Dwight Howard has a game plan for dealing with what happened to the Sixers on Sunday night in a flat, disappointing loss to the Grizzlies, one in which they allowed 49.4% shooting while shooting only 41.6% themselves.
“Hang up. Delete today. Get ready for tomorrow,” he said.
We’ll see how effective that approach is for the Sixers tonight as they face the Celtics in Boston, part of a grueling portion of Philly’s schedule. The Sixers started a season-high six-game road trip back in late March, which took them through the Western Conference and saw them win four games.
But then it was a brief stop home for a back-to-back against the Timberwolves and Grizzlies. Now, the real challenge: pack up and head back out for a four-game road trip.
“It’s very tough,” Howard told reporters. “I would say we were homesick on the road. We really wanted to be back and be in Philly. We missed being home, we missed being with our family, we missed coming to the games and seeing you guys, so it’s very tough mentally, going on the road, coming back home, then leaving right back out. But, we’re blessed, we’re gonna stay positive and we’re gonna try to win as many games as we can.”
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Sixers’ Road Trip Includes Back-to-Back
The upcoming road trip is less taxing, travel-wise, with the Sixers first visiting Boston, then New Orleans, Oklahoma City and Dallas. While there is a two-day break after the Celtics matchup, the Sixers have a back-to-back this weekend, which means they’ll be missing star big man Joel Embiid in the second outing.
Still, with 22 games to play, the Sixers are in an important stretch as they try to hang in the race for the top seed in the Eastern Conference with Brooklyn. The Nets currently lead the East over Philadelphia by a half-game.
Earning homecourt edge for the entire playoffs would be a huge boost for the Sixers, who are 20-5 at home this season, best in the conference and second-best in the NBA.
Dwight Howard: ‘We Don’t Really Want to Look at the Film’
As for the loss to Memphis, the Sixers’ ability to push that one aside will be tested by a Celtics team in desperate need of wins. The Celtics picked up wins in their last two games to get back to .500 but remain in the dreaded seventh spot in the Eastern Conference, meaning they would have to be part of the play-in tournament if they remain there to close the season.
Struggle of a quarter for the #sixers offense there, as they shot just 9-23 from the field and 2-9 from 3 to trail 29-22 after 12 minutes of play. Simmons’ 6 leads the way for the Sixers. Valanciunas has 8 for the Grizz. Only 2 FTA for the Sixers in the quarter.
Howard thinks the Sixers would be better off deleting the game film from the Grizzlies loss altogether.
“I thought it was ugly and I think we don’t really want to look at the film and just relive this game,” he said. “We saw a lot of errors we have to improve in. Obviously we don’t want to lose the way we did tonight. But we gotta let this one go, get ready for Boston. They’re an Eastern Conference team we could see later down the line in the playoffs so we gotta put our sights on Boston right now.”
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‘Delete Today’: Howard, Sixers Soldier on Through Brutal Stretch