By: Kylan Watson
After beating the Dallas Mavericks yesterday afternoon, the Philadelphia 76ers faced the Houston Rockets who are one of the better teams in the association. Although for most of this game the Sixers looked like the better team, Houston was able to use their size advantage to beat Philly 144-137 in an overtime thriller.
The Sixers found their offensive rhythm early in this game and were able to cash in on their high-percentage shooting opportunities created from their ball movement. Quentin Grimes once again did all he could to help his team get a highlight victory in an otherwise dismal season for Philly. He scored 46 points and grabbed 13 rebounds during this contest. Grimes continues to earn himself a lot of money through his play and it is a good thing for Philly that he is a restricted free agent, so they have the right to match any deal he gets during the offseason. Philly’s front office must do all they can to keep him in a Sixers uniform, he is the type of player this roster has been missing for years.
Despite a scoring explosion from Grimes, the Rockets were able to return to form after being dominated throughout this game. In the third quarter they scored 45 points to tie this game up. Jalen Green and Jabari Smith Jr. combined for 60 of Houston’s 144 points and the Sixers had no answers for what they were doing. They just could not get enough stops to continue to keep Houston down in this game. Maybe if they had a few more bodies the Sixers might have pulled this game away from the Rockets. They had no centers available in this game and that came back to bite the Sixers later in this game.
The Rockets were able to get this game to overtime because of a Sengun tap in and after that it just fell apart for the Sixers. Sengun dominated the overtime period, and the Sixers just did not have a big body available to contend with him. He was able to grab loose balls and had two pivotal and -one layups to push Houston over the finish line. Philly did all they could, but they cannot continue to turn the ball over late in the game.
The reason the Sixers ended up in the overtime period was because of Grimes turning the ball over, instead of accepting the double team and forcing them to foul him. That led to an easy Rockets scoring opportunity. Philly showed an incredible fight tonight for only having nine players available in this game, but the late game execution left a lot to be desired.
The Sixers will now prepare to face the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night. OKC is one of the best teams in the league and can easily blow Philly out if they are not careful. Philly will have to limit their turnovers, forced the Thunder to take well contested shots, and cash in on the high-percentage shooting opportunities created off their ball movement. Implementing these things into their game plan on Wednesday night should help the Sixers win their 24th game of the season.