By Sean Kennedy (@PhillyFastBreak)
Brett Brown was not happy with his team’s first half effort. The Sixers trailed by 13 points heading into the break after allowing an absurd 42 points to Sacramento in the second quarter. DeMarcus Cousins was more tyrant than king out on the court, already having racked up 24 points and 15 rebounds by halftime, dominating whoever the Sixers attempted to throw at him. Brett Brown made his feelings known in the post-game press conference:
“That first half was as poor a defensive half as we’ve played all year. It is a complete misrepresentation of who we are. And that’s what we talked about at halftime.”
Whatever speech Coach Brown gave in the locker room must have been a combination of Leonidas to the brave 300 and Michael Jordan in Space Jam because the Sixers team that came out in the second half looked completely different. They held Sacramento to just 18 points in the third quarter, turning the game around with a 25-2 run spanning the end of the third and beginning of the fourth quarters.
The catalyst of that surge was Ish Smith, who didn’t shoot the ball well particularly well, but was a huge difference maker once again with 10 points and 9 assists. You can see here all 5 Kings defenders concerned about the on-court stylings of Ish, leaving Hollis Thompson open to do what he does best.
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The Kings would cut the lead back down to 3 points in the final minute of the game. After all, the Sixers never could contain DeMarcus Cousins out there, who finished with 39 points and 24 rebounds (including 9 offensive!). However, Smith stepped up once again down the stretch, finding Nerlens Noel for an alley-oop dunk and then hitting two free throws on the team’s next possession to ice the victory.
The Sixers also received a great game from Robert Covington, who drained 6-12 threes for a team-high 24 points. His hot shooting was really instrumental in keeping the team hanging around in the first half. The way the Sixers were playing defense, things could have really got out of hand, and then the second-half comeback likely never would have materialized.
Nerlens recorded another double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds, his 5th straight game with double-digit rebounds. He wasn’t the defensive tsunami (copyright Ben Detrick at Grantland) that we’ve come to expect, and certainly got crushed by Cousins on the defensive interior. Still, when a 16 and 12 night is considered a bad game for the rookie, we might have something.
The flip side of great play is the lottery implications. The Sixers are losing sight of the Knicks, now 1.5 games ahead of them in the standings. I don’t think the Knicks are going to win 1.5 games the rest of the season (maybe 1 win, but I don’t know how they’d go about getting that half-a-win). Now, Philly also moved ahead of the Timberwolves and are only 2.5 games behind the Lakers. If the Sixers pass LA in the standings, that would sound the death knell on them getting that Lakers first-rounder this offseason.
Who knew Hinkie picking up Ish Smith would dramatically alter the course of the Sixers franchise?
The team will be back in action against Thad Young and Brooklyn tonight.
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