Flyers sympathize with Sixers

THOUGH THEY'VE lost 25 in a row, the Sixers have won some sympathy among their fellow Wells Fargo Center tenants.

"You never want to see that for a hometown team," said Braydon Coburn, in his eighth season as a Flyers defenseman. "Sometimes the way to get to the top is to finish at the bottom. There are a lot of teams in our league that have used that model and that's what I'm hoping for for them."

Jake Voracek, a Czechoslovakia native in his third season here, keeps up with all the local sports teams and said things will get better.

"Right now, they are paying the price to be one of the best teams in the NBA," said Voracek, before revealing his pick to win this year's NBA title. "They've got Michael Carter-Williams. They play tough teams. It's not like the schedule helped them out. How do you want to win in San Antonio? I think that team is going to go all the way."

Voracek winced at the notion that a team could go 2 months without winning a single game and said he'd like to see the Sixers get Kansas' Andrew Wiggins in the June draft.

The Sixers, at Houston tomorrow, can tie Cleveland's 2011 NBA mark for consecutive losses.

"It's never easy," Voracek said, "especially when everyone reminds you that you've lost 25 in a row."

There's an easy way around that, of course. Don't lose 25 in a row.