It would be quite surprising if the Sixers snapped their seven-game losing streak by beating the Eastern Conference-leading Cavs on Friday night.
Win or loss, it’s obvious head coach Nick Nurse does not want his team to resemble the one that fell to a 144-109 defeat Tuesday to the Nuggets.
“All of us were focused,” Nurse said after practice Thursday. “We went pretty hard. I know we’ve got a back-to-back coming, but we had to get through some things, get some things squared away. Spent the first hour-ish on defense, just getting all the pieces back, going through everything, going through lots of coverages. And then we moved to the other side of the ball. It was hard work … done hard, done with decent focus and commitment.”
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Though Kyle Lowry and Caleb Martin were partial participants at practice, both will remain out with right hip injuries vs. the 36-7 Cavs. Joel Embiid, Andre Drummond, KJ Martin and Jared McCain are the other sidelined Sixers. Embiid, who’s out again with left knee swelling, took a few free throws and flung up full-court shots following practice.
The many injuries and difficulties that accompany ever-changing, undermanned rotations are essentially outside of the Sixers’ control.
However, as Nurse discussed at length Thursday, a chunk of the Sixers’ transition defense woes against the Nuggets went beyond excusable lapses. Denver finished the game with a 37-7 advantage in fast-break points.
“I think that was a combination of a lot of stuff,” he said. “I think, first and foremost, you’ve got to finish at the rim, which we did not. There were a lot of 3-on-1s that ended up missed and down at the other end for either an open three or a dunk. If you finish, they’re going to have to take it out and you’re going to get your defense set. So you’ve got to finish. You’ve got to score some. Shots have to be in rhythm. That’s one, two, three, before your transition defense starts.
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“And you’ve got to run hard. You’ve got to communicate great. That’s four and five. You’ve got to do all five of those things … and they were missing. But if you can give yourself help by finishing at the rim, executing (offensively) and getting rhythm shots, it’s going to be good.”
Now the Cavs, who sport the NBA's best offensive rating, are in town.
A remotely similar defensive performance would likely lead to embarrassing results.
“It’s frustrating for sure,” Nurse said, “but I also wouldn’t say that’s who we are now. It’d be much easier to look at the last 20 games and say our defense has been pretty solid, rather than just say, ‘Oh my God, we don’t play any defense now’ after one game.
“So whatever the combination of factors that got us out of whack defensively the other night, we’ve got to flush those and get back to how we’ve been playing. I believe that we will.”
Skidding, shorthanded and 15-27, the Sixers need a lot more than improved health.
“Fighting,” Guerschon Yabusele said. “In my small career that I’ve had, I’ve been in many, many situations, season after season. So I’ve been in situations like this and I think the whole thing is not to give up. As long we stay focused, as long as we keep the same goals and we stay together, we’re going to find a solution. It’s just a matter of time.
“We had a bad start to the season, and then after that we had, like, 10 games where we were really good. … We’re not a bad team; there’s a lot of games that we’re losing by a couple of points. We’re there.
“We’ve just got to figure it out, try to (make fewer) mistakes and keep pushing. But at the end of the day … when the game is over, you don’t think about it. You think about next game and what you can do better. And you just try to progress.”