By: Kylan Watson

After falling to the Chicago Bulls last night, the Philadelphia 76ers faced the Cleveland Cavaliers tonight to end their second back-to-back of the season. The Cavs used a first and third quarter explosion to beat the Sixers 132-121.

Philly once again did not find their offensive rhythm early in this game, most of that was because they played last night and Cleveland had three days off. However, that does not excuse the poor defensive effort the Sixers showed once again in this contest. So far this season, they have played poorly on the defensive end.  That poor defensive showing has put them in early holes, that their talent cant overcome like it did tonight and against Chicago yesterday.

Donovan Mitchell (46 points), Jarett Allen (24 points), and Darius Garland (23 points) combined for 93 of Cleveland’s 130 points. Mitchell and Garland took full advantage of the fact that the Sixers had no one available on the floor who could check them in this game. They were able to make their three-point opportunities and attack the basket at will. The Sixers really miss Paul George, but it is inexcusable that they cannot put up some resistance against the talented wings that the league has to offer. This needs to be improved as fast as possible if the Sixers want to be a playoff contender and a top team in the Eastern Conference.

As a result of their poor defensive performance, they were down by 24 points at the end of the first quarter. They were able to use a second quarter explosion to erase that deficit and cut it to single digits by half-time. Tyrese Maxey (27 points) and Quentin Grimes (27 points) combined for 54 of the Sixers 121 points and that just was not enough to stay with Cleveland’s explosive offense. Every time the Sixers went on a scoring run, Cleveland had an answer. Philly was able to tie this game up in the third quarter and that was as close as they got as a poor third quarter performance ended any hopes; they had of taking this game from Cleveland.

For a team that is currently 5-3, the sky is not falling by any means, but the Sixers have to fix their perimeter defensive scheme and find a way to improve their third quarter performances. The road is not going to improve as they will face the Toronto Raptors, Detroit Pistons, and Boston Celtics in their next three games. All of those teams have explosive scorers who will be licking their lips to take full advantage of Philly’s weak defensive scheme.

They should be able to get Joel Embiid, Jared McCain, and maybe Paul George back for some of those games, but Philly must use the next few days to improve their defensive scheme because that has been their biggest weakness so far this season. Examine the film and figure out a defensive scheme they are comfortable with and execute it on the floor.

Being able to be average on the defensive end will help them win especially starting this tough three game stretch against the Raptors, Pistons, and Celtics. As they prepare to face the Raptors on Saturday, they will need to use their ball movement to create high-percentage shooting opportunities, limit their turnovers, and stay with their man on the defensive end. Implementing these things into their game plan on Saturday night should put Philly in great shape to win their sixth game of the season.