This is not how Philadelphia 76ers fans envisioned the first 11 games of the season going. After winning their first five games of the season, two of which without star center Joel Embiid, the Sixers have lost four out of their last six contest.
The team’s latest loss to the Orlando Magic continued the same pattern of horrific perimeter shooting and bad fourth quarter offense.
While there are numerous reasons why the Sixers offense looks like a dumpster fire, including fewer transition points and the continuous turnover issues plaguing the team, one really sticks out more than the rest: What’s going on with Tobias Harris’ shooting?
Maybe Harris lost his shooting touch somewhere, and he can’t retrace his steps to find it.
A prolonged cold streak
Harris has made one three-pointer over the last six games. That three came in the first quarter against the Phoenix Suns, the first of this six-game stretch. Since that make, he’s since missed 23 consecutive attempts.
“I’m not making shots, I’m not in a rhythm,” Harris said following the loss to the Magic.
Perhaps those misses are causing his lack of aggressiveness. He’s only attempted four free throws over the past four games, including none against the Magic and Cavaliers.
At times, Harris looks lost with the ball in his hands. He passes up open looks and instead tries to drive the ball into a crowded paint area. It appears Harris hasn’t figured his role with the team and is trying to do different things at the same time.
“I think it’s just human nature,” Brett Brown about Harris wanting to do anything for the team. “He wants to please, he wants to shoot the ball, he wants to score, we need him to score.”
Harris was resigned to a five-year $180 million deal this offseason to make open shots, create spacing on the floor, and be a secondary scorer behind Embiid.
When he’s in a dry spell like this, the offense follows his lead. They don’t have the shooters to compensate when Harris isn’t preforming well as a perimeter scorer.
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