Sixers take road woes to Brooklyn against Nets (Mar 10, 2018)
NEW YORK -- Road games are not going well for the Philadelphia 76ers recently, but their remaining road schedule could be favorable.
Philadelphia has dropped eight of its last 11 road games but Sunday's visit to the Brooklyn Nets is the first of seven remaining road contests against losing teams.
The 76ers (35-29) are 15-19 overall outside of Philadelphia but since beating the San Antonio Spurs on Jan. 26, they are allowing 109.8 points in their last 11 road games.
Philadelphia's recent road games have produced inconsistent results. While the 76ers won at the Cleveland Cavaliers on March 1 and scored 128 points Tuesday at the Charlotte Hornets, they also blew a 20-point lead last Sunday in Milwaukee against the Bucks and lost twice in Miami to the Heat.
"That's why we like to get in the four-five game and get home-court advantage," Philadelphia's JJ Redick told reporters. "It's tough to win period, in the NBA. It's tough to win on the road. We are figuring it out."
Philadelphia was unable to figure it out Jan. 31 when it allowed the Nets to shoot 50.6 percent in a 116-108 loss. It is among four road losses to sub-500 team this season for Philadelphia, which also lost games at the Sacramento Kings, Chicago Bulls and Memphis Grizzlies earlier this season.
The Sixers are coming off a 108-99 loss at Miami on Thursday. They are 3-4 since putting together a seven-game winning streak from Feb. 6-24 with all four losses being on the road.
On Thursday, Philadelphia shot 39.5 percent and was outscored by 10 points (35-25) in the fourth quarter. The Sixers also watched Joel Embiid endure a difficult 5-of-18 showing as he scored 17 points.
Besides Philadelphia's road struggles, Embiid is also struggling of late. He is averaging 18.8 points on 41 percent shooting in five games this month after averaging 24.4 points on 50.3 percent shooting in February.
"I think fatigue definitely has a part to say in some of Joel's performances recently," Philadelphia coach Brett Brown told reporters after Thursday's game when Embiid shot less than 30 percent for the first time all season.
Brooklyn's win over Philadelphia is among three it has accumulated since Jan. 21. The Nets (21-45) last won consecutive games by beating Miami and the Detroit Pistons on Jan. 19 and 21 but since Spencer Dinwiddie's game-winning shot, they are 3-16 in their last 19 games.
Brooklyn is looking to win consecutive games for the fourth time all season after closing out a five-game trip with Thursday's 125-111 victory at Charlotte. The end of the trip occurred after a 13-point loss to the Golden State Warriors that was preceded by three games decided by six points or fewer.
"We talked about it after the Golden State game that we had one more game on the road trip, and we had to go get it," coach Kenny Atkinson said. "We deserved this one. Our guys showed resiliency. Fatigue games, these are the games where you can cave in to fatigue, and it was a great team win."
Allen Crabbe scored 29 points and hit six 3-pointers Thursday and has reached 20 points in six of his last 11 games. The hot streak began Feb. 7 with a 34-point night at Detroit and he is averaging 19.1 points per game in his last 11 while upping his season total to 159 3-pointers, 10 shy of the franchise record set by Deron Williams in 2012-13.
Caris LeVert added 22 and is averaging 16.6 points in his last five games.
D'Angelo Russell scored 22 points in the last meeting against Philadelphia and is averaging 12.3 points in his last four. Jahlil Okafor played 14 minutes in his first game against his former team, but has not appeared in eight straight games because of illness and a coach's decision.
On Thursday, the Nets handed out 30 assists and shot 51.1 percent. It was the ninth time they shot at least 50 percent and the 13th straight game with at least 24 assists, matching a franchise record set in 1984-85.
Now with five of the next games at home, they are hoping to replicate what worked Thursday.
"We executed our offense really well and the defense helped out and we got some easy one in transition," Crabbe told reporters. "The most important thing is we got the victory. I felt like that was a big win for us. We needed it, especially going back home and getting a couple of games at home."
