Doc Rivers, Sixers discuss James Harden, team goals during 7-game homestand
CAMDEN, N.J. — The Philadelphia 76ers have to get right. They dropped all three games of their road trip, including bad losses in Cleveland and Houston. They struggled to rebound and looked out of sorts.
That makes the seven-game homestand that begins on Friday important as the team tries to get back on track in the Eastern Conference.
The Sixers are 12-12 and in seventh in the East standings as they continue to seek consistency. With this homestand, coach Doc Rivers wants the team to address some issues. With James Harden back in the lineup, Rivers wants to get him moving in the right direction again.
“Just keeping up our pace,” said Rivers. “Understanding how we gotta play, execution down the stretch, that’s vital for us. Then defensively, just being in the right spots. For James, it’s probably conditioning and playing. He looked great conditioning-wise. He didn’t play well, but that’s almost expected at times when you miss that many games. So conditioning and timing.”
Execution is probably the biggest issue with the Sixers at the moment. There were plenty of examples in the loss to Houston where Harden and the offense did not run a clean offense. That is what has to be worked on during this homestand.
“Just cleaning up our execution, our awareness, just being on the same page,” added PJ Tucker. “A lot of stuff is just not being on the same page and that’s something we gotta clean up. Seven games at home now, it gives us a good chance to try and get our mojo back. James getting back, getting more acclimated, try and get everybody back healthy would be a big help, but I think it’s something we gotta keep building on.”
With Harden back in the lineup and seven games in the friendly confines of the Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia has a chance address those issues.
“Just playing,” Tucker added. “There’s no other way other than just playing. The more we play, especially with him and Joel getting on the same page, I think that’s gonna be big. That’s why these next seven home games are gonna be huge for us.”
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PJ Tucker, Sixers discuss rebounding struggles, need to be more physical
