Losses to Warriors prove 76ers are real deal, can compete with top teams

The Philadelphia 76ers are coming off a tough loss against the Golden State Warriors for the second time in a week.

Even though the Philadelphia 76ers were sitting with a comfortable 22-point lead at halftime Saturday night, it seemed like it was only a matter of time before the Golden State Warriors worked their way back into he game, which is exactly what happened. Losing to the defending champions 124-116 was a tough pill to swallow for the Sixers when seeing how much they were in control over the first two quarters, but also there is plenty of positive factors to takeaway from the last week.

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For starters, Philadelphia is in a completely different position when compared to previous seasons since their two losses to Golden State shows they have what it takes to compete with some of the best in the NBA. If it wasn’t for that disappointing third quarter in which the Sixers only scored 15 points, the debate can be made they would have ended up winning this game against the Warriors.

Between Stephen Curry dropping 35 points on 11 of 22 shooting to Kevin Durant contributing 27 points of his own, Philadelphia went into Saturday’s game with the mindset that it would be nearly impossible to contain this high-powered offense of the Warriors. But as frustrating as it was to watch the Sixers end up on the losing end despite all of their dominance in the first half, the future is bright for this squad in Philadelphia.

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Not only is Joel Embiid proving he’s capable of handling a large workload each time he’s in the lineup, but also there seems to be a consistent trend that Ben Simmons is going to be flirting with a triple-double each time he steps on the court. Falling two rebounds shy against Golden State (23 points with eight rebounds and 12 assists) shows Simmons is quickly becoming one of the league’s most dangerous players, and it’s scary to think he’s only 15 games into what seems like is going to be a very exciting career for the former LSU star. As much as Philadelphia wanted to end up taking down Golden State, these two performances should be considered wins in a way since a few months ago, nobody would have expected the Sixers to look this good.