VIDEO: This 76ers and Hornets sequence proves watching baseball was a better choice
If you lasted the full 4 hours, 28 minutes and watched the Chicago Cubs win their first World Series title in 108 years on Wednesday night, you’ll be glad to know you didn’t miss much in the NBA world.
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Sure, the Portland Trail Blazers and Phoenix Suns played a great game, and Toronto Raptors guard DeMar DeRozan continued his scorching start, but Houston Rockets forward Sam Dekker also tripped over his own feet and dribbled the ball off his face for a turnover. And then there was this, courtesy of the Philadelphia 76ers and Charlotte Hornets (and r/NBA), which surely sent the last bastion of folks still watching basketball scrambling for their remotes to switch back to Game 7 as fast as possible.
It all started with a lazy Nic Batum pass to Spencer Hawes, which was tipped away, recovered, and still turned over to Hollis Thompson, who missed an easy layup, sending play the other way for another bad Batum pass, another turnover and another wide-open look at the basket for the Sixers, whose Robert Covington failed to convert a perfect alley-oop pass from Nik Stauskas, because of course.
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It was 30 seconds of some of the sloppiest basketball you’ll see this season, hopefully. And mercifully it came to a close when Thompson fouled Hawes off the ball, as if to say, “C’mon, guys, even I can’t let this go on any longer. I mean, there’s a handful of people who might be watching us right now.”
For the record, Charlotte went on to win, 109-93, so you were better off watching baseball anyhow.
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We figured it would be tough for the 76ers to top their epic meltdown in the final seconds of Tuesday night’s loss to the Orlando Magic, but with Joel Embiid resting on the second night of a back-to-back, they managed to match their inefficiency level not 24 hours later. Well, at least it’s only been three years (and 41 games) since Philadelphia last won a game in October or November and not 108.
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Ben Rohrbach is a contributor for Ball Don’t Lie and Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at rohrbach_ben@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @brohrbach