Philadelphia 76ers send Detroit Pistons to club-record-tying 21st straight loss
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Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers drives around Cade Cunningham of the Detroit Pistons during the first half at Little Caesars Arena.
PHOTO: AFP
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DETROIT – Detroit Pistons coach Monty Williams has urged his players to feel “tired” of losing and putting in poor performances, as they sunk to another low in the National Basketball Association (NBA) on Dec 13.
Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid poured in 41 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in 31 minutes, leading the 76ers to a 129-111 win in Detroit as the Pistons matched the longest losing streak in franchise history.
Williams’ men have dropped 21 straight, a club record for a single season. They had another 21-game slide spanning the end of the 1979-80 season and the beginning of 1980-81 campaign.
“I don’t want anyone to be happy in this situation. I want to see an ornery locker room that’s tired – not just of losing, but tired of missing shots and tired of giving up 39-point quarters,” Williams said on ESPN.
Tobias Harris added 21 points and seven rebounds for the Sixers, while Kelly Oubre Jr tossed in 17 points at the Little Caesars Arena.
Bojan Bogdanovic scored a season-high 33 points for Detroit, who will play at Philadelphia on Dec 15. Cade Cunningham added 21 points and seven assists.
Embiid was unstoppable in the first quarter, piling up 19 points and eight rebounds as the Sixers jumped to a 39-26 lead. He shot five-for-eight from the field and made all nine of his free throws in the opening period, while Cunningham missed all five of his field-goal attempts.
Philadelphia’s lead grew to 17 in the first 3½ minutes of the second quarter. Detroit answered with seven straight points, five from Bogdanovic.
Embiid then hit a mid-range shot and Sixers maintained a double-digit advantage the rest of the half.
Philadelphia headed into the interval with a 70-56 advantage, and Embiid’s first bucket of the second half was a lay-up off a Nicolas Batum feed, giving the Sixers an 82-64 lead.
His three-point play with 4:57 remaining in the quarter made it 89-74. The lead grew to 20 just 47 seconds later on two Embiid free throws. Philadelphia also scored the last eight points of the quarter, including a jump hook by Embiid, to carry a 104-80 lead into the fourth, in which the Pistons found it tough to cut the deficit.
“He’s been in that vibe on game days, non-game days and everything lately,” Sixers coach Nick Nurse said of Embiid.
“He’s scoring in a lot of different ways, which is good. He’s giving (defences) some variety and unpredictability.”
It was definitely the case against the visibly frustrated Pistons, as centre James Wiseman added: “We tried our best. I took on the challenge and tried to contain him. We didn’t back down from him.”
Detroit centre Isaiah Stewart was ejected in the final minute of the third quarter for shoving Patrick Beverley to the floor. Beverley struck Stewart with an elbow moments earlier. REUTERS
