The Sixers’ first week back from the NBA All-Star Game break hasn’t been an easy one. In four outings, the club has surrendered an average of 121.3 points per game, and has been outscored by an average of 15.5 points per contest.

Following Wednesday’s 111-91 defeat at The Palace of Auburn Hills, Brett Brown offered up one theory to explain, in part, why the Sixers have run into trouble since the end of their mid-February lay-off. It had to do with the nature of the opposition.

“I think that what we’re seeing is teams that are fighting for their lives to get into the playoffs,” said Brown. “I look at [Detroit’s] roster, and they’re good. They have a hell of a team, and I think that we’re getting “A” games. They hit us, and hit us hard at the start, and we just dug ourselves far too deep a hole on the road.”

Detroit depended on Andre Drummond and Tobias Harris, who combined for 34 points and 22 rebounds on Wednesday, to build up a 13-point advantage after one quarter of play. From there, the deficit was one the Sixers’ couldn’t dent.

Brown’s observation about the competition during the current stretch of the Sixers’ schedule is worth examining examining. Beginning with last Friday’s visit to New Orleans, the Sixers are in the process of playing 10 straight games against opponents that could be classified as post-season hopefuls.

Below is a chart (compiled February 25th) reflecting the state of the first 10 teams the Sixers have faced / will face on the heels of the All-Star break, and the playoff ground these clubs either need to make up or hold onto over the final seven weeks of the regular season. The first through eighth seeds in each conference will qualify for for the post-season.

Evidence of Brown’s point that the present batch of teams on the Sixers’ schedule are competing with renewed focus and intensity came Tuesday. Orlando head coach Scott Skiles revealed that he and his staff challenged their young team at shootaround to treat Tuesday’s contest like a “must win, if you want to talk about the playoffs. We’ve got to apply some pressure on ourselves.”

“They’re right on that fringe of making playoffs,” Brown said of the Sixers’ past four and six forthcoming foes. “They’re all fighting to get in the playoffs. There’s purpose to what they’re doing. We all will see this year, the rest of this season evolve, and everybody’s going to end up in different places soon. You see a different approach to teams nowadays, at this stage of an NBA season, and we’re going to see it even differently in March. But right now, you see fire, you see people just throwing punches, and trying to squeeze in and claw into the playoffs.”

The next time the Sixers draw a match-up against a team unlikely to reach the post-season won’t be until March 11th, when the 15-42 Brooklyn Nets return to The Center.