The Sixers are in serious trouble after going to the locker room

« It repeats itself », qualifies Andre Drummond at this unfortunate Sixers trend to miss a third quarter of his meetings. Yesterday against the Lakersthe home team led by three balls at the break (60-53).

A deficit that the visitors easily erased, carried by LeBron James who easily pushed his short defender, while Joel Embiid insisted on his 3-point shot, without much success than his teammates. Later in the quarter, the pair of Luka Doncic and Austin Reeves allowed the Lakers to go on a 10-0 run. Ten points will be a deficit in favor of the Californians in this period (24-34).

«We’ve said it before, but I’d rather be a good team in the fourth quarter than the third. But we have to look at some things and see if we can fix them », notes Nick Nourse about this recurring concern for his training.

Facing the Warriors a few days earlier, the Sixers took a more than 20-point lead into halftime. But the Californians began their comeback in the third quarter, only for Nurse’s men to tremble until the final moments.

One of the best teams in the fourth quarter

It’s simple, since the beginning of the season, the Sixers have been the most dominant team in the league in the third quarter: -23.7 points from “Net Rating” in this context! With an attack that suddenly stops after a break. Averaging 25 points while shooting just 39.5%, Philadelphia is the least dangerous offensive team in the league during these stretches.

« Joel (Embiid) and I talked about it, and he told me to be more aggressive at the beginning of the third quarter. I usually go back to the floor trying to get my teammates involved, but Joel told me he wanted me to attack directly. I didn’t do enough of that tonight, and I should have », laments Tyrese Maxey when talking about his match against the Lakers.

For his part, Nick Nurse is looking to change his five on the restart, or rethink certain principles of the game to start the second half. Nothing seems to help: his team leaves the locker room with less energy. It’s unfortunate that at the same time his team is the second most efficient team in the league in the final quarter, behind the Rockets.

« We have to find a way to come back with the same energy we ended the first half with. I don’t know if we should come out (of the locker room) early and string a few layups to get going. But we have to find a solution. It repeats itself over and over again. At some point it has to be fixed », slams his fist on Andre Drummond’s desk to finish.