The Sixers have been fairly consistent in recent weeks, but in a somewhat frustrating way. They haven't had any stretches of great struggles lately, nor any truly dominant ones. They have handily beat up on some lesser competition, and they have suffered disappointing defeats when caught sleeping. Both of those trends continued during the first three games of a four-game road trip. The Sixers pounced all over the Boston Celtics and Oklahoma City Thunder, only to sleepwalk through a miserable loss at the New Orleans Pelicans. In a way, it almost feels like the Sixers are in some sort of cruise control without having earned the right to be.

The solid but unspectacular recent play finally caught up to them last week when the Brooklyn Nets recent surge cost the Sixers sole custody of the top spot. Fortunately, the Nets own inexcusable recent losses (ugly blowout at the hands of the shorthanded Lakers) have allowed Philly to keep pace, and despite matching 36-17 records, the Sixers currently hold the tiebreaker. But a bit more on them later. In the bigger picture, it's becoming a clearly defined two-horse race with the Milwaukee Bucks (33-20) slipping just a touch as reigning back-to-back MVP Giannis Antentomounmpo battles a knee injury that has cost him five straight games and counting.

Hopefully the Sixers can rev things up for a strong regular season finish. But first, what have you done for me lately?

Tuesday, 4/6/2021: Won at Boston Celtics 106-96

--This game was won at the free throw line. Seriously--the Sixers made 29 free throws, and the Celtics attempted 18. Of course, a big part of that was Joel Embiid. The big man went 16-for-20 alone. That parade of freebies made the game a slog (92.6 pace), but they made up for what was actually a fairly inefficient shooting night. As a team, the Sixers posted a 52.7 eFG%, below the league average of 53.7%, and below their own average of 53.9%. The Celtics, on the other hand, were extremely efficient (57.1%), but lacking free points hurt them. Funny how that works.

--20 turnovers also likely hurt them, especially in a game in which they only took 70 field goal attempts (told you it was a slog). Despite the glitzy shooting splits, the Sixers gave the Celtics hell all night, gumming up passing lanes and making ball movement of any kind an uncomfortable proposition. Boston only accrued 19 assists as a team, and the Sixers racked up 11 steals. They're up to second in the league in steals per game at 8.9 and sixth in forcing turnovers at 13.6%. They're also second in blocks per game at 6.3. That type of defensive activity is the identity of this team, and will be what they lean on come playoff time.

--Piggybacking off that, the game-defining stretch: 8:59-3:17 in the second quarter. During that 5:42 sequence, the Sixers turned a 35-31 deficit into a 52-37 advantage. They forced 6 turnovers in that span, coughing the ball up more often than they attempted shots (5). From that point forward, the Sixers' victory was never in question--their lead never fell below 10 and by the middle of the third, it had ballooned to 21. Zeroing in even further, Danny Green was a force in that snapshot--11 points and three made triples. The 33-year-old genuinely looks like one of the offseason's best pickups, and that Horford deal looks more genius by the day.

--Ben Simmons got to the line 8 times too, the beginning of a strong week in that department with 22 total free throw attempts. The problem? He only hit on 11, including four in this one. After looking like he genuinely improved his free throw shooting tough earlier in the season, he has regressed significantly, hitting just 57.9% at the stripe over his past 20 games, which is actually below his career average of 59.9. He's still at a career high 62.6% for the season, but it just makes think more and more that this is who Ben is. Now mind you, that is still a terrific player, but I don't think he'll ever be the transcendent, generational force he was projected as. Now the giant caveat about his recent struggles at the line is the personal drama he is going through, which I refuse to reiterate here. I am not making excuses, but beyond his free throw shooting, his overall game has declined recently. It's hard to not at least consider the possibility he is a bit distracted, to put it mildly.

--This is what I'm talking about with the Sixers in cruise control. Apart from Embiid's 35 points, nobody had a spectacular statistical performance. Even that was inflated at the free throw line--from the field, Embiid when 9-for-19 and 1-for-5 from three. It was not a special night. Nobody else had greater than 17. Nobody had double digit rebounds. Just kind of a mechanical effort. Maybe that's again the result of the slow pace, but either way, if this is what a blase effort gets, it's exciting to think about them really geared up for the playoffs.

