How close are the Philadelphia 76ers to the breaking point?

The 76ers, currently sixth in the East, are struggling and seem to be sitting very close to the edge.

The status of professional basketball in the City of Brotherly Love has officially reached Defcon One. If it didn’t seem that way to Philadelphia 76ers fans and the organization before, it definitely did after Saturday’s egregious loss to the Indiana Pacers.

It was a prototypical game for the Sixers: they started off hot, then eventually slowed down to the point where they lost the lead and were forced to play catch-up in the first half (started the game on a 10-2 spurt and then fell behind as many as 10 points twice). The heated argument between Joel Embiid and Shake Milton was the epitome of how the first 24 minutes unfolded for the ball club.

Then the Sixers got their act together during halftime and punched the Pacers in the mouth in the third quarter, outscoring them 32-20. They had a six-point lead going into the final period against a team missing three key players (Malcolm Brogdon, Jeremy Lamb and Domantas Sabonis) and whom they can leapfrog for fifth place in the conference standings. The Sixers were in the driver’s seat and couldn’t possibly blow this game.

Then Anthony Warren, Jr. happened (or T.J. Warren as we all know him as). Warren was already enjoying the best game of his career with 34 points through the first three quarters. But the Sixers seemed to have finally figured him out after holding him to five points on 1-of-5 shooting in the third period.

Not only did Warren explode for 19 points on 7-of-8 shooting, including 4-of-4 from long range and a free throw, he ignited the Pacers to 46 fourth-quarter points overall en route to a 127-121 win. It’s not as if the Sixers’ stars didn’t execute their role, either. Embiid had 16 points, six rebounds and a block in the period alone. Tobias Harris scored eight points and Ben Simmons seven.

Moving Simmons to power forward certainly seems to have helped Embiid but it isn’t doing Simmons any favors. In Philadelphia’s two games, he’s scored 27 points on 20 shots and racked up nine assists to six turnovers. He’s also still adjusting to the defensive responsibilities, clearly, and has picked up 11 fouls.

The rest of the team, particularly the role players, failed to contribute on their end yet again. Al Horford continued to look like a waste of the $97 million remaining on his contract with a bagel in his three minutes of the fourth quarter. Josh Richardson played 10 minutes in the final period and only had an assist, a personal foul and a turnover. Milton, who was supposed to be the answer to Simmons’ problems, produced zero points on one field goal attempt, five fouls, three assists, three miscues and one rebound in 19 minutes. The role players, who were one of this team’s biggest strengths in the past three years, are now arguably their largest weakness.

The second most noticeable weakness of the Sixers has been their defense, particularly in the fourth quarter. After Monday night’s game against the Spurs, the Sixers have surrendered a combined 89 fourth-quarter points in the bubble thus far. Shake Milton‘s game-saving 3-point is the only thing standing between them and an 0-2 start.

Can the Philadelphia 76ers turn things around?

Looking ahead, the Sixers still have a favorable schedule as their next four opponents are the Washington Wizards, Orlando Magic, Portland Trail Blazers and Phoenix Suns. They can salvage the rest of the seeding round with these games (although the Magic have won five straight, the Trail Blazers have been on fire offensively and the Suns stunned the Dallas Mavericks, Sunday night).

The Sixers might not get much aid from the teams ahead of them in the standings as well. The Pacers’ next two opponents are the Magic and Suns. Although the Miami Heat have an extremely difficult schedule (Boston Celtics, Milwaukee Bucks, Suns, Oklahoma City Thunder and the Pacers twice), they blew out a formidable Denver Nuggets team and almost took down the defending champion Toronto Raptors.

As of now, one of the few bright spots for the Sixers is that they don’t have to worry about the Brooklyn Nets or Magic catching them for the sixth seed (the Sixers have an eight-game lead on the Magic). But they have no one to blame for this predicament but themselves.

The Sixers came into the 2019-20 season with expectations of contending for an NBA Finals appearance after falling short last year. They even started the regular season with five consecutive victories. But then the club dropped three straight during a trip to the West Coast in early November and the inconsistencies continued from there.

During their high points of the season, the Sixers would look like one of the best teams in the entire league such as mid-December when they reeled off five straight wins. Then they would look like a mediocre squad without a clear leader or lack of defensive intensity during their low points such as in February when they lost four straight games.

Inconsistency is the perfect word to describe this Sixers squad. If they can’t conjure up a solution to their dilemmas, expect a major roster turnover during the offseason. Otherwise, as of now, it’s difficult to determine whether the Sixers are definitively better than the Celtics, who they would face in the first round if the postseason started today.