76ers finding more success on the road

ORLANDO - Brett Brown said the fact that all three of the 76ers' wins have come on the road is coincidence.

He might have a point. All three of those victories came against struggling teams. They are teams - the Orlando Magic (10-20), Detroit Pistons (5-23) and Minnesota Timberwolves (5-21) - with a combined 20-64 record.

Yet the Sixers (3-23) did possess an unrelenting vibe in those games that has been missing in their 14 home losses.

"I'm not sure what it is," Michael Carter-Williams said. "I know when we are struggling, it's a little bit easier for us to come back together just because everyone is against us on the road. So all we have is each other."

With that, the Sixers have taken the circle-the-wagon approach when they're away from Wells Fargo Center. They know home teams expect to feast on them like Thanksgiving dinner in front of crowds that poke fun at their shortcomings.

"So when we are on the road, like I said, that's all we've got," Carter-Williams said. "We've got to fight back, fight back, fight back. If there's something that is the reason [for winning on the road], I think that will be it."

But the Sixers' road trip is about to get harder.

They'll face the Miami Heat on Tuesday before heading out west to face the Portland Trail Blazers (Friday), Utah Jazz (Saturday), Golden State Warriors (Dec. 30), Phoenix Suns (Jan. 2) and Los Angeles Clippers (Jan. 3).

The Heat (13-15) and Jazz (8-20) are only opponents on the trip with losing records as of Sunday. Meanwhile, the Trail Blazers (22-6), Warriors (22-3), Suns (15-14) and Clippers (19-8) had a combined 78-31 record.

But Sunday's 96-88 victory over the Magic was a confidence builder for the Sixers. They battled back from an 11-point, third-quarter deficit to lead by as many as 14 points in the fourth quarter.

"We are in a good position with Miami," Nerlens Noel said. "We can easily get the W, too, and head into the West Coast road trip with a lot of confidence winning two games straight."

However, they are facing a Heat team that ended a five-game losing streak by routing the Boston Celtics, 100-84, on Sunday night, even without Dwyane Wade (bruised right knee) and Chris Bosh (strained left calf).