By Harvey Hoffman
Ther Sixers have been living on the edge during their recent winning streak.
But the road is a tough place to do that and succeed in the NBA as they proved last night in DC with a 119-113 loss to the Wiz.
They dropped to 5-7 away from home — where they are 10-0 this season — despite 33 points from Tobias Harris, 26 points and a season-best 21 rebounds from Joel Embiid, and 17 points and 10 assists from Ben Simmons.
“I didn’t think we responded well at all. I thought that it took us about 36 minutes, 38 minutes, to come with an energy that we have been playing with,” coach Brett Brown said.
Facing one of the most lax defenses in the NBA, Embiid had eight turnovers and Simmons seven. The Wizards ended up converting all of the turnovers into 30 points, quite a gift for a team that lost five of six games entering the night.
“There was just a lot of bad turnovers all around,” Harris said. “It’s something that’s been hurting us all year. We’ve known that.”
Rookie Rui Hachimura (above) scored 27 for Washington, Bradley Beal had 26 points and 10 rebounds, and Davis Bertans scored 19 of his season-high 25 points in the second quarter.
In the first half, he shot 8 for 8 overall, 6 for 6 on 3s, and totaled 22 points.
“He’s the best shooter that I’ve ever seen,” Hachimura said.
The 76ers have lost 10 games in a row at Washington; their last victory in the nation’s capital came on Nov. 1, 2013.
Still, the Wizards started this one about as poorly as possible at the offensive end, missing their first five shots and turning the ball over twice before finally making a basket after nearly 4 minutes.
Raul Neto hit 3s on consecutive trips down the court to put the Sixers ahead 33-22 late in the first quarter. Bertans took over in the second, though, scoring 12 points in a row for Washington in one stretch and sparking a 16-2 run.
“Kind of a punch in the face for them,” Bertans said.
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