Sixers Let One Slip Away to End West Coast Road Trip 1-3
The message seemed clear after the Sixers 118-114 loss to an awful Golden State Warriors team.
They let one slip away.
"I think this is a missed opportunity," admitted Sixers head coach Brett Brown.
The Sixers had an opportunity to end the road trip feeling good with two straight road wins, while missing three starters, and heading home with the possibility of getting Joel Embiid back in the lineup.
"We needed to play better defense, and close out a game, on the road, and we didn't do it," Brown stated.
Without their three starters, the Sixers have been turning to guys like Tobias Harris, Shake Milton and Al Horford to pick up their games, Horford did that on Saturday night, flirting with a triple-double, scoring 22 points with 10 rebounds, seven assists in 36 minutes.
But it wasn't good enough to beat the team, whose 15-49 record is the worst in the NBA.
"At this point of the season, when you see there is fewer and fewer games, you have to handle business. And what was frustrating about this one was we were in control of the game," Horford explained.
"We were never able to pull away, we kept on trading baskets with them."
Harris scored 24 points, continuing his strong play on the offensive side of the ball, adding four rebounds, four assists, one steal in 35 minutes.
"1-3 is not what we expected," Harris admitted. "
"This is a game that we'll look back on and say, 'we should have gotten that one'."