Another Bitter Defeat For the Sixers

The excuse of youth will only go so far.

Yes, the 76ers have a youthful makeup, but teams shouldn't squander 21-point leads with under four minutes to go in the fourth quarter at home to the Memphis Grizzlies.

Give the Grizzlies plenty of credit for Friday's 99-94 victory over the Sixers at the Wells Fargo Center.

And attach plenty of blame to the Sixers who blew a chance to earn their first four-game winning streak of the season.

Sixers coach Doug Collins admitted that the team struggled against the Memphis zone defense.

Struggle would be putting it mildly. With 11 fourth quarter turnovers, no wonder the Sixers got outscored, 42-21 in the final 12 minutes.

More than that, the Sixers lost their composure along with losing the ball, time and time again.

How many lessons need to be learned?

There were the two losses in Washington, one in Detroit, another in Atlanta, one in overtime at Orlando.

One disaster after another. Yet this one may have been the most disheartening the players, who seemed stunned in the locker room.

The Sixers have been resilient to bounce back from these difficult defeats, but there comes a point when they have to learn to close the deal.

The Sixers are now 3-11 in games decided by five points or fewer. The lessons keep piling up.

And so do the losses.

The Sixers aren't losing from lack of effort. Lack of focus, maybe, but whatever it is, these are tough lessons to learn.

And one has to wonder how many do the Sixers have to endure before beginning to turn the corner?