Friday, 4/9/2021: Lost at New Orleans Pelicans 101-94

--I'm really upset with this loss, let me put that out there. But...is it bad that all I want to talk about is how astoundingly gifted Zion Williamson is? There is no way you can convince me that that dude is a human being. No 6'7", 284-lb person should remotely be capable of moving that way. He doesn't explode towards the basket so much as detonate with nuclear force. The 20-year-old (another frightening thought for the rest of the league--he's still too young for a legal drink) got to the cup literally at will. 37 points and 15 boards. Yeesh. And oh, by the way, he handed out 8 dimes, too, which you may recall I was worried about in my preview write-up for the game. He is legitimately evolving into a plus passer. A workable jumper is all that separates him from world domination.

--Let's enter a mirror dimension. After beating up on Simmons above, I have to credit him here. He finished a +5, highest on the team. No, his 10 points don't leap off the page, but 9 boards, 6 dimes, 5 steals and a block--talk about well rounded. The six giveaways I'm less inclined to praise, but hey, he had a positive impact on this game. And it's sort of fitting--Zion kind of feels like the Monstars version of Simmons, himself an impossibly athletic and explosive giant (6'11", 240). The comparisons aren't perfect (Zion is a truly stupendous finisher at the basket where Ben is merely good; Ben is a truly stupendous ballhandler where Zion is merely good; Simmons is also a brilliant defender where Zion hasn't figured out how to utilize his immense physical gifts yet), but the overall sketch of a physically gifted big who likes the ball in his hands and does most of his damage inside is there. I need tickets to every future Pels-Sixers game at the Center to watch those two collide.

--Gotta punish the bench a bit here after recently giving them props. After a largely ineffective performance against Boston the game before (just 23 points, nobody better than an even plus-minus), it didn't get better here. The second unit won the bench battle overall 39-30, but all of the key reserves (Shake Milton, Dwight Howard, Furkan Korkmaz, Mike Scott, Matisse Thybulle) finished in the negatives in plus-minus. Korkmaz had a nice shooting night (4-for-8 from deep), but overall they weren't at their best in either of these games. On a night when much of the opening group struggled, a pick-me-up from the bench would have been nice.

--A 10-0 run early in the third quarter effectively ended this game. In the blink of an eye, a 59-54 Sixer lead at 8:29 was a 64-59 hole just over two minutes later. All ten points were either scored or assisted on by...Zion. The Sixers never regained control. That period as a whole was one to forget for Philly. It scored just 18 points on 6-for-17 shooting, 1-for-7 from beyond the arc, and gave the ball away 7 times. Speaking of that, they ended the game with 19 turnovers. They have been much better controlling the rock in that regard recently, and I have lauded them for that, but not here. In fact, the Sixers' entire offensive failure in this one just was inexplicable. The Pels are not a good defensive team in any respect, and they looked like the 2008 Celtics here. I'm not giving any numbers because typing them would give me an aneurysm, but these types of disappearing acts need to be cleaned up.

--Okay, I can't shirk all stats just because I'm mad, so I will point out that somehow, the Sixers got crushed on the glass 56-47. I touched on Williamson's 15 boards earlier, but Brandon Ingram grabbed 8 boards, and Willy Hernangomez emerged out of the cobwebs and had a 10-10 double-double in 19 minutes off the bench. What?? Steven Adams, the team's starting center, only grabbed 5. It was bizarre, and deceptive. The Sixers' starters actually did pretty good with 35 rebounds, actually matching the Pels' openers. But the bench...21-12 in favor of the Pelicans. Sorry, I know I beat up on the backups earlier, but come on.

Saturday, 4/10/2021: Won at Oklahoma City Thunder 117-93

--There isn't a lot to this one honestly. The Sixers pasted a shorthanded, vastly inferior opponent. They did it without Danny Green for the first time all year, and Tobias Harris. The makeshift starting lineup became SImmons-Seth Curry-Korkmaz-Thybulle-Embiid. That's an interesting group, and it worked, at least for this game. Everybody finished with a double-digit plus-minus. The bench worked well, too--every there was in the green, too. Just a top-to-bottom blowout, another game the Sixers never trailed. Pretty easy stuff.

--Focusing on specific contributors, Korkmaz looked as comfortable as he as all season here. 20 points on 7-for-13 shooting, 4-for-10 on threes. He also stuffed the statsheet--4 rebounds, 2 assists and...5 steals and a block (???!!!). Thybulle did his thing, too--he only had 3 points, but he collected three more steals and two more blocks, continuing to post impossible defensive playmaking stats in his limited run (1.5 steals and 1.0 blocks in 19.3 minutes). Those are two guys who might be on the outs of the playoff rotation given their huge deficiencies (Korkmaz with everything on defense, Thybulle with everything on offense), so it was nice to see them lean into their strengths in starting cameos.

--Isaiah Joe and Paul Reed also got some actual minutes! Well, by their standards, at least. The former saw 9:25, and the latter 6:04. Joe missed all three of his field goal attempts and was scoreless, while Reed had 3 points and a couple of boards. No, they didn't look like future Hall of Famers, but it was fun to see them get some run.

--I really wish I could have gotten a look at Shai-Gilgeous Alexander. The third-year guard out of Canada is the Thunder's foundational piece, but unfortunately he is out for an extended period of time with a foot injury. But he has everything you want in a franchise guard He isn't an ultra explosive athlete, but at 6'6", he has great size for a lead guard and has this herky jerky, disarming ballhandling style that just makes him so tough to guard. He's fun to watch, man. Just another sign that the future of this league is in tremendous hands.

--Um...running out of things to say here. You know what? I got something! I just signed up for NBA Top Shot. Bought my first pack about two weeks ago, and I get it 'delivered' on Wednesday. Wonder what I'll get?

What's Next?

What. A. Week.

The Sixers will finally conclude the most road-heavy stretch of their season (10 of their last 12 away from the Wells Fargo Center) after one final stop in Dallas to tussle with the Mavericks (29-23) on Monday night at 7:30 p.m. Then, they'll enjoy home cooking for 11 of their final 19 games beginning with a massive game against the Nets on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. Regardless of the outcome of that one, they won't be allowed to have much of a letdown with Los Angeles Clippers (37-18) on deck for Friday night, also at 7 p.m.

Obviously looking at those records, there is no layup this week, but it would be huge to bank a win in Dallas before playing host to two of the five best teams in the league later in the week. But the Mavericks are surging in their own right, coming out on top in six of their last 8. Everything start and ends with Luka Doncic, whose disarming brilliance (28.5 points, 8.1 rebounds, 8.7 assists) is even more mind blowing when considering the fact that he's only 22. If the Sixers can at least slow him down, victory would come much easier.

Then there's the big one. If the Sixers can topple the Nets and wrestle back total control of the East, well, that seems like it would be important. That rings doubly true when this is the teams' final matchup of the regular season, and both teams have snatched a win against the other. Holding that tiebreaker could be enormous. The Sixers won't be getting the Nets at their very best, however, as James Harden will be out with a right hamstring strain at least through the week. The bearded guard was surging up MVP-candidate leaderboards by orchestrating the Nets' offense like a puppet master (25.0 points and 10.9 assists per game). I guess they'll have to make due with only Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. How unfortunate.

Somehow, I might be most excited about the date with the Clippers. The Sixers predictably lost to them out in LA recently, and getting some revenge in front of the Philly faithful would be sweet. And who doesn't love a potential NBA Finals preview? Also...Embiid didn't play in that loss. Paul George and Kawhi Leonard are two of the most versatile and dynamic wing talents in the NBA, and matching up against them is virtually impossible. But Embiid is just as much of a mismatch against LA's bigs.

Wow, this week will be fun.