The Washington Wizards have become an afterthought as a potential Eastern Conference threat after a poor start to this season, yet the Philadelphia 76ers couldn't find a way to beat them on their home floor. Neither head coach Brett Brown nor high-motor bench cog T.J. McConnell can find an answer to this riddle:
“I don’t know,” said Brown after a 123-106 loss to the Wizards on Wednesday, according to Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
“If I had that answer, I would tell you,” said McConnell. “I don’t know what it is. We get clapped every time we play here. Like I said, I wish I could tell you.”
The Sixers haven't won at Capital One Arena since Nov. 1, 2013, marking more than five years of a curse they have been unable to break.
The Wizards (17-25) have won four of their last six games and have started to build a little momentum, also coming off an unforeseen victory against the Oklahoma City Thunder last week.
Philly had no problem dispatching Washington at home with a rousing 132-115 win, but the issues of poor perimeter defense and lapses in concentration in transition have reflected on the road for this team.
“They created stuff out of our turnovers,” Brown said. “For them to take off [after turnovers] and turn it into a track meet was difficult to defend. It really was. [Turnovers are] the launching pad to a lot of our problems.”
Washington managed to make this a track meet without its fastest player in John Wall, who underwent season-ending surgery to clean out the bone spurs in his heel.
It's not time to sound the alarm just yet, but if the Sixers can't clean out these woes that have plagued them in the first half, it won't be an easy climb to the top spots as the season shapes into gear.
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