The Philadelphia 76ers’ most recent loss against the Cleveland Cavaliers was an accurate depiction of the team currently stands.
While the Philadelphia 76ers have thus far had a very testing stretch of games, it has nonetheless given them a very clear indication as to where they stand as a team.
Their latest test came against the defending Eastern Conference champion Cleveland Cavaliers. Riding a seven-game winning streak entering their clash, the Cavaliers simply ran roughshod over the Sixers on their way to a throughly convincing 113-91 win. Having rebounded from a 4-7 start to the season, the Cavaliers’ clear advantage in experience came to the forefront.
Following the loss, Sixers’ head coach Brett Brown noted:
"“We all do this together, we win together and we lose together. We will learn from this game….they’re the Cleveland Cavaliers, former NBA champs for a reason, and we’ll learn from this.“We didn’t play well on either side of the ball…we go away feeling like this is not who we are….We need to be more active and disruptive, they need to feel us, and they didn’t.”"
In addition to the Cavaliers, the early part of the season has also seen the Sixers already take on twice both the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors, and the now 16-4 and current Western Conference-leading Houston Rockets.
Following the Cavaliers loss, the Sixers are now 4-7 against teams with a .500 record or better. In contrast, they are 7-1 against teams with a sub-.500 record.
While the Sixers’ talent and overall potential is seemingly sky-high, their lack of overall experience has shown up mightily thus far when taking on the biggest and best teams in the league.
After all, Joel Embiid has now played a total of just 48 games and is only 23. Rookie Ben Simmons is just 21 and has played only 18 games. Furthermore, forward Dario Saric is in just his second season and is only 23, while Robert Covington is still just 26. Plus, that’s not to mention the Sixers’ No. 1 overall pick from this past draft, Markelle Fultz, who has competed in just four games since making his debut.
In a snap shot, here are the total career games played for the Sixers and Cavaliers rosters from their latest encounter:
- Sixers: 2,885 games
- Cavaliers: 7,714 games
Granted, experience isn’t everything, but the discrepancy here is enormous. Furthermore, without a single All-Star appearance on the roster, the Sixers are going to require their young core to accelerate their improvement in order to compete. With more repetitions and big game experience, the Sixers will be hoping they bridge the gap between potential and lack of experience.
Notably, the Sixers’ next three games are all teams with greater than .500 records — the Washington Wizards, Boston Celtics and Detroit Pistons.
With the Sixers currently placed fifth in the Eastern Conference, these upcoming games represent another chance for them to prove themselves as legitimate playoff contenders.
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As coach Brown stated following the game, the Sixers will learn from this experience, and will better for it in the long-term.