Sixers Lose Three Straight, Time for Re-Assessing

The Evan Turner Starting honeymoon is over and the Sixers are losers of three games in a row, albeit to the tough competition of Indiana, Miami, and Chicago. They're still 1.5 games up in the Atlantic because the Celtics have stumbled as well, but have fallen back to 25-20, just 5 games over the .500 mark. They'll need to play better ball if they're hoping to get home court advantage in the first round. Even as the 4-seed, if they don't have a better record than the 5, the Sixers will give away home court to the lesser seed.

In the past two games against the Heat and the Bulls, the offense has faltered, and mightily. Points Per Possession of 0.7 and 0.82 won't be winning them many games even with their terrific defense. Jrue Holiday scored 30 points yesterday but it was at the expense of 27 shots, and despite getting to the basket, he only managed 4 free throw attempts. He did a great job getting to the basket abusing CJ Watson and had a few filthy turnarounds but he's got to get to the line more. It's no surprise that Turner had a tough time last night, as both of them have yet to figure out a way to succeed on the same night.

The Sixers continue to have success in transition (60% score rate last night), but at 15% of the plays, that's not enough to hang your hat on for the offense. Consistency is always the issue with this team. Against the Heat, they played admirably in the second half to bring the game back to relevancy, but tasked with the Chicago Bulls minus Derrick Rose and it was the second half that the Sixers let get away. I don't know if it's a concentration issue or a coaching thing or just the fact that they're not that good. They need to hit more three's (3-13 last night), and get to the line (15 attempts last night), which means better shot selection. Could more Jodie Meeks minutes help stretch the floor?

There's a lot of questions that need to be answered, but I'll give them a relative pass for losing to three of the best teams in the East, two on the road. We know they're simply not as good as these teams and, save for Indiana, will not be facing them in the first round of the playoffs. They've got a rec league scrimmage against the Bobcats before going against the Knicks and Celtics again. Taking care of business in-house is paramount. When it comes to the playoffs, well, they are who we thought they were.