A Frustrated Tobias Harris Airs Out 76ers' Lack of Effort vs. Magic

After a disappointing loss against the Magic, 76ers forward Tobias Harris admits his team was not giving a maximum effort.

Although Christmas was just three days ago, it feels like weeks since the Philadelphia 76ers put a beatdown on the first-place Milwaukee Bucks. On Friday night, the Sixers fired up the first of a handful of road games, beginning in Orlando against the Magic.

Most teams would follow up a big victory by riding high and going on a hot streak. The Sixers, however, have proven in the past that they typically get knocked off their high horse almost immediately following a big win.

It's no secret the Sixers are a very good team when everything is clicking. But it's also known that when the Sixers aren't vibing as well -- their floor is very low.

On Friday night, the Sixers coasted into Orlando to face a 13-17 Magic team. On a good day, the Sixers probably handle the Magic with ease. Unfortunately, it wasn't a good night for the Sixers, who decided to take their opponent lightly.

It wasn't all bad, as select individual performances were promising. At the end of the day though, it doesn't matter. The Sixers faced an inferior conference opponent on the road and couldn't get the job done.

During and after the game, Sixers fans from all over were frustrated. Following the loss, Sixers' head coach Brett Brown understood, as he was more on the angry side of things as well. While some Sixers seemed to have shaken off the negative feelings towards the loss -- others couldn't get over it as quickly.

Sixers' starting forward Tobias Harris was best described as the latter. After putting up 24 points, with eleven rebounds, and three assists, Harris was the least of the Sixers problems on Friday. With a little bit of room to talk, the leading forward wouldn't hold back after the loss as he aired out the truth about his team's performance against the Magic.

"Our energy and our defense on them wasn't good," a defeated Tobias Harris said. "We just didn't handle our business tonight. We didn't play to the level that we played at the last game. We just kind of coasted into this game, thinking it was going to be handed to us."

The frustrated forward believes the Sixers tend to play to the level of their opponent. And the last two games was a perfect example of that. When they hosted the first-place Milwaukee Bucks, the Sixers played the best game of the year.

But when they faced the Orlando Magic, the Sixers looked entirely unmotivated and didn't sense the urgency until the final few minutes of the game. While Harris mentioned the final fight his team showed "was great," he could hardly care about it. Before impatiently walking away, he mentioned, "We still lost -- so we have to be ready for tomorrow."