Sixers feeling good; Warriors up next
SAN FRANCISCO - 76ers coach Brett Brown went straight for the word "excellent" when describing his team's road trip. "I think so far it's been an excellent road trip," Brown said.
SAN FRANCISCO - 76ers coach Brett Brown went straight for the word "excellent" when describing his team's road trip.
"I think so far it's been an excellent road trip," Brown said.
Even though they lost two of the first three games, the Sixers (24-42) are playing better than expected.
They opened the road trip Thursday night with an overtime loss to the Portland Trail Blazers. Then the Sixers fought hard but were undone by a late run by the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday, 112-100. The Sixers followed up with a morale-boosting 118-116 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday night.
"We just finished a back-to-back with a win," Brown said. "With the group that we have, I think they should be proud of their effort."
Now we'll see if the Sixers can garner major headlines by defeating the league's best team.
Their four-game trip ends Tuesday night against the Golden State Warriors at Oracle Arena. The Warriors (52-14) are riding their first three-game losing streak since November 2013.
However, it can be argued that Golden State's last loss should come with an asterisk.
Already without all-star Kevin Durant (knee), the Warriors rested all-stars Klay Thompson, Steph Curry, and Draymond Green, and reserve Andre Iguodala missed Saturday's 107-85 loss to the San Antonio Spurs. They had the day off because it was the Warriors' fifth game in seven days.
Thompson, Curry, Green, and Iguodala will all be available Tuesday as the Warriors look to post an eighth straight series victory against the Sixers.
But the visitors were elated to snap a four-game losing streak on Sunday night. It also was their third victory in the 10 games since the trade deadline.
The Sixers had been struggling to find their groove and lacked competitiveness after trading away Nerlens Noel and Ersan Ilyasova. It also didn't help that the team announced on March 1 that its best player, Joel Embiid, was lost for the season with a torn meniscus in his left knee.
But with Embiid enjoying the game from the bench, Dario Saric showed why he - not Embiid - is the front-runner to win rookie of the year.
Embiid even endorsed his teammate while crashing Saric's postgame interview with Comcast SportsNet.
"He's the rookie of the year," Embiid said of Saric. "That's the guy."
Saric had just finished with a career-high 29 points plus seven rebounds, five assists, two steals, one block and five turnovers against the Lakers at the Staples Center. It was his 16th straight game with 10 or more points.
Embiid was heavily favored to win rookie of the year before a torn meniscus and a bone bruise in his left knee ended his season after only 31 games.
Saric has excelled during Embiid's absence. The center may have put the rookie of the year debate to rest Sunday night with his endorsement of Saric.
But Saric wasn't the only Sixers rookie to shine against the Lakers. Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot finished with a career-high 18 points while starting in place of Robert Covington (right knee soreness) at small forward.
Luwawu-Cabarrot excelled in transition and displayed his athleticism. Thirteen of his points came in the first half. His previous career high was 12.
Jahlil Okafor also had a solid game, finishing with 23 points.
However, the game wasn't decided until Julius Randle misfired on a long desperation heave at the buzzer.
"I think we can't put the game on the last half-court shot by Julius Randle," Saric said. "We should put the game on how we really tried to play defense in the second half and tried to fight."
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