I don't know what to say. It's almost like we're watching different basketball games.
I'll admit the Cs have not played stellar defense for most of this season. It's been talked about
ad nauseam around here. Lots of people have spent a lot of time trying to figure out why that is.
But part of the issue is that the team has missed a lot of players and there has been a lack of continuity. If it helps at all, over the last 10 games, the Cs have been a top 5 defense. Over the past 15 games, they've been a top 8 defense. it helps their defense when people play together regularly. It also helps their defense when the Cs can score. (Note in the same time periods, the Cs are a top 8 offense.)
Marcus Smart may not have played at an all-defensive level this year, but he's still a plus defender out there. JB and JT may lose their focus, but they are not Duncan Robinson (or Tyler Herro or Joe Harris or Joe Ingles or Tobias Harris etc.etc.etc.) TL has only been in foul trouble in one game, and that was against a potential MVP of the league. According to
this article, for the prior six games (not including DEN), the Cs had a defensive rating of 95.7 in TT's 124 minutes of floor. If you want to read my thoughts on Romeo, they're in his thread.
In the playoffs, other than PHI and BRK, I am positive the Cs defense will be good enough to win. Against PHI, well maybe Embiid will go to the line 150 times during the series and win but the Cs aren't the only team without an answer to Embiid.
If you made it this far (and no worries if you haven't), I guess my point is that I think you are overemphasizing a stretch of bad basketball and forgetting that these guys have a proven track record of being able to play defense. I mean look what basically the same players did against PHI last year in the playoffs. And there's no question that TL and TT are a defensive upgrade over DT, Kanter, and last year's TL.
Give it a few more games. Assuming everyone stays healthy, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by the Cs defense down the stretch.