Sixers drop back-to-back games at Portland, Phoenix

The middle games of the Sixers' four-game Western Conference road trip ended in disappointing fashion. On Thursday night, they fell to the Portland Trail Blazers for the second consecutive week, this time 118-114, and on Saturday afternoon, they lost to the Phoenix Suns 120-114.

There were a few major takeaways:

--The Sixers bench really struggled without Shake Milton, who sprained his left ankle in Tuesday night's victory over the Sacramento Kings and missed both of these contests. The second unit was outscored 94-39 by Portland and Phoenix second stringers. This lack of bench scoring punch has been a bit of a theme this season--after Milton's 14.0 points per game, rookie Tyrese Maxey is second among nonstarters with 8.7.

Maxey has really hit a bit of rookie wall in recent weeks. Furkan Korkmaz is slashing 39.5/33.3/87.5 and has more than twice as many single-digit scoring performances as double-digit outings. Dwight Howard at age 35 is...Dwight Howard at age 35. Matisse Thybulle lives in the jerseys of opposing wings and guards, but his offense is offensive.

If Milton is out for an extended period of time--he has already been ruled out at least through Monday night's game against the Utah Jazz--then this may be a recurring problem unfortunately. The good thing, of course, is Daryl Morey is no stranger to deadline deals. Maybe he could give the Clippers a call and check in on former Sixer sparkplug extraordinaire Lou Williams?

--Joel Embiid can't be stopped. A Blazers team missing Jusuf Nurkic and a Suns team starting 22-year-old Deandre Ayton had no hope of slowing the Sixers' big man down and he exploded for 35 points in both games. His season scoring average is now third in the league at 29.6 points per game on a terrific 54.3/40.0/85.1 shooting slash. He is the only non-guard or wing in the top-5 in that. He also tops the league in free throw attempts per game with 11.3.

Most impressively, he's been even better than that for about three-quarters of his season. Through his first six games, he averaged a still-solid 23.2 points on 52.3/33.3/79.6 with 9.0 free throw attempts. Over his last 16 games though? 32.1 points on 54.9/42.6/86.7 with 12.2 free throw attempts.

--High level guard play has hurt the Sixers for years, and neither of these games were any different. Damian Lillard and Gary Trent Jr. combined for 49 points for Portland, while Devin Booker and Chris Paul totaled 54 for the Suns. Even in their win over the Kings on Tuesday, De'Aaron Fox and Buddy Hield poured in 55.

Perhaps a bit of a defensive adjustment is in order. Ben Simmons believes he's the best defender in the league. One of the things that makes him so sensational on that end is his versatility--with the size of a power forward, the fluidity and coordination of wing, and the end-to-end speed of a guard, it's no wonder Doc Rivers can feel comfortable throwing him at any player in any situation, switching across all positions in a whirlwind. But perhaps, it would behoove the Sixers' bench boss to utilize his best defensive weapon to totally lockdown a backcourt when good guards are on deck.

--Turnovers also continue to plague the Sixers. They are third in the league in both the percentage of possessions that end in giveaways (13.8) and overall cough ups per game (15.7). They actually didn't turn it over in raw volume much against the Blazers and Suns, averaging only 11.0 over the two games, but it felt like more because they came at key moments.

Three of their 9 turnovers against the Blazers came down the stretch in the final 3:29, and each one belonged to either Ben Simmons or Joel Embiid, the best players on the roster, and each of them came with the Sixers within one possession. That cannot happen. Perhaps the most egregious came on the Sixers' final possession, when Ben Simmons could not successfully inbound the ball to Tobias Harris with 3.1 seconds left.

This isn't necessarily a death sentence--three other teams in the top-10 in turnovers per game include the Jazz, Lakers, and Nets, all legitimate title contenders--but the margin for error is much slimmer for the Sixers since they lack the quantity or quality of high level offensive creators that those teams have.

--The Sixers might benefit from firing up a few more threes. Yes, this offense fully runs through Embiid now, and Doc Rivers has downplayed Ben Simmons lack of jump shooting in an effort to make him totally comfortable playing his game, but after attempting just 64 total attempts through the first three games of this road-trip, they have dipped to 27th in 3-point attempt rate at 33.7%. Their 35.9% on threes is perhaps a touch uninspiring when the league is shooting 36.8%, but the Sixers revamped their roster to add shooting, and they could afford to capitalize on it.

Seth Curry--the second most accurate 3-point sniper in NBA history--should be launching more than 4.4 treys in 28.2 minutes. Danny Green (5.9 attempts) and Tobias Harris (4.2) could probably stand to take an extra triple here and there too. If Korkmaz continues to struggle with his shot, perhaps Isaiah Joe could get a little bit more run? The rookie second rounder is canning 40.0% of his 3.6 threes in just 14.1 minutes per game. That type of volume shooting (team-high 9.1 attempts per-36 minutes) is what's missing.

Hopefully the Sixers can right the ship against the Jazz on Monday night at 9 p.m. in Utah. That doesn't figure to be easy though, considering the Jazz are destroying worlds right now. Utah has the best record in the league at 22-5, is currently riding a 7-game winning streak, and has come out on top in 18 of its last 19.

The Jazz excel with a deep, well-coached roster, but have a clear alpha on both ends. Donovan Mitchell, a first-time All-Star last season, is posting a career high in scoring (24.2 points per game), and Rudy Gobert could be tracking toward his third Defensive Player of the Year award in four seasons. His 2.8 blocks per game rank second in the league.