Sixers-Wizards observations: Horrid perimeter defense (again), careless ball handling (again)

WASHINGTON — The Wizards routed the 76ers, 123-106, at the Capital One Arena on Wednesday night. Here are my main takeaways and best and worst awards:

- The Sixers’ perimeter defense is still shaky. Coach Brett Brown’s No. 1 goal heading into this matchup was to do a better job of defending the three-point line. That didn’t happen, as the Wizards shot 48.1 percent on threes one night after making 43.8 percent against the Sixers. Philly, once again, gave Washington open looks and paid for it.

- Early on, this game was an example of why the Sixers prefer a free-flowing offense to using the pick-and-roll with Ben Simmons. Not respecting his shooting ability, the Wizards kept going under every pick-and-roll the point guard was involved in as a perimeter player.

- The Wizards did a better job of preparing for Landry Shamet. The Sixers rookie didn’t get a lot of open looks en route to finishing with five points on 2-for-7 shooting. He made just 1 of his 4 three-point attempts, with one being an airball. This came one night after he scored a career-high 29 points and made a team rookie record of eight three-pointers.

- The Sixers will just have to deal with Shamet’s and Furkan Korkmaz’s shortcomings on the defensive end. The young guards are two of the team’s best three-point shooters. However, they both struggle to keep players in front of them on defense. The Wizards took full advantage of that. That’s a glaring problem the Sixers must overlook because they’re Philly’s best wing options off the bench.

Best performance: This goes to Bradley Beal for scoring 34 points and hitting a game-high six three-pointers. The Wizards all-star shooting guard set the tempo early, scoring nine of his team’s first 13 points on three three-pointers.

Worst performance: This was a tough one, but I had to give this to Shamet one night after being the game’s best performer. He had his hands full on both ends of the floor and finished with as many fouls (five) as points (five).

Best defensive performance: Joel Embiid gets this on a night his team’s overall defense struggled mightily. The Sixers all-star center had a game-high three blocks to go with a steal.

Worst statistic: I gave this to the Sixers’ 24 turnovers, Embiid and Simmons had seven apiece.

Best statistic: The Wizards’ three-point shooting (48.1 percent). That’s not bad for a team tied with the Atlanta Hawks in the league for 27th in three-point shooting at 33.2 percent.

Worst of the worst: The Sixers' extending their losing streak for games in Washington to nine.