The Sixers have officially dropped their second straight game, in a 120-111 matinee loss on Saturday afternoon. A hot Devin Booker was unstoppable in the 2nd half, with CP3 looking like his old self in the 4th quarter. Embiid’s 35 and Ben’s 18 wasn’t enough, thanks to rough shooting throughout the game from the rest of the Sixers, and basically zero presence from the bench. This marks two straight losses for the team, and two straight losses for a once undefeated starting five.

Devin Booker absolutely lit up the scoreboard today, finishing with 36 points, shooting 14-23 from the field and 3-5 from three-point range. CP3 had a typical CP3 game, dropping 18/8/10 and shooting 62.5% from the field. The Suns are a hot team right now, winning 8 of their last 9, and didn’t show any signs of stopping that today. Ben Simmons has been an exquisite defender all year, but no matter who is playing defense, it’s an extremely difficult task guarding Devin Booker, especially when he shoots the ball like he was today.

Joel Embiid had his daily 35 PTS, with 8 REB, but in the end it wasn’t enough. Ben finished with 18/6/4, Tobias added 18 more, and Seth and Danny each had 10. However, the biggest issue was the lack of bench scoring. The Sixers bench combined for 20 points over the whole game, with not one bench player (that got meaningful minutes) being in the positive in the +/-. The loss of Shake Milton is severely effecting the team right now, especially the bench, without having that primarily ball handler / shooter being able to be that 6th man.

The Sixers look to bounce back with one of their most important games on the season coming Monday night at 9 EST. They’ll travel to Utah to finish out their west coast stint and take on a hot Utah Jazz team, holding the best record in the league at 20-5, currently on a 6 game winning streak. The Rudy Gobert vs Joel Embiid matchup is always a good one, while watching Ben Simmons guard Donovan Mitchell won’t disappoint either.

The Sixers battled, but it wasn’t enough, as they fall to the Phoenix Suns by a final score of 120-111.

Mandatory Credit: Matt York (AP)