out; red is below league average (bad), yellow is around league average (decent) and green is above league average (good!) — you get the picture.

So that you realize how terrible this shot chart is, below is the San Antonio Spurs’ shot chart over the same time span. They are basically polar opposites — not surprisingly the Spurs led the NBA with 23 wins during this time frame.

Shot Chart since January 30, 2014
Shot Chart since January 30, 2014

It all makes sense because to win games you need to have players capable of making shots and unfortunately it looks as if the Sixers have a shortage of those types of players.

Offensive rating is calculated by the points a team can produce over 100 possessions. During this losing streak the Sixers have an offensive rating of 92.2 — definitely offensive (sorry I couldn’t help myself). The next lowest rating during this span was the Indiana Pacers at 99.6. Every other team was over a rating of 100 and there were 17 teams with a rating over 105.

These numbers are simply astronomical, but for all of the wrong reasons. Again the Pistons are no behemoth, so I’m hoping that the Sixers are able to pull out a WIN on Saturday night.

The only problem I can foresee with a Sixers win? When they try to shoot out the confetti to celebrate it will just be a big cloud of dust raining down on the patrons in the Wells Fargo Center because of non-use of the streamers — 58 days!!

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