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The Philadelphia 76ers dropped a gut-wrenching season opener by one point on the road against the Milwaukee Bucks.
Philadelphia hasn’t lost since.
The Sixers will try to land their fifth consecutive victory when they host the Washington Wizards on Monday.
Following the blockbuster trade of James Harden to the Los Angeles Clippers, the Sixers have been moving the ball much more than in Harden’s ball-dominant style.
The Sixers defeated the Phoenix Suns 112-100 on Saturday as Joel Embiid led the way with 26 points and 11 rebounds. Kelly Oubre Jr. added 25 points and Tyrese Maxey contributed 22 points and 10 assists.
The addition of Oubre has been immense to ease the loss of Harden.
“I know that I’m very hungry to prove myself in this league and obviously, you know this summer was very stressful for me,” Oubre said. “I had a lot of pent-up energy for this season already built up, but I think that me transitioning to a new situation couldn’t have been more seamless because of coach (Nick Nurse), because of this supporting cast members and also just my worth ethic.”
Robert Covington, one of the players the Sixers received in the Harden deal, scored only two points but made a huge impact defensively against the Suns.
“I think he’s got that, right?” Nurse said of Covington’s defense. “He’s got some ability athletically, size, strength, pretty good off-the-ball stuff and then he’s trying really hard. That goes a long way at that end of the floor, so that’s good to see and he seems confident. I don’t know if he made many shots but at least he stepped into them like he was going to, which is a good start.”
The Wizards will look to get back in the win column when they battle the Sixers.
In the Wizards’ last game, a 121-114 loss to the Miami Heat in the opening round of the in-season tournament on Friday, Kyle Kuzma scored 22 points, Jordan Poole added 19 and Deni Avdija had 14.
The Wizards have won just one game in five tries thus far.
“I think we need to play better and play a little bit harder for sure,” Kuzma said. “I think we all need to be better.”
The Wizards shot 56.8 percent from the field. They just were unable to slow down the Heat on the other end of the floor, especially in the third quarter.
“We allow teams all those big runs in the third,” Wizards head coach Wes Unseld Jr. said. “We have to figure that out. Give them credit, they came out ready to go in that third quarter.”
The Wizards played without Corey Kispert, who sprained his left ankle last Wednesday. Kispert’s status is unclear for the matchup against the Sixers.
As a whole, the Wizards don’t appear to be in sync.
The losses are piling up and the players are already getting frustrated.
“We’ve got to change something, man,” Avdija said. “I don’t know what it is. But we’re definitely not going to keep playing like that because we’re playing good. Playing together, we’re playing good and then something happens and I don’t know what it is. But we’re going to figure it out.”
–Field Level Media