Category: Philadelphia 76ers Blog

Billions of dollars couldn’t completely console Philadelphia 76ers owner Joshua Harris this season.

Being the potential heirs of a franchise that matched an NBA-record losing streak comes with a few hardships as well not usually found in the luxury suites.

“When we lose, even in New York, kids come up to my family’s kids and say, “Hey, the Sixers lost 26 in a row. How do you like that?” Harris said. “We don’t like that. This is my doorman, he says to me, `Hey, can’t you get those players going?”

Get the Sixers going? That was never the point this season, not for a franchise that decided spinning its wheels in mediocrity for most of the last decade was never going to win them a championship. The Sixers needed to gut the roster, collect draft picks, build for the future and lose games.

And lose ’em big.

So they did, including the whopping 26-game stretch that helped stick them at 19-63 and solidified a 19.9 percent chance at winning the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft.

Mission accomplished.

— Associated Press

Here’s the Philadelphia Inquirer reporting on the 76ers, who are at least working hard and trying to play competitive basketball

Give the 76ers credit: They didn’t quit.

Never mind that their fourth-quarter comeback came against the Brooklyn Nets’ reserves. The fact that the Sixers made things competitive was a moral victory for a team in search of silver linings.

In the end, the Nets escaped with a 105-101 victory Saturday night at the Wells Fargo Center.

“Teams know that we are not going to lay down,” Sixers power forward Thaddeus Young said. “We are going to continue to fight, try to keep pushing.

“. . . We just kept playing, kept playing, kept playing, and then it started to click for us.”

Brooklyn (42-34) had a commanding, 21-point lead with 8 minutes, 28 seconds left in the third quarter. Chipping away, the Sixers (17-60) pulled within 12 points heading into the fourth quarter.

Here’s the Philadelphia Inquirer reporting on the 16-58 Sixers, and Thaddeus Young, who is averaging 18.1 points and 6.1 rebounds per game this season:

It hasn’t been an easy season for Thaddeus Young – the only player remaining on the 76ers roster from the team that came within one victory of advancing to the NBA Eastern Conference finals two years ago.

But given the Sixers’ record-tying losing streak and the fact that Young’s last three longtime teammates were shipped out at the Feb. 20 trading deadline, the 6-foot-8 forward has been an exemplary presence in his seventh season with the club.

“I just can’t speak highly enough of him as a person,” Sixers coach Brett Brown said Tuesday after the team’s practice at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.

“I’ve seen him endure this type of rebuilding, lose three friends, and go on such a long losing streak. But he’s still in the gym after he played 35 minutes [Monday] night in the little bit that’s remaining of the season. He still leads us, and he still competes. . . . I just have a lot of respect for the way he’s trying to close this season out, given where we’re at.”

Here’s the Philadelphia Inquirer reporting on the 76ers, who were on a 26-game losing streak but finally won a game Saturday, beating the Detroit Pistons:

Break up the 76ers.

OK, maybe it’s early for that. But their 26-game, record-tying losing streak came to an end Saturday night. Dominating from start to finish, the Sixers defeated the Detroit Pistons, 123-98, at the Wells Fargo Center.

They improved to 16-57 while winning their first game since besting the Boston Celtics on Jan. 29. It was their first home victory since topping the Charlotte Bobcats on Jan. 15. Since then, they had lost 18 straight at Wells Fargo.

The Sixers downplayed the victory.

“It’s just like another win,” reserve guard Tony Wroten said. “It’s the NBA. You all are talking about the pressure. We weren’t worried about a streak. We were just trying to get better every day.”

Sixers coach Brett Brown said he never mentioned the losing streak to his team.

“I never went into a room and said, ‘We have to get out of the streak,’ ” he said. “We talked about, ‘Let’s bang out great days.’ I’m glad tonight that the win validates that.”

Here’s the Philadelphia Inquirer reporting on the 76ers, who have a 15-56 record and have lost 25 games in a row.

The 76ers are the laughingstock of professional sports. They have been for weeks and have crept within one game of the NBA record for most losses in a row.

The league’s new commissioner has taken notice.

“You don’t like to see any team go through a losing streak like they currently are, or flirt with the longest losing streak in the history of the league,” Adam Silver told reporters Monday in Charlotte, N.C. “That’s bad for everyone. It’s potentially damaging to the players involved and the culture they’re trying to create.”

Sixers coach Brett Brown said Tuesday that he respects the commissioner’s opinion but added that Silver doesn’t need to worry about the Sixers.

“We are fine,” Brown said as the team prepared to play the Houston Rockets in what could be a record-tying loss Thursday at the Toyota Center. “We have this thing very much under control. There is no need for panic. My guys are great.”

Here’s the Philadelphia Inquirer discussing the 76ers, who have mastered the art of losing basketball games:

The ball bounced awry and tapped the white end line. James Anderson short-armed the pass and Thaddeus Young tried to reach it, but he never had a chance.

There were 8.6 seconds left on Friday night in the Sixers’ 93-92 loss to the New York Knicks at the Wells Fargo Center. And for a moment it appeared that the Sixers’ 22-game losing streak was no longer safe.

But the referee blew his whistle, Anderson’s pass went out of bounds, and the Sixers’ hopes were dashed.

It was their 23d straight loss. They continue to creep closer to the NBA record of 26 straight set in 2011 by Cleveland.

Before the turnover, head coach Brett Brown huddled his team and called for them to work the play around Anderson. It was Anderson’s first game back after missing two with a thigh injury. He finished with eight points and six rebounds.