Brett Brown doesn't hold back after Sixers' loss to Magic: ‘It's a physicality issue'

The Sixers couldn’t have been much higher after knocking off the NBA-best Milwaukee Bucks on Christmas day.

So much for that.

A lackluster effort against the Magic in a 98-97 loss Friday (see observations) ruined those good vibes. It was the Sixers’ sixth straight defeat in Orlando, joining Washington, D.C. — where the Sixers have lost 10 straight — as a peculiar house of horrors.

After putting up over 120 points in three straight games, they mucked it up with an offensively inept Magic team and didn’t show any sense of urgency until the final two minutes.

Brett Brown wasn’t in the mood to give his team credit for their comeback effort.

I don't even care about it,” Brown told reporters in Orlando postgame. “I really don't even care about it. I don't believe that we should have been in that position. And I think it's hollow praise to go there. I'm not going there. It's a physicality issue that we lost. And in fact, it'll probably end up serving us well. Like it was a playoff-type of movement as far as the physical side of it. And I thought that we responded with a D-minus.

For a team that’s prided itself in playing “bully ball defense and smash mouth offense,” Brown thought his team was lacking. The Sixers lead the NBA in rebounding percentage but were bested in that department, 48-45. 

“I think that the physicality that Orlando played with, I give them credit,” Brown said. “I don't believe that we responded to it well at all. I think that our defense was good enough to win. I think that we got shoved around.”

Yikes.

There was plenty of disappointment to go around. Tobias Harris and Joel Embiid both had a game-high 24 points, but the Sixers’ offense overall just wasn’t sharp. 

We didn’t see any of the crispness that we’d seen over the last few games. They were held to just 40.2 percent from the field and went 10 of 29 from three a couple days after exploding for 21 triples on Christmas day.

Add to that a poor night from the bench and it all adds up to a bad road loss.

The lack of physicality seemed to be a popular refrain from the players.

“No, that’s just a mentality thing, really,” Harris said. “We didn’t have that. We have it at spurts through the game, but then it just drops off for us. It’s everybody, including myself out there on the floor at times, and it’s contagious.”

This has been the tale of the 2019-20 Sixers. 

After starting off the season 5-0, they dropped five of their next seven. After winning four straight, they laid an egg against the lowly Wizards. Then after going through a gauntlet of the Raptors, Nuggets and Celtics, they narrowly beat the struggling Pelicans before dropping three straight.

On Friday, that unfortunate theme reared its ugly head.

“We've struggled on the road the whole season,” Embiid said. “Tomorrow, we got another big one so we gotta get that win. But it was mentioned earlier, we can't play down to the opposition. Orlando, they're a pretty good team, but you know you have a better record than them, you should come out and play like it.”

Brown, as fiery as we’ve seen him during his tenure as Sixers head coach, saw it quite simply.

“In my opinion, it is [mental]. It's a statement thing. It's a physical thing, and I thought that we responded poorly. How else can I say this? I'm saying it as clearly as I can. And that's how I see it.”

Up next is the Heat Saturday night followed by road dates with the Pacers and the Mavericks.

At the very least, those are teams the Sixers likely won’t take lightly.

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