By Sean Kennedy
Charlotte 123, Philadelphia 93
It’s crazy what happens when the Sixers face a team that has the full support of its organization. The last two games, a Sixers win(!) and a late defeat, were classic displays of lethargic basketball from opponents playing out the string at the end of a long regular season. Detroit wants to stay in the bottom 8 to retain their first round pick, and Atlanta management would be happy if the team dropped down into the lottery rather than getting routed by Miami in the first round. The Sixers finally got a taste of a foe going balls to the wall for a playoff push, and did not find the flavor to their liking. Charlotte is doing everything in their power to move up to the 6th seed in the East and avoid the Miami/Indiana tandem in the first round; the Sixers weren’t even a speed bump on the Bobcats’ path to postseason success.
The reigning Eastern Conference player of the month, Al Jefferson set up shop on the low block, dropping 13 points in the first quarter alone as Charlotte jumped all over the Sixers from the opening tap. Jefferson finished with game-highs of 25 points and 10 rebounds, helping to mask the absence of usual frontcourt mate Josh McRoberts, who sat out the game with an ankle injury. The Sixers were listless on the defensive end, getting pounded on the boards 47-32, and not making their rotations along the perimeter as a usually poor-shooting Bobcats squad sank 12 of 22 three-point attempts. Now, it’s nothing new to see Philadelphia struggle in both the rebounding and three-point defense aspects of the game. However, they had looked to be making strides in those areas in recent games and this game was disappointingly a noticeable step back.
Offensively, Michael Carