Philadelphia 76ers Struggle Without Joel Embiid vs. Brooklyn Nets

As of late, the Philadelphia 76ers have been on quite the hot streak. After winning nine of their last ten matchups, with some significant wins over tough teams, it almost felt like the Sixers could do no wrong.

Well, it turns out that a road game against the Brooklyn Nets would do the 76ers in. From the jump, it was clear the Sixers might not have been fit to win this one. For starters, they were without their superstar center, Joel Embiid.

The seven-foot center has been relatively healthy as of late, but he came down with a sickness on Sunday morning, which caused the Sixers to list him as 'Doubtful' on the early injury report. As expected, the big man wasn't ready to go by game time.

For a moment, it seemed like the Sixers were going to be without Embiid and their starting forward/center, Al Horford. But desperate times allowed Horford to avoid missing his third -straight game with hamstring tightness and knee soreness.

The Sixers ended up starting Horford, but it was clear the veteran wasn't the best version of himself on Sunday night. Horford ended up totaling for only ten points against the Nets, registering as a minus-13 during his 27 minutes on the court.

Just because Horford struggled though, doesn't mean the loss falls on him. As a whole, the Sixers weren't as sharp as they typically are. As of late, Philly has done well shooting from long-range. On Sunday, however, their 26 attempts from three were mostly killing their momentum.

In total, the Sixers only managed to drain five three-point shots, which came out to be a 19.2-percent average. 17 of those shots came from the starting lineup, and Mike Scott was the only starter to drain a three-pointer.

While a lack of scoring from deep was an issue, so was the Sixers' defense against Brooklyn. Three-point competition aside, the Nets managed to drain 64 points in the paint. Typically, the Sixers are expected to be built to survive without Joel Embiid on the floor. That number proves his absence greatly affected the Sixers though.

Fortunately, Philadelphia will get the next couple of nights off so they can reset and focus on their next matchup. The hope is that the Sixers will have all of their key pieces back in time for the Wednesday night showdown in South Philly against Miami Heat.