You're listening to rewind, they'll listen back on press conferences, highlights and analysis from the seventy sixers previous game. The seventy Sixers did show some fights in the Lone Star State tonight in a loss of the Houston Rockets one eighteen to one oh eight. They did not, however, get the win that they were looking for. Fourth straight lost for the seventy Sixers as their record drops to twenty three and fourteen or the Houston Rockets improved to twenty
four and eleven on the season. I'm Brian Seltzer. The seventy six ers four game losing streak is the longest of the season, their longest since a five game skid back in December of two thousand and seventeen. What went well for the seventy Sixers tonight? Ben Simmons was pretty awesome. You will probably look at his three for seven from the free throw line first in a game this close.
That's valid. He was not the only seventy Sixer to miss from the line tonight, as the rest of the team was relatively up and down at certain points from the stripe, but the rest of Ben Simmons line pretty uncommon twenty nine points, thirteen rebounds, eleven assists, three steals,
four block shots. According to the website Basketball Reference, he is the only player since nineteen forty six forty seven to reach those minimums twenty nine points, thirteen boards, eleven assists, and four block shots and three steals in a single game. So that is pretty impressive. Ultra impressive was what James Harden did tonight. Forty four points, eleven rebounds, eleven dimes. He had a couple of steals as well. It was the first triple double of the season for James Harden.
He was really efficient, as Tom McGinnis was talking about, thirteen of twenty four from the field, six of twelve from three point territory. And if you go to three point shooting tonight, the Rockets out did the seventy six ers by twelve from beyond the arc, six of the bigger parton by six from the arc, and you make up the difference right there with James Harden's total. The three point shooting was a big storyline in the game. Again, the Rockets were plus six made from outside the arc.
The Rockets also getting it done from the free throw line. We'll go down to the head coach Brett Brown, like you try to get close and like he's strong enough and good enough to go buy you. And then Cappella gets behind your head, you know for the lobs, and so the package is lethal. They're hard debat. He was outstanding tonight. I like the way I guys competed. You know, we got down, we fought back. We got down, we
fought back. I think we got a two hundred and five hundred, you know, after being a very sort of erratic type of game. But I liked the spirit of our group. How did you feel like you kept up with their pace. I didn't think we did a good job in transition defense. I thought in the first half we will pull Capella beat us up the floor a few times. I didn't think we did a great job
of showing a crowd on James. Initially, I thought we fixed some of that in the second half, but in general and the first half, the transition defense was a was a CEO thoughts on the street. I mean think about it, like I think that you just like go back and you keep moving. You know, you got to identify obvious things that we need work on. We had a rough time shooting tonight. I think we were six for whatever. And I think that like I um believe in it's it's it's a genuine comment that good days
will add up. You know, I keep keep, keep the boys in the boat, keep moving forward, and uh, good days will add up this group. We will figure it out. I know you guys didn't come back, but there was a point where certain times where the body language look bad. You know the guys out there, um well, Joel was a couple of people the body language just looked bad. They were discourages, hard guarding. James Hodden, you can ask
them about it. Are you concerned about the morale this group losing the fourth straight settlers in I'm not what gives you that confidence? Because I think that this is smart enough to know that we have talent in that room and then it's a good league and losing in Houston is no disgrace and that that good days will add up. I think the character will prevail. What did you make of Ben's aggression tonight? I thought Ben was great.
You know, we put him in different pick and roll situations, used him as a screen center, you know, him rolling out of it. I thought he was excellent all around. I mean, you look at those stats and as dominating. Seventy six Ers head coach Brett Brown after tonight's one eighteen one O eight loss to the Houston Rockets, the seventy six ers fourth in a row, their longest losing streak since December of twenty seventeen. Some of the highlights
from that. Brett Brown at postgame press conference. He believes that good days will add up. He thinks that there's enough character and talent among the team to figure out this current rut. The group is in. The team is coming back home after two idle days Tomorrow and Sunday. The seventy Sixers will host the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday, get two more days without a game before hosting the Ball Celtics in a game next Thursday night at the Center.
So some opportunities for the seventy sixers to get in the gym and work on writing some of the wrongs. But for the most part is Brett said, and I think if you listen to this game tonight, if you watch this game followed portions of it, you could tell the spirit, the fight, the competitiveness of the seventy sixers
was there. I mean, listen, the bottom line is is the last place, one of the last places you would want to have to go to when you're riding a three game losing streak and you're hoping to break out of it, is on the road to a place like Houston to face a team that's got the talent and the dynamic, transformative players like the Rockets do. I mean, there's James Harden, who, as we talked about before that excerpt of Brett's postgame press conference, had forty four points,
eleven rebounds, eleven assists. Russell Westbrook, I mean, he was what he is. He was wild at times, he was crazy, and I felt the Sixers did a good job capitalizing on his erratic nous to try and get back of the game. But he can also drive down the length of the floor and put immense pressure on your transition defense and set up a drive and kick game, which was what was happening throughout the night. Westbrook had twenty
points tonight, seven rebounds, four assists. And then there's Clinton Capella, who had a career game thirty points, fourteen rebounds. He was feasting off of what the likes of Westbrook and Harden were able to create, and the Sixers were not able to account for that many threats that Houston was throwing at them. Tonight, seventy Sixers follow the Rockets one eighteen one o eight. The record is now twenty three and fourteen on the season. We'll get some more thoughts
from Tom McGinnis. Tom, it's a tough spot for the seventy sixers to be in, right, I mean, they're trying to get out of this funk and they're going up against one of the better teams in the NBA, and they started off pretty strong. They led by seven after
the first quarter. Houston then got going driving the lane while the seventy Sixers closed the gap on a few occasions, there was always someone there for the Rockets to get the lead back to a comfortable spot, right And to your point, you know, they did keep battling back, and they got it down to six, I know, and maybe even less than that, but you know, they're around three minutes to go. They had a chance to cut it to four and came away empty and Harden came back
with a big play. And again, when you're trailing like that and you get down toward the latter stages of the game. Like my point was right around that stage with three minutes or so to go, and I've said it before you but you almost have to play perfect, and that is you have to completely shut them out while you go on a tear and you know, there's obviously still a lot of possessions left with that much time to go, but you can't allow them to score,
and certainly not more than once. And that that's what happened. But like you said, good spirit, good fight. They came back to your overall point, you know, and that was probably one of the sentiments coming in. You could play better and show more energy and execution and play overall better for the Sixers, but come away empty due to the fact that you're playing the Rockets here and they're
pretty good at home. And then you have a transcendent performance by not just Westbrook but by Capella, who was terrific. And it's a predicament defensively, you know what I mean, where you have to go Otherwise Harden's getting another layup and so Joel kind of has to roam toward him and then Capella throws it down from behind. So I mean they run that really well. I mean that's you can x and know all you want, but that's a
really simple, fundamental thing. You throw it up to a six eleven player with great leaping ability, with one of the great greatest scorers ever throwing the ball to him, and that's a winning combination in terms of that alley. Youp with Harden and Cappella seventy six ers fall by ten at Houston one eighteen to one oh eight. What would you make tom of what Ben Simmons did tonight? Well, he was great, you know, and I think he ended up missing seven shots and two or three of those
at least we're in the opening moments now. He also got rebounds for that, so that kind of padded that area of his game. But you know, he had difficulty scoring early on, but he was very aggressive. I honestly, I thought he would be a little more aggressive. He caught the ball down low and then opted to throw it out, and particularly when you've got somebody you know, and these are great players but not known as defensive stalwarts.
In Harden and Westbrook and other times he had Gordon on him, and you know, Ben at six to eleven, I think he's got to be a little bit more aggressive with his back to the basket. Most of the times are some of these. Anyway, we're on second chances where you know, he's four or five feet from the goal and I get the three point shot as king in today's NBA, but not when you can spin and take a two footer. You know, those shots are pretty big too, so to be able to score at the rim.
But overall, he was terrific, and he led the way. He was a dominant, aggressive player. And how about that two of the biggest stars in the game getting triple doubles in a ballgame. Here's tonight. Following tonight's ten point one eighteen one lost the Houston Rockets. These seventy sixers
will be idol tomorrow and Sunday. Back at it on Monday against the Oklahoma City Thunder, and then after that they'll wrap up a two game stop at the Center versus the Boston Celtics tom How important do you think the next couple days off for the seventy six ers, presumably an off day, a true off day tomorrow and then another practice on Sunday. These are opportunities more so than you would normally find and pox the schedule to try and get some legit practice time in well, no doubt.
In just one other note that I failed to mention, but James Ennis did not play. I see him here. He used to play in Houston, but he was under the weather tonight and he didn't play. And you say,
true off day. This is also you know, just from doing this for a few years, this is one of the more difficult games other than returning from the West Coast because you know, again this this game was played on Central Time, but you know back home, it's getting on at eleven o'clock and then you gotta fly all the way home, so you know, you really you go to bed pretty pretty late, almost early in the morning, so you need that entire day, and then it's hard
to practice full go on Sunday. You got a game on Monday, right, So but it is I mean, you got I think the six Ers benefited by getting into the gym yes day before they flew out here, and anytime like that is good. You just you're not going
to be able. You might be able to go ten or fifteen minutes hard, but you can't go you know, a big hour and a half practice before a game, and those are really difficult now, you know, maybe Wednesday, but again, two days off is great, but mostly at this stage it's for rest and recovery, and that's what this will kind of be over the weekend. To get carried up. I think the biggest thing is they're coming home and played so well at home, and you know
Oklahoma with Chris Paul. You know, everyone's kind of he was here, but remember how good he was down the stretch in that game. He was just incredible in the game in Oklahoma. So not an easy out for sure. Gallinari is hard to guard, so not an easy game.
And then the showdown with Boston looms as well. But the biggest thing is to get back Monday and see if you can't get back in the win column, get that crowd behind you and get the good vibes going again and try to turn this thing around a little bit because the four games is where it needs to stop. Well put by Tom McGinnis. Tom talked to you on Monday. Good night, Thanks Brian. Here's how it sounded, courtesy of the one and only Tom McGinnis. Seventy sixers were looking
for an energetic start and they got it. Joel and Bead was in the middle of it. Go here's a lob to the rim and Beat catches it, comes down and jams it over the top of Capella. What a feed by Ben Simmons from out front and Joel caught it, landed and went right back up and stuffed it. That made it seven to four. Seventy Sixers led by seven
twenty seven to twenty after a quarter of play. In the second, when Ben Simmons on the bench, one of the best defenders in the NBA this season, Russell Westbrooks started to gain control and gain momentum going downhill and the seventy Sixers lost their lead. They were battling uphill for the rest of the first half. Simmons with the ball. Simmons with its back to the basket, gets the screened by Joe, tries the eurostep around Harnin. He banked it in.
Wow and improbable, but good shot by Ben Simmons, and it's a one point game. The score was fifty four fifty three in favor of Houston. The Rockets would score the next six points going into the half. They led by the tally of sixty to fifty three. In quarter number three, who wasn't once again, Ben Simmons stirring the pot, getting the seventy Sixers back within striking distance. Harris would a drive. Capella's there underhand left hand scoop nobody rebound,
followed by Simmons with authority. Ben Simmons throws it down. Two point game, great dribble drive by Tobias, even though he didn't score. It was sixty two sixty and this was a recurring theme and pattern for the game throughout the night, especially in the second half. Seventy Sixers would maunt a run, Houston would have an answer. The Rockets score the next nine points. They went up comfortably, leading
by double digits for the first time. Simmons closing the third quarter in solid fashion one on one would the beat and beat dares of the shoot. Capella goes into the lane, get to Ronda and misses a lamp and Westbrook miss is a rebound jemp and then hangs on the rim. Here come the Sixers, Simmons into the na
Simmons many dumps it on Capella. Ben Simmons with a tomahawk left hand jab, but the seventy Sixers would be down a dozen and ninety six eighty four going into the fourth at one point, it seemed like the Rockets, maybe we're in position to run away with this game. Tonight, the seventy Sixers came charging back one last time. It was down now by eight again, here's a chance to cut in the league. Josh Richardson with a dribble, lobs
it to Ben Simmons, catches and dunks it. Well done, as they borrow a page from that, Harden to Capella, all of you and Simmons now with twenty five, one oh three ninety seven Houston, five minutes to go, one last gasp for the seventy Sixers. They headed into the final minutes of regulation. Westbrook has it. They got a three on two going left the right. He loves him in the lane and Cark Moss breaks it up. The Sixers with the day and now Simmons has a number.
He goes into the lane and Harris jams it over. Harden. Ben Simmons are the good dish down low right and the Sixers are the three on one and Harris dunks the ball. It's a five point game. One oh five, one hundred and seventy Sixers would essentially have to pitch a perfect game the rest of the way against the
team as good as Houston. They were not able to James Harden leading a eight to two run that but the Rockets up one thirteen, one two with about two minutes to go, Harden's three point shooting putting this game away as Houston goes on to win it by ten in the end, one eighteen to one oh eight. Taking a look at some notes from the final box score in tonight's game, there were some spectacular individual performances as the seventy sixers, though collectively we're not able to keep
pace with the Houston Rockets from three point territory. That was a big storyline, as was the fact that the Sixers also were outdone from the free throw line Houston. In tonight's game against the seventy sixers, they shot overall forty seven and a half percent to seventy six Ers forty five and a half percent the six or sixty three pointers Houston with twelve. Houston was twenty four thirty two from the free throw line the seventy sixers eighteen
of twenty five. Houston was plus four on the glass. Seventy Sixers also surrendered a decent amount of fast break points twenty seventy sixers, doing most of their work in the paint. They scored sixty points. James Harden tonight, finishing with forty four points that was a game high. He was thirteen to twenty four from the field twelve or twelve and the free throw line six of twelve from three.
He also had eleven rebounds and eleven assists. Twenty points for Russell Westbrook, A big story, a huge story for Houston. Career game for Clinton Cappella thirty points, fourteen rebounds, three assists. He was great for the Rockets. Tonight for the seventy sixers, Ben Simmons with twenty nine points, thirteen rebounds, eleven assists, three steals, and four block shots. If you missed me
setting this earlier. According to the great website Basketball Reference dot com, there's been no player in the NBA since nineteen forty six forty seven to put up those numbers in a single game. Twenty four points for Tobias Harris. Joel Embiid with his twenty first twenty ten game. He finished with twenty on the nose to go with twelve rebounds.
Seventy sixers are now twenty three and fourteen. The Rockets are twenty four and eleven to seventy six Ers have lost four in a row, their longest losing streak since December twenty seventeen, when they dropped five straight. Six will look to end the skid on Monday Night against the Oklahoma City Thunder. You've been listening to Rewind, look out for fresh episodes of the Day after every seventy six Ers game this season.