By Sean Kennedy (@PhillyFastBreak)
Philadelphia 85, Minnesota 77 – Box Score
There are 20 NBA teams that haven’t won a game as recently as the Sixers. Stop tanking, rest of the NBA, it’s an affront to the sport. In what was one of the ugliest combined displays of professional basketball ever televised, the Sixers were slightly less inept in earning the victory against the injury-ravaged Timberwolves. With Minnesota missing three starters in Ricky Rubio, Kevin Martin, and Nik Pekovic, it was readily apparent the Sixers could steal this game from the opening tip (both of them, as the teams actually played 16 seconds in the wrong direction to start, and the refs just decided to pretend that didn’t happen and restart the game). In the end though, it was all worth it, as the Sixers victory halted the losing streak at 17 and prevented them from tying the all-time worst record of 0-18 to start a season.
Truly, it was anything but pretty, as the Sixers were 0-12 from behind the arc to start the game, not knocking down their first triple until K.J. McDaniels finally connected with 6 minutes left in the third quarter. Shots just weren’t missing either, as it was actually surprising when hoists from the outside from either team even found rim, and on the ones that did, it was previously undisturbed portions of the back iron being struck. The second quarter was a particularly gruesome time, as the Sixers scored just 9 points on the period and didn’t make a field goal for the final 6 minutes of the frame.
The fact that the Sixers actually finished the game with a better shooting percentage from downtown than the Timberwolves is all thanks to Robert Covington. Covington tallied career-highs of 17 points in 31 minutes, hitting 3 threes in the fourth quarter alone, including one to extend the Sixers lead to 4 with just outside a minute left when it looked like the team might give the game away. I don’t think my psyche could have handled watching this game and seeing the Sixers lose, so thank you, Big Shot Bob Covington.
The other offensive stalwart on the night was Michael Carter-Williams, who played a season-high 43 minutes due to injuries to both Tony Wroten and Alexey Shved. Brett Brown was forced to use the 6’8″ Luc Richard Mbah a Moute and the 6’9″ JaKarr Sampson as the back-up point guards. Sampson’s 1 minute as a point guard was particularly horrific, as on his first two possessions, he forgot to stay backcourt to bring the ball up, and threw the ball out of bounds to nobody immediately after crossing half court. Luckily, Carter-Williams was up to the challenge, narrowly missing a triple-double with 20 points, 9 rebounds, and 9 assists. Play wasn’t always great from the second-year point guard, as he did turn the ball over 6 times and miss 5 of his 7 free throw attempts, but he was able to get into the paint and score against the much smaller Mo Williams time and time again. For a Sixers team unable to get anything else going offensively, MCW was the team’s MVP in their first win.
The NBA actually flexed the Sixers-Thunder game on Friday to NBATV just so they could televise the Sixers setting the record for most losses to start a season. Well, that move backfired. Instead, the storyline will be whether Philadelphia can earn its first winning streak of the year. Let’s find out together, shall we.
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