Are Philadelphia 76ers having an identity crisis?
By Alec Liebsch
The Philadelphia 76ers have shown many faces this season and there might be more than one reason why. Are these issues easy to solve?
Everyone knows the NBA regular season is long. Eighty-two games make up the calendar from mid-October to mid-April, some of them on consecutive nights, with only a one-week break in February of mandated rest. The Philadelphia 76ers have accepted this reality, arguably to a fault.
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At 24-14, the Sixers are still in the thick of the Eastern Conference race, but the recent four-game losing skid put them three games out of second place. Don’t let the Monday night win over Oklahoma City fool you; the Sixers have dropped too many games that should have been wins.
It’s one thing to lose a few close ones to Utah and Toronto, but it’s a much deeper issue to get run off the floor by Brooklyn and Indiana. Though most of the team has gotten up for the big games, such as Christmas Day against Milwaukee and both Boston bouts, they have dragged themselves down against lesser opponents like Orlando.
There’s a fine line between pacing yourself and blatantly not giving a damn, a line which the Sixers are on the wrong side of far too often. There’s blame to go around and every part of the organization must be held accountable.
If they’re really gunning for a top seed, these biweekly eggs they lay need to become quarterly. What’s really holding this team back from doing so? Are there realistic ways to fix it?