They lost, 93-84, to the Charlotte Bobcats, the NBA's lowest-scoring team.

They lost to an opponent that turned the ball over 21 times.

They lost to a team that came in 3-9.

They allowed that team to become the third opponent in 14 games to beat them on the glass.

"Royal Ivey said it best as we were coming off the court," Willie Green said in a very quiet locker room.

"He said we played to the level of our competition. That's not to disrespect Charlotte, but this is a game a good team comes in and wins. Until we can do that, we're going to be mediocre. We took a step back. It seems like every time we have an opportunity to take a step forward, we take a step back."

They could have climbed two games above .500 for the first time. Instead they slipped back to 7-7.

As the evening developed, the Bobcats feasted on their own ability to take a step back, only they were stepping behind the three-point arc, where they drained eight of 14 attempts. Teams coached by Larry Brown seldom use the trey to that level, but the Bobcats did, with Raymond Felton, D.J. Augustin and Adam Morrison each accounting for a pair.

Felton (23 points) and Augustin (25, plus 11 assists) were remarkably effective, each shooting 8-for-11 from the floor. All four of their team's victories have come when two players scored at least 20, but this was the first time Augustin and Felton were the combo.

The numbers say the Sixers shot a weak 39.5 percent and allowed the Bobcats to shoot 54.8. You can delve into a long discussion about the Bobcats' pick-and-roll offense or the Sixers' pick-and-roll defense that seemed to fail them miserably in the second half, but what was really missing was . . .

"Sense of urgency," Green said. "When you play to the level of the competition, the urgency tends to fluctuate. In big games, you're playing hard, trying to play well. This game, we didn't have that pep in our step, and that's across the board."

Down, 68-64, after three periods, an anticipated rush by the Sixers never really materialized. They shot 7-for-20 in the final 12 minutes and were able to generate only two points off six Bobcats turnovers.

"We couldn't make shots," Sixers coach Maurice Cheeks said. "Even when we defended well and brought the ball back up the court, we still could not make shots. Louis Williams was 1-for-7 [on three-pointers]. Their team all shot well . . . I still say we have to be able to defend. We can't always rely on getting the ball to Elton Brand; we have to play good defense."

Brand got the ball enough to score 18 points before fouling out with 52.6 seconds remaining. Andre Iguodala had 17 points, Williams 14 and Andre Miller 10. But shooting? Miller was 4-for-13, Williams 5-for-15 (1-for-6 in the fourth quarter) and Thaddeus Young 2-for-10.

"The key to the game was their guard play," Brand said. "We didn't stop their pick-and-roll sets, and they knocked down some timely shots. If they miss those, we're off and running. But they were hot."

And the Sixers were not.

"This shows that anybody can win on any given night," Iguodala said. "This was one we were supposed to get, one we've got to get. But they did a good job; they just played better than us. We've got to find a way to play a little better on the road."

Said Dalembert: "We have to find a way to play the way we want to play. We fed into their game for a while. We talk about playing our own game, our own tempo."

The truth is, the Sixers knew that the Bobcats did exactly what they needed to do.

"They took it to us," Green said. "I think we're upset. I am. We're not going to be an elite team if we play like that. Pretty soon, we're not going to be able to say it's early. Some of the guys understand that." *

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Daily News' Sixers blog, Sixerville, at

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