Sixers Remain Cold in Hotlanta

Even if the Sixers were playing in top form, Wednesday night’s contest in Atlanta would have been a tough game to come away from with a victory.  Having to hit the road on the tail end of a back-to-back and their fourth game in five nights, this was one of those games teams will chalk up as a schedule loss at the beginning of the season.  When tough circumstances meet a Sixers team with their season circling the drain, the result is a 107-96 defeat that wasn’t even as close as that score indicates.

As you might have expected, Al Horford put forth a dominating performance for Atlanta, with a strong all-around game of 21 points, 12 rebounds, and 6 assists.  However, the most disappointing aspect of tonight’s loss was Jrue Holiday, Royal Ivey and the rest of the Sixers backcourt allowing Jeff Teague to go off for a game-high 27 points and 11 assists.  This season has been a career year for Teague but he’s by no means an elite point guard; this is the type of match-up Holiday needs to win if the Sixers are going to win any amount of games down the stretch.

With the starters on dead legs at the end of this grueling run of games, a couple members of the Sixers bench stepped up with solid performances.  Damien Wilkins scored a team and season-high 21 points on 8-11 shooting.  Wilkins was hitting his outside shots tonight for a change; if he could do so more often, he would be a valuable member of the rotation as he always brings defense and energy to the table.  Dorell Wright also performed admirably in defeat, nearly recording a double-double with 20 points and 9 rebounds.  I wish one of the Sixers’ beat reporters would get to the bottom of why Wright landed in Doug Collins’ doghouse for such a long stretch in the middle of the season.  Wright brings solid outside shooting and defensive effort to a Sixers line-up with those two characteristics in short supply.

The loss marked the third straight for Philadelphia and 10th defeat in their past 11 contests.  Unfortunately, the road will not get any easier for the Sixers as they travel to Miami to take on the world-champion Heat Friday night.  I would love to say the Sixers have something in reserve to call upon and pull off a monumental upset, but that would be a lie.