PHILADELPHIA — Joel Embiid planted one foot, then the other, for his textbook Euro step toward the basket with the 76ers trailing by two points. But he could not power the ball to the rim, much to the dismay of a coach Doc Rivers, who clearly believed his All-Star big man had been fouled.
That sequence was the difference in the Sixers’ 106-103 loss to the Washington Wizards on Wednesday night at the Wells Fargo Center to put a damper on what had been a terrific 4-0 homestand entering the night.
It was only the Sixers’ fourth loss in their past 19 games, though two of those have come against the Wizards. It was also a classic trap-game letdown wedged between a dramatic overtime victory over Memphis and a key three-game stretch coming up at Dallas, at Chicago (which led the Eastern Conference entering Wednesday), and against Phoenix (which leads the West). Washington played without star Bradley Beal, but got 24 points from Kyle Kuzma and a clutch cut-and-finish by Spencer Dinwiddie to close a rough shooting night (4-of-16).
