This was a failure.
Another Herculean effort by Joel Embiid was not enough for the Sixers to win the second half of a consecutive Thursday at home against the insufficient Blazers.
Facing a Portland team without Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum, Jusuf Nurkic, Derrick Jones Jr. and Nassir Little, the Sixers lost 121-105 to drop to 16-7 this season.
“There are no excuses,” said coach Doc Rivers after the game. “Half the attack was off the ground before the game started.”
It was a strange game for the Sixers.
They didn’t make a three until the 6:23 mark of the third quarter, finishing 7 of 27 beyond the hoop.
Embiid tied the points franchise record in a quarter with 25 in the second, but the Sixers did not lead by more than one point at any time after the first four minutes of play.
The Blazers started the second half with a 13-0 streak and never looked back. The Sixers was overcome by 21 points in the third, its biggest deficit in any third quarter since November 18, 2017 against the Warriors.
“We had no energy,” said Embiid. “They were more physical than us. And then, offensively, we are not offended.”
Curry out of second half
Seth Curry went goalless for the second night in a row and spent the second half in the locker room with an illness.
Curry, who was out of January 7 through January 21 with COVID-19, has been fighting recently and said earlier this week that he is just trying to regain his strength.
“He looks tired and has been that way for a while,” Rivers said. “We are in unknown waters with all these things. He said he was not feeling well. That is all we needed to hear. We just have to be very careful now.”
He has 10 in 36 (28%) in his last six games, averaging 5.0 points.
Simmons a late scratch
Ben Simmons lost the game due to the stiffness in his left calf. It was scratched at 6:15 pm after participating in the Sixers walkthrough and being listed as likely earlier in the day. Rivers didn’t seem too concerned about Simmons’ pre-game.
The Sixers went with five initials from Curry, Furkan Korkmaz, Danny Green, Tobias Harris and Embiid.
“We still have to be a decent defense when Ben is not on the ground,” said Rivers. “We were a poor defense tonight, but I thought we were worse in attack.”
Notable lines
Embiid finished with 37 points in 14 of 21 of the field and 9 of 9 of the line. It was his sixth game this season with at least 37 points and in those six games, he averaged just 19.5 shots.
It was a turnaround in Carmelo Anthony’s performance (22 points) and a great game by Enes Kanter (17 points, 18 rebounds) that became common against the Sixers.
Next
The Sixers’ next game is Saturday at home against the Nets. It will be their first meeting with Kevin Durant-James Harden-Kyrie Irving Nets, although it is their second consecutive game for Brooklyn, so Durant may not play. The Nets was broadcast nationally the night before, and Durant played both ends side by side only once this season, on a night when the Nets didn’t have the other two stars. It’s a juicy game, though, so Durant, in his first season back from a torn Achilles tendon, will be pushing Steve Nash to play.
From there, the Sixers leave for a week-long trip along the west coast, visiting Sacramento, Portland, Phoenix and Utah.