Losing the grim 76ers, Spurs fell behind in the Playoffs race

The San Antonio Spurs had a better chance to reinforce the ninth spot, but the Philadelphia 76ers’ 3-point throwing blocked that hope.

The San Antonio Spurs entered the confrontation with the Philadelphia 76ers with great enthusiasm when they had just defeated Memphis Grizzlies to climb to ninth place. Even better, the eighth-ranked team Grizzlies lost to the New Orleans Pelicans in the previous match. If overcome the Sixers, teachers Gregg Popovich will shorten the gap with the top 8 West to 1 game.

However, the Philadelphia 76ers are not easy opponents to play. The two sides struggled one by one and entered the break in the middle of the match with only 2 points difference. Brett Brown’s teachers found the rhythm of the attack in the third half and sometimes led to 13 points. The two-digit distance is maintained until the end.

San Antonio Spurs completely exiled in the last half with the shine of DeMar DeRozan. Former Toronto Raptors player scored 13 of these 30 points in the last 12 minutes. Spurs equalized the score 123-123 when the match was over 2 minutes. They forced the opponent to not score for more than 1 and a half minutes and led 4 points when the game was 1 minute 41 seconds.

Joel Embiid spoke at a critical time with a mid-range pitch and an assist. He had the opportunity to equalize when standing on the free-throw line when the game had 22 seconds, but missed 1 in 2 finishes. 10 seconds later, Derrick White made two free throws but only succeeded once, losing the opportunity to create a safe gap for Spurs.

White must have been very regretful, because in the situation of the throw-in right after that, Shake Milton launched a precise 3-point throw in the context of the opponent was too focused on Joel Embiid and Al Horford. Spurs ran well in the final situation but Jakob Poeltl’s shot did not hit the back of the basket. Embiid set a 132-130 victory for the Sixers with a free throw when the match was 0.4 seconds.

Embiid after scoring 41 points in the Pacers basket continued to have an impressive match, scoring 27 points with a 9-17 efficiency. Tobias Harris scored 25 points, while Josh Richardson owned 19 points. On the other side of the line, Rudy Gay had the best performance from the start of the season with 24 points, while Derrick White scored 20 points.

With this defeat, DeMar DeRozan and his teammates not only could not shorten the gap with the top 8, they also lost the ninth place to the Portland Trail Blazers. Both teams are two games inferior to Memphis Grizzlies, but Portland’s win rate is higher.