Sixers fall in final home game of regular season

THE GOOD NEWS for the 76ers is this: Right now, only two major problems are holding the team back from playing the type of basketball they were at the beginning of the season.

The bad news: The problems are 1) physical and 2) mental.

That certainly is pretty all-encompassing and explains why, after Tuesday's 102-97 loss at home to Indiana, the team has now lost seven of its last nine and fell to 31-30. The Sixers also dropped to 3-19 in games decided by seven points or fewer.

The Sixers didn't find a new way to lose in front of 18,696 at the Wells Fargo Center; instead, they just reverted to the same story from the night before. Monday, the Orlando Magic lit it up from behind the three-point line, making 11 of 18. Indiana (40-22) followed suit, draining 13 of 24 from beyond the arc, outscoring the Sixers by 24 points in that area.

"Man, teams are hot from behind that three-point line against us," coach Doug Collins said. "I don't know if I've gone through a stretch where I've seen teams shoot like this. New Jersey hit some critical ones (April 13) when they beat us; Orlando [Monday], [Tuesday] 13 of 24 from three.

I think our guys did a lot of good things. That Indiana team is good. They've got size, they've got shooting they've got depth. Just a mistake here, a mistake there . . .

"Eventually, you have to win some of those games. There are two things we haven't done this year: win close games and get to the free throw line. To me those are two areas that stand out. To me, both those are physical and mental toughness. Closing out games is mental toughness; getting to the free throw line [is] physical toughness; and we have not done a good job all season long in those two areas. And it's not like as a coach I don't talk about it all the time."

Talking, like much of everything else, isn't working for the team right now, and the Sixers are fighting for their playoff lives. They are now stuck in the eighth playoff spot, just 1 1/2 games up on Milwaukee, where they'll play next Wednesday. But first come road games Wednesday at Cleveland, Saturday at Indiana, Monday at New Jersey. After Milwaukee, they play the next night in Detroit to finish the regular season. Certainly not an easy chore, especially when wins are harder to come by now than clean Penguins-Flyers games.

It is why Collins had former Sixers great Julius Erving address the team in the locker room following the loss. Erving spoke of opportunities being grabbed, not squandered. Whether that fell on deaf ears will soon be played out.

"It's definitely crunch time," said Thaddeus Young, who returned to the bench after a one-game start and scored 19 points. "We definitely need to win these next five games on the road to kind of solidify our position in what we're trying to do. We can't come out and not win games. We have to now. It's at that point where we have to figure out ways to win ballgames and get to the playoffs. I think we're just not making shots at the end of games. We're drawing up good plays, we're just not making the right plays or making shots."

Which doesn't bode well for a team fighting for its postseason life.

"We've got to find a way to win," said Elton Brand, who scored 11 points and grabbed eight rebounds. "I'm highly optimistic, believing in my teammates. We'll find a way. I think we've played so well in spurts. We haven't completed games, but we played well in that third quarter. If we played that hard and that well against some other teams, we wouldn't be in this position."

But they are, and it's due to a fragile physical and mental state, according to the coach.

"I was reckless," Collins said of his playing days when asked whether he can teach a team to be tougher. "When I played, I was going to put my head down and go. I was going to drive it in, and somebody was going to foul me. We did a better job, we shot 32 free throws [Tuesday]. So we did a better job at that. But we got beat tonight by 24 points from the three-point line and lose a two-possession game. Indiana's good.

"It's all perspective. We have great opportunities. We're going to play Cleveland in the third game in 3 nights and Kyrie Irving's going to be back, and they got beat by [39] in Detroit. We have to get on this flight and go. If you have a chance you have to take advantage of it and that's what Doc [Erving] was talking to our guys about. Don't let chances slip by."

When you're lacking in physical and mental toughness, that is a tough haul indeed.

Andre Iguodala led the Sixers with 23 points, while Lou Williams scored 18 . . . Danny Granger scored 24, including 6-for-8 from three-point range, for the Pacers.