Why Can't They Do It on the Road?

The Sixers suck on the road. Why is that?

[photo: Stacy Revere/Getty Images]

Andrew Unterberger is a famous writer who invented the nickname 'Sauce Castillo' and is now writing for The Rights To Ricky Sanchez, as part of the 'If Not, Pick Will Convey As Two Second-Rounders' section of the site. You can follow Andrew on Twitter @AUGetoffmygold and can also read him at Billboard. 

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The Sixers’ win over the Clippers on Tuesday night was almost as good a win as you could ask for headed into the All-Star break. Moving Al Horford to the bench to have him on the floor less often with Joel Embiid (and particularly with both Embiid and Ben Simmons) seemed to pay dividends for all involved, as Horford played well and Embiid and Simmons had not only two of their individual best games of the season, but one of their best tandem efforts as teammates. Josh Richardson and Tobias Harris picked up the slack, Matisse Thybulle hit perhaps the biggest shot of his young career, and the Sixers convincingly beat a very good Clippers team, led by their greatest current franchise tormentor.

As good a win as it was, though, it’s still definitely got a big ole “but,” one that’s been attached to pretty much every similarly sized win the Sixers have picked up in the last two months: It was at home, where the Sixers have long established they’re near-unbeatable. Their home dominance looked like it might be starting to even out a little when, after winning 14 a row at the not-WFC to start the season, they dropped two straight to Miami and Dallas. But since then, it’s been another 11 straight Ws in Philly, putting the Sixers at an NBA-best 25-2 at home, even with their getting booed at some point in at least 10 of those wins.  

It’s a disparity both discouraging and perplexing. How can they be such obvious contenders at home and a convincing impression of the Chicago Bulls on the road? Listen to the ESPN brain trust and they might tell you that Brett Brown is at fault, for not getting the troops battle-ready when they have to march into foreign territory. Ask the TNT Inside the NBA crew and they’ll undoubtedly break out their baby voices and most sternly disapproving head-shakes to inform you that the Sixers’ stars, particularly Embiid, are just too S-A-W-F-T to excel as road warriors. Log onto Sixers Twitter and you’ll see plenty of both explanations, plus maybe some additional theories about magnetic rims and distance to the nearest Wawa.

And putting the mind-numbing myopia aside, there’s some degree of truth to all of it. No one could deny that the Sixers’ effort level and execution on the road has often verged on the subpar, if not fallen all the way into it. That falls on Brett for not having the team together enough to show up consistently, and it falls on Simmons and Embiid -- again, particularly Embiid -- for setting the tone when they come out sluggish and lose focus when things don’t go their way early. Horford pulling a Roger Dorn whenever he has to lay out for a rebound or loose ball certainly doesn’t help. Magnets are real. Basically, veteran teams shouldn’t have their engagement level questioned as often as this team’s does on the road, and that goes back to their on- and off-court leadership -- or, as many would argue, their lack thereof. 

But are there more tangible, stat-based reasons for the home-road imbalance? Well, dig into the splits and you’ll find two primary differences between the team’s performance at the not-WFC and away from it. 

The first is fouls. I wondered if maybe the Sixers, who are so dependent on getting to the line for offense, maybe were hurt by getting fewer whistles on the road, but that doesn’t seem to be the case: The team on the whole actually averages more free throws away than at home (22.4 to 21.8), as do Embiid (8.9 to 7.9) and Simmons (5.5 to 5.2) individually. However, they also get whistled far more often themselves: 22.6 fouls a game on the road to 19.6 at home, leading to six more opponent free throws per contest (27.4 to 21.2). Embiid is definitely a culprit here, averaging just three fouls a game at home but over four on the road (albeit in slightly increased MPG), and Harris and Horford also have noticeable spikes. Thybulle is also to blame (in lesser PT), averaging a foul about every eight minutes on the road, compared to one per ten at home. 

The second is shooting, where the team is about four points lower both from the field (48.6% to 44.6%) and from deep (37.4% to 33.6%) on the road. Embiid is again guilty here, at least from two-point range (52.3% to 48.2%), though he actually shoots slightly better from three on the road (34.2% to 32.9%) -- also taking far more triples a game, likely telling of his inability to get things going inside away from Philly. The most stunning numbers here, though, are the shooting discrepancies for a couple of their reserve wings. Here’s Furkan Korkmaz’s splits at home and away: 

Korkmaz Home: 48.8% FG / 45.2% 3PT / 65.4% FT

Korkmaz Away: 40.0% FG / 33.1% 3PT / 76.9% FT

That’s right: The Sixers’ most prolific bomber is a whole 12 percent better from deep at home, basically turning from Klay Thompson to Luc Mbah a Moute on the road. But his splits are modest compared to the polarized numbers of one Matisse Thybulle: 

Thybulle Home: 46.7% FG / 47.0% 3PT / 93.8% FT

Thybulle Away: 34.1% FG / 26.7% 3PT / 42.9% FT

The Sixers beat the Clippers convincingly, and we never doubted that this was possible. This entire season, we've all been very positive. Al Horford started the game on the bench, Furkan Korkmaz had the best zero point game ever, and the Sixers go into the All-Star break all smiles.

Of course, this is all on relatively few attempts -- about half the shots that even Korkmaz puts up, and only about 20 free throws each. But hachi machi, those splits! Matisse is basically your ideal offensive profile three-and-D wing at home, putting up near-max efficiency on relatively low volume, and away from Philly he becomes… geez, I dunno, -rookie Jerami Grant? Have the Sixers ever had a wing that inefficient getting regular minutes, even in the peak Process days? He’s as close to unplayable on the road as a dude of his defensive prowess ever could be, especially when he’s also fouling at the road rate he does. 

It’s a common NBA truism that your role players play better at home than on the road, and for the Sixers, that certainly appears to be true -- especially with younger, greener players like Korkmaz and Thybulle. (For the record, two of their more veteran reserves -- Mike Scott and James Ennis III -- actually shoot better on the road, though that’s of increasingly little consequence now that Ennis is gone and Scott’s minutes have all but vanished.) That’s something that can get overlooked in laying all the blame at the feet of Embiid and Simmons, the latter of whom in particular has minor upticks at home, but has been relatively consistent in his production just about everywhere this season. 

Simmons himself offered perhaps the most memorable explanation for the Sixers’ lopsided home-road splits this season by focusing on the reason for the former part of the equation: Their fear of getting their home fans angry. Not exactly the same thing, of course, but I’ve certainly done a great deal of my best writing when I knew I was going to be loudly scrutinized by peers and editors for it -- and a great deal of my sloppiest when I was fairly sure no one was really going to be around to care. Say what you will about the increasingly volatile, oft-corrosive relationship between the Sixers and their city this season -- one more time, particularly Embiid -- but at the very least, it seems to be getting results when we all actually come together. Maybe the next Fly the Process trip should involve a more concentrated booing effort to make the Sixers feel at home.

Regardless, we’re at the point now where even home wins as good as the Clippers victory feel a little abstractly meaningless. Though the Sixers have managed to close the gap some between them and the rest of the East elite in the lead-up to the All-Star break -- just 1.5 back of the Heat in fourth place -- they’re still six back of second-place Toronto, which means in all likelihood, they won’t get home-court advantage in more than one series this postseason. Of their 27 remaining games, only three real road tests remain: A trip to Milwaukee shortly after the break, then an L.A. visit to both the Lakers and Clippers in early March. Win any one of those, and we’ll have at least some reason for optimism come playoff time. Lose all three, and no amount of home wins before the summer will be able to make up for it.