Sixers’ third-quarter demons quelled vs. Houston, but they’ve already left their mark on season

It was an improvement against the Houston Rockets, but it couldn’t have gotten much worse

One more bucket, one less turnover, one more stop; Any minor change in a possession during regulation would have changed the result of Philadelphia’s Wednesday night overtime loss to the Houston Rockets. They’re now second-to-last in the conference with a 3-14 on the season. If they played every game like they did Wednesday night, that record would look a lot better, and they’d be a lot higher in the standings.

But they haven’t. Sunday night’s loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, now that was 2024-2025 Philadelphia basketball! Paul George and Joel Embiid were out due to injury. The team fought OK, trailing by 12 at the half before discombobulating in the third quarter, trailing by as many as 33. Those pesky third quarters.

Throughout the garbage dump of the early season, Sixers fans have pointed to play coming out of halftime as a big disappointment. One-third quarter in particular even resulted in the team holding the now infamous hour-long meeting where players and coaches called each other out. With Embiid and George playing in Miami, the team looked wildly incompetent as a three-point halftime lead turned into a 16-point deficit over 12 minutes of game time.

Things did look much better against Houston, but throughout the first month of the new NBA campaign, Philadelphia’s third quarters have been a giant wart on the crooked, mangled, nose of the team’s season. In the third quarters before Wednesday night’s games, they ranked 29th in offensive rating (101.3), 25th in defensive rating (120.5), and 27th in net rating (-19.2). Now, because they are a bad team, they rank low in those ratings in nearly every quarter.

But, there are stats that fall significantly from the first two quarters to the third, that moisten the locker room, make minor cuts in the team’s skin, and encourage that wart to flare up and ugly every third quarter.

In the below table, you’ll notice that Philadelphia are, relatively, defensively effective in the first quarter. They have the league’s 11th-best defensive rating in the period, allowing the fifth-fewest amount of points. You’ll also observe that the team barely beats themselves to start the game, only turning the ball over 3.1 times per first quarter, the seventh-best mark in the league. That lends itself to the team allowing the second-fewest fastbreak points (2.8), and the eighth-fewest points off turnovers (3.5) in the first 12 minutes of the game.

Unfortunately, Philadelphia has 36 more minutes of basketball to play. In the second and third quarters, their defensive rating falls to the 26th and 25th worst in the league, respectively. But it’s not because they forget assignments, leave shooters wide-open, or courteously open the lane for drives (though there is some of that). It’s because the offense completely falls apart. It becomes tough to watch — they put the ‘offensive’ in offensive possessions.

In the third quarter, they turn the ball over at the 25th-worst rate in the league, which lends itself to the team allowing 4.6 opponent fast-break points (21st in the league) and 6.1 opponent points off turnovers (28th). Those are miraculous fall-offs from the first quarter. It’s harder to defend when you give the ball to the other team and let them run against a set defense.

All stats from NBA.com

It’s not just turnovers though, the offense looks uninspired, aimless, and at times selfish. During the third-quarter run against the Clippers, when LA increased their lead from 12 to 33, the team had six turnovers, six misses, five makes, and just one assist (a great play by Drummond to a cutting KJ Martin, more of this please!). With the ball, players look frozen by in-decision. Without it, they are just frozen, standing beyond the three-point line or in the dunker’s spot waiting for someone to drive. Their offensive plan and my mindset while sitting through my license test seemed identical: Drive and hope — if you get cut off, panic.

During that pivotal third quarter against Miami, the team managed to stay in the game until the last four and half minutes of the period. The Heat went on a 10-0 run in that time. From the 4:30 mark to the end of the third quarter, Philadelphia had three turnovers, four misses, and one make, which came from the only assist.

The three turnovers happened consecutively and led to six Miami points (three free throws and one three-pointer). Those were killer because the defense, in a 2-3 zone for the majority of that time, was beautiful. Everyone was in the right position, they didn’t bite on any fakes or over-help, and they secured rebounds. Miami made a couple of tough shots, but had plenty of easy ones to convert thanks to Philly’s poor offense.

As coaches and players have pointed out, a lot of the futile offense that rears in third quarters is a result of all the new faces on the team, and the injuries forcing lineup inconsistencies. Time together breeds comfortability and it’s been a very uncomfortable season. Role players have to become playmakers. Members of the Big 3 have only been on for six minutes on the season. Coaches haven’t had access to their full arsenal.

The third-quarter wart isn’t the reason the season is diseased, but it’s hard not to notice how bad it looks. As the team runs out of time to form success, close, well-fought games like the one against the Rockets only sting more. It lingers, the thought of how much less such a loss would hurt if the team had started the season better.

We can only hope the team makes those games the standard, and moves far, far away from the horrors of third-quarters past.