76ers face daunting road trip

Considering what has happened to the 76ers away from the Wells Fargo Center in recent weeks, Doug Collins' approach to the team's next seven games - against some of the best the Western Conference has to offer - is understandable.

Beginning with Wednesday's game against powerful Memphis (18-7), the Sixers (13-15) will face two first-place teams (San Antonio and Oklahoma City), and two second-place teams (the Grizzlies and Golden State) as part of a seven-game, 11-day road trip.

Before Tuesday's games, the seven teams had a combined record of 115-74. Their combined home records (70-26) are even more daunting.

"I just want our guys to look at the one that's right in front of them," Collins said recently. "You can't look at the totality. If you start looking at it in totality, it will overwhelm you."

The road has not been a very good place for the Sixers lately. They have not won on the road in December and haven't won away from the Wells Fargo Center since beating Charlotte on Nov. 30.

Since winning three straight road games from Nov. 7 to 10, the Sixers have lost seven of their last eight road games, including their last six. They have won just three times in their last 12 games.

In recent games, the Sixers have gone to playing more zone defense, something they have done little of for most of the season. Collins believes this will help.

"We had some success with it against Brooklyn," Collins said after a 95-92 loss there Sunday. "It's something we're going to go to more."

The Grizzlies have cooled off recently. After beginning the season 12-2, Memphis has gone just 6-5. The Grizzlies are 12-2, however, at the FedEx Forum.

Grim as the outlook may be, the Sixers appear to have taken on Collins' mind-set.

"You can only play one game at a time, so that's what we're going to worry about," said Evan Turner, who is second on the team in scoring at 15.3 points a game. "We can't get into worrying about one team and then another team when you've got one team right in front of you. We are focusing on Memphis right now. We'll worry about the others when it's time.

"Really," Turner continued, "I think we're better when we are the underdogs."

We'll find out soon enough.