There will be a lot of conversation about the officiating over the next few days. The Sixers are not going to win many games where they don’t have a free-throw advantage because Joel Embiid and James Harden shoot a ton of them. But for this single game, the Sixers’ first loss of the playoffs, an explanation goes beyond Scott Foster, Ed Malloy and Rodney Mott.
“I didn’t think we deserved to win,” Sixers coach Doc Rivers said. “Our guys have been great, but we wasn’t good tonight. That little mental part where you have to come and play, I didn’t think we had that tonight. I just thought they played harder, tougher, faster, more physical.
“And good things come to the energy. We were so sloppy, execution-wise.”