By: Kylan Watson

The Philadelphia 76ers were riding high as they entered the fourth game of their west coast road trip against the Los Angeles Clippers.  Despite a good offensive effort by Philly, the depth of the Clippers and their great perimeter defensive ultimately stifled Philly. As they fell 122-112.

It looked good early on for Philly. Forward Tobias Harris was dealing. He was getting whatever he wanted on the offensive side. He scored 17 of his 29-points by half-time. He also was using his playmaking skills to get his teammates involved as well. He needed those playmaking skills as he was getting double and triple-teamed on offense.

Despite a great offensive game from Harris, he  needed some help and the Clippers defense ultimately stifled the offense of Philly. Their shooters could not hit anything through out most of the night. That defense was particularly effective against guard Seth Curry (7-points) and guard/forward Danny Green (17-points) who only combined for 24-points. Those two are the most reliable shooters on the team.

Without that shooting Philly ultimately succumbed to the depth of the Clippers. Their old nemesis forward Kawhi Leonard had a field day. He scored 26-points and also got what he wanted from the field. When he was double teamed or trapped he found a way to get his teammates involved. Unlike Philly, LA’s shooters could not miss from the perimeter. They hit 47.8% of their three-pointers. The Clippers make the most three-pointers in the league. They showed it against Philly.

On the team’s performance, “Their size bothered us, their switching bothered us, we  allowed them to shoot 53%,” said Doc Rivers Head Coach of the Philadelphia 76ers.

When it wasn’t Leonard killing them.  Their bench picked up where he left off. They got 38-points from the bench unit. 23 of those points were scored by guard/forward Terrence Mann. He took full advantage of the attention Leonard got. The passes would find him and he knew what to do with it. Whether it was from the perimeter or the paint Philly had no answer for him.

This was a bad offensive night for the Sixers who will now need to get it together on both sides of the ball as they face the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday night. Philly will have to find a way to force Denver’s shooters into some tough shots if they want to get back in the win column.