The blowout-prone '13-'14 Sixers: In good historical company

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If points lost by were musical notes, the Philadelphia 76ers would have composed Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band over their last two outings. One night and a couple hundred miles north after getting blown out 123-78 by the Clippers in LA, the Sixers paid a similar favor to their friends (including one particularly familiar face) by the Bay by getting torched 123-80 by the Golden State Warriors. Good times were had by all, except of course for the visitors, who hopefully at least got some bitchin' burritos down at the Mission that afternoon for their troubles.

You might wonder whether a basketball team has ever lost by so much in consecutive nights--a combined 88 points, for those of you not feeling like doing the mental math. The good news? One has. The EVEN BETTER NEWS? Well...

Yes, our beloved '93-'94 squad, two seasons after Charles Barkley was traded for Jeff Hornacek and loose change, and a couple months after Horny himself was jettisoned for the corpse of Jeff Malone, leaving us with a core of Clarence Weatherspoon, Dana Barros and rookie center Shawn Bradley, though even Bradley was by then lost for the season with a dislocated kneecap.

The two blowout losses from that season occurred in the third-and-second-to-last games of the season, a 130-82 loss in New York followed the next night by a 133-88 drubbing in Indiana. (Incidentally, New York and Indiana would end up meeting in a seven-game classic Eastern Conference Finals that season, which possibly bodes well for LAC and GSW's postseason prospects this summer.) The Knicks had seven double-digit scorers (led by Patrick Ewing's 26 and 15) and buried the Sixers with a 41-point third quarter, while the Pacers were paced by a 40-point night from center Rik Smits, the first 40-point performance of the Dunking Dutchman's career.

All that said, the 76ers did rebound in their season-closing showdown with the Detroit Pistons, salvaging a little dignity in a 110-102 victory over the 20-61 Motown squad, led by 24 and 10 off the bench by former Bulls star Orlando Woolridge, in the very last game of his pro career! So, uh, look out Utah Jazz--we're coming to town with a vengeance (and a -88 scoring margin for the week) this Wednedsay.

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