November 18, 2015
Matt Slocum/AP
Philadelphia 76ers' Hollis Thompson, right, and Indiana Pacers' Joe Young chase after a loose ball during the first half.
If you thought the Philadelphia 76ers looked bad on Monday night when they turned over the ball 27 times in their loss to the Dallas Mavericks...
On Wednesday night against the Indiana Pacers, they had that many turnovers with nearly an entire quarter left to play. It was terrible.
They finished the game, a 112-85 loss, with 31 turnovers. Obviously, they were the biggest reason for the result, especially when you consider the fact that the Sixers (0-12) outshot the Pacers (46.1 percent to 45.7 percent), who scored 37 points off those turnovers. Rookie T.J. McConnell led the team with five.
"That's on me and me and Phil [Pressey]," McConnell said in the locker room following the game. "It's unacceptable when your point guards have that many turnovers, but that's going to happen every once in a while. Was it crappy? Yeah. But like I said, it starts with me and Phil.
"You know, you have those games every once in a while when you're turning it over a little bit, but the amount of turnovers we had was just flat-out unacceptable. And it'll be fixed."
The former Arizona point guard wasn't alone. EVERY SINGLE SIXERS PLAYER committed at least one turnover.
Here's how it broke down:
| PLAYER | TOs |
| T.J. McConnell | 5 |
| Robert Covington | 4 |
| Jahlil Okafor | 3 |
| Hollis Thompson | 3 |
| Phil Pressey | 3 |
| JaKarr Sampson | 3 |
| Jerami Grant | 2 |
| Nerlens Noel | 2 |
| Nik Stauskas | 2 |
| Isaiah Canaan | 1 |
| Christian Wood | 1 |
It was the worst they've looked all season, and was enough to leave coach Brett Brown -- and fans across the Delaware Valley -- like this:
Brett Brown is like “bruh” pic.twitter.com/XuX51i0T6n
— Sons of Penn (@SonsofPenn) November 19, 2015
After the game, Brown said this was an "outlier" and not indicative of how his team plays. That may be hard to believe considering they had nearly as many turnovers two nights earlier, but I think the Sixers coach is referring to his team's effort.
"I didn't feel like we competed," he said. "And I felt like we got outworked. It's just one of those games that I quickly want to forget. Dig into it, learn from it, but there's not much really to say about tonight's performance."
But if you're going to start somewhere, the 58 turnovers the Sixers have had in their last 98 minutes of basketball would be a good place to start.
"When you break down the turnovers, they come from all areas," Brown added. "From stepping out of bounds to travels to post feeds to kick aheads in early offense to driving and playing in a crowd. So it's not like they're coming from a single area.
"It's not like one person is having a large majority of them -- it's a team thing. And so -- it's something that we can talk a lot about a bunch of things -- unless we start fixing that, you're just chasing the whole game. You're not going to win any NBA games with that quantity of turnovers. So, we have a problem. And like all of things, we'll jump on it and try to get a hell of a lot better than we have been.
"I do think think when the group locks in on something, they've shown the ability to fix it. And we have to fix it."
Despite the embarrassing home loss, their seventh of the season, McConnell said the team was upbeat -- which is a good thing because their about to embark on six-game road trip that'll keep them playing away from the Wells Fargo Center until December.
"Surprisingly, we're still together after that loss," he added. "Nothing but positive energy. We have a saying in our locker room: 'If you accept it, expect it.'
"If we accept mediocrity in practice, we're going to get our butts kicked like that every game."
Here's more from the Sixers' 12th loss of the season.
• I'd like the Sixers to institute a new rule -- the Jah Rule -- that states they have to at least look at their big rookie center at least once a possession. Hell, if you're going to turn the ball over as much as they've been doing recently, at least do it while trying to get your best player a look. Okafor finished the first half with just five field goal attempts in 16 minutes. He made three of them and entered the break with seven points.
As my colleague Rich Hofmann pointed out, Okafor was struggling at times to get position against Ian Mahinmi, but that wasn't the case all night. Others also pointed out that his teammates struggle with the entry pass. Perhaps it was a combination of both, but look at what the big man was able to do once he did get the ball in his hands.
Jordan Hill wasn't ready https://t.co/oZiv2OfK2F
— Max Rappaport (@MaxRappaport) November 19, 2015
That one deserves another look.
Got heeeeeeeeeem pic.twitter.com/6kMp8LRrDL
— Sons of Penn (@SonsofPenn) November 19, 2015
And then there was this...
Put em in a spin cycle, Jah! pic.twitter.com/eWRFAmwGkD
— Sons of Penn (@SonsofPenn) November 19, 2015
Okafor only took one shot in the third quarter and five in the fourth. He finished with 14 points (6/11) and six rebounds. If you insist on turning the ball over every third possession, at least do it while trying to get your best player the ball.
• After getting off to a slow start, Pacers forward Paul George finished with 34 points on 13-of-24 shooting to go with eight rebounds and five assists.
• After getting off to a hot start, former Temple Owl Lavoy Allen, who started for the Pacers, finished with just 7 points -- all in the first half -- and six rebounds in 19 minutes.
• The Sixers were hit with a technical foul for having too many men on the court ... coming out of a timeout. Need I say more?
• Point guard T.J. McConnell was leading the Sixers in rebounding most of the night. He finished second on the team with six, three behind team leader Hollis Thompson. McConnell also finished with a team-high 16 points, which is the most for the rookie in a game this season.
• Nerlens Noel only played 23:38 because, according to Brown, he is dealing with tendinitis in his knee as well as a sore wrist. The Sixers coach said after the game that he decided to take keep him out once the game got out of hand in the second half.
• Preach, Spike.
Legitimately don't care if they lose every game, you know this, but games that look like this can't happen.
— Spike Eskin (@SpikeEskin) November 19, 2015
The Sixers won't play another home game until December; their next six games are all on the road. Here's a look at that upcoming road trip:
• Fri, Nov. 20 @ Hornets, 7 p.m.
• Sat, Nov. 21 @ Heat, 8 p.m.
• Mon, Nov. 23 @ Timberwolves, 8 p.m.
• Wed, Nov. 25 @ Celtics, 7:30 p.m.
• Fri, Nov. 27 @ Rockets, 8 p.m.
• Sun, Nov. 29 @ Grizzlies, 6 p.m.
Then they'll return home to face the Lakers, which may be their best chance for their first win of the season.
Follow Matt on Twitter: @matt_mullin
