Sixers fall into early hole, lose to Jazz in home opener

EVEN AFTER only two games, the script is becoming too familiar for the 76ers. Play hard at the beginning, go to the bench and watch an even game become lopsided. Throw in another opposing guard torching them off the bench and that's why the team stands at 0-2 after a 99-71 loss to the Utah Jazz Friday in the team's home opener.

The Jazz, which is is starting the season with a three-game road trip, gained its first win of the season by using a 13-0 run early in the second quarter, hot shooting by Alec Burks and minimal defense from the Sixers, who dropped to 0-2.

If there was any doubt about the outcome after Utah forged a 50-33 lead at the half, the Jazz quickly secured the decision with another 13-0 run in the third, opening the lead up to 30 points before the quarter was even half over.

While the Sixers try to be an up-tempo team, they aren't having much success thus far this season. In the opener against Boston the Sixers had only seven fastbreak points. Against Utah they got only seven more.

As what he most disappointed by now, coach Brett Brown replied: "I think trying to find that balance of running and posting. We cannot play slow. As good as I think Jahlil (Okafor) can be, that bothered me a lot. We need to play with speed.

"We have to find that balance. You've heard me admit that since we got Jahlil. So far, we haven't found it."

Nik Stauskas, making his debut with the Sixers after battling leg and back problems, scored 12 points, as did Jerami Grant. Jahlil Okafor, Hollis Thompson and Isaiah Canaan all scored 10, while Nerlens Noel had eight points and 10 rebounds.

The Sixers got crushed by the Utah big men, as forward Derrick Favors went for 20 points and 12 rebounds and center Rudy Gobert collected eight points, 11 rebounds and six blocks. Rodney Hood scored 17, while Burks finished with 15.

After the game, Brown couldn't let go of his frustration with his team's lack of running.

"They have Jahlil Okafor. They just saw him dominate an NBA game 48 hours ago," Brown said of his rookie's 26 points against Boston. "It's hard to explain it any other way. You have to balance post and pace.

"To walk it up the floor and get 63 shots and think we're going to beat many in the NBA, that's not how you play. That's not how I'm playing.

"We're going to experience some heartache over the next month; everybody bunker in. That's a fact. That shouldn't be a mystery. We might draw one out, find a brilliant performance. But this is going to be a fistfight for a while."

If the first two games were any indication, they aren't going to be fair fights. And it doesn't get any easier for the Sixers, as they'll host the Cleveland Cavaliers and LeBron James on Monday, that is if James doesn't take the night off to rest his ailing back.

"It's unfortunate we didn't play the kind of basketball that we wanted to play," Stauskas said. "There were times where we were able to get stops and able to get out and run, but I just felt like most of the game we weren't able to get it going offensively. We were forced to take a lot of shots deep in the shot clock. We had to settle for those shots, because we couldn't get anything early."

The team announced that it has exercised its options on Joel Embiid and Nik Stauskas for their third seasons and on the fourth season for Nerlens Noel.

"I'm just blessed to be extended and be a part of this organization," said Noel, who scored 14 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and had three steals in the season opener. "I'm just really focusing on this year and getting myself better and taking it year by year.

"Sam (Hinkie) is a good guy, and it shows good faith in Joel, knowing his potential in what he can be and what he will be. He's working real hard now, so we have a lot of confidence that he's going to be really good and he's going to get going soon."

Embiid, of course, is sitting out his second straight season after his second surgery to repair a fractured navicular bone in his foot.

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