76ers fall to Magic, lose 14th straight

Perhaps it was the fact that the team was staying an extra night in warm central Florida. Maybe they wanted to get to the hotel to watch the Oscars. Whatever the case, the 76ers showed an amount of energy last night against the Orlando Magic that hasn't been around in quite some time.

But it wasn't enough, and thoughts of erasing a long losing streak flew away like one of the 19 turnovers the team committed on the evening as they dropped a 92-81 decision to the Orlando Magic at the Amway Center.

"Our offense hurt us probably more than our defense," said coach Brett Brown. "Throwing the ball away, not knowing who to go to. I'm very pleased with our energy. Any time we can look up and somebody ends the game with 90-something points, that's a winnable game. We poked ourselves in the eye with our turnovers and some of it is just frustration in forcing and some of it is the realities of the landscape where we're all new."

The loss dropped the Sixers to 15-45 while Orlando improved to 19-43.

Thaddeus Young scored 12 of his team-high 29 points in the third quarter and Michael Carter-Williams delivered his first five assists of the night during that period, which ended with the Sixers holding a 69-66 lead. In five of the previous eight games the Sixers had given up at least that many points at thehalf, so it was understandable why hopes were high to end the losing skid.

The Magic, though, started the fourth quarter making seven of their first 10 shots and used a 13-2 run in building the lead to as many as eight, and with losing becoming such a common thread for the Sixers, you could just feel another one coming.

"We had three, four turnovers in a row at a crucial point in the game and those are the ones we can't have," Young said. "It was one of those situations where with those turnovers they got some buckets and got to the free-throw line a little bit and got the momentum to swing in their favor."

Tobias Harris scored 31 to lead the Magic, while former Sixer Nicola Vucevic collected 18 points and 17 rebounds.

Backing Young was Carter-Williams, who scored 17, grabbed 11 rebounds and dealt six assists. He also turned the ball over eight times. Newcomer Henry Sims had 12 points and seven rebounds and Tony Wroten came off the bench for 12 points.

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