INDIANAPOLIS _ When his team lost to the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night, Brett Brown took a dubious place in 76ers history.
Brown is now all alone for the most coaching losses in franchise history, with 206. Before Wednesday night, he was tied with Larry Brown. That Brett Brown was even tied with Larry Brown for losses is not a positive sign. Larry Brown coached the Sixers for 460 games; Brett Brown had coached in just 253 after a 122-115 overtime setback at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
The Sixers fought hard, as small forward Robert Covington had season highs of five 3-pointers and 23 points. Reserve guard Hollis Thompson (19 points), shooting guard Gerald Henderson (17), center Jahlil Okafor (15) and power forward Dario Saric (14) also scored in double figures.
But Indiana stars Paul George and Jeff Teague were unstoppable. Teague scored a game-high 30 points from his point guard spot. George, a small forward, tallied seven of his 28 points in overtime.
The loss dropped Brett Brown's record to 47-206 for winning percentage of 18.6. He can only hope that his record will gradually get better throughout the season. Actually, it would be hard to imagine things getting much worse.
The Sixers will take an 0-7 record into Friday's matchup against the Pacers (4-4) at the Wells Fargo Center. Wednesday's matchup marked their 11th loss dating back to last season. And it also marked the Sixers' 44th straight loss in the months of October and November since they beat the Milwaukee Bucks on Nov. 22, 2013.
But in fairness, Brett Brown's situation was much different than that of Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown.
The Sixers hired Larry Brown on May 5, 1997, to hopefully bring another NBA title to the franchise. He nearly delivered during the 2000-01 season, leading the Sixers to the NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers. They lost in five games.
Brett Brown was hired on Aug. 14, 2013, to rebuild the Sixers. He was told the team would sacrifice wins to secure a lottery pick during his first season. That was far from the truth. The Sixers tanked for three seasons and became the laughingstock on the NBA.
The thought was that the franchise would begin to turn things around this season under new president of basketball operations Bryan Colangelo. However, the results have been mostly the same because of injuries to several key players.
First overall pick and point forward Ben Simmons could return in January after surgery to repair a broken right foot. Point guard Jerryd Bayless is sidelined with ligament damage in his left wrist. Reserve center Nerlens Noel, the team's best rim protector, is out with inflamed tissue above his left knee. None of the three have played this season.
Joel Embiid played, and has been impressive. But the center has been on a short leash to carefully manage his workload and the stress on his right foot during games and practice. He sat out Wednesday's matchup. He also sat out the Nov. 2 setback to the Hornets in Charlotte because it was the second game on back-to-back nights. The team formulated the plan to not play him in both games on back-to-back nights. And when he does play, the Sixers restrict his minutes. They're doing the same thing for Okafor, who started in place of Embiid on Wednesday.
"We'd all be lying if we didn't admit" that injuries altered this season, Brown said.
So he'll tell you that his job is to keep the team together and try to grow Embiid, Okafor, and Saric as players.
His supporters will argue that he's doing the best that he can without an NBA-caliber starting point guard and elite healthy players to depend on. Others have criticized Brown for the Sixers' failures in the pick-and-roll and an inability to convert in late-game situations.
The criticism spreads after each loss. This time, folks will criticize him for playing Sergio Rodriguez for 31 minutes even though the point guard scored just two points on 1-for-14 shooting. They'll also criticize him for holding Thompson out of most of the overtime session despite having a hot hand.
"I understand it completely," Brown said. "That's part of any professional coaching job. It's really magnified with my job the past four years with the different things that have come our way."
Brown calls himself the gatekeeper of the Sixers' culture and a steward to the ownership group.
"You take responsibility in those roles," he said. "You take pride in those roles. ... My motivation and my focus remains the same. Nothing has diminished in relation to my passion or my belief of what we are doing."
But as he points out, the losing has just gone deeper into his tenure.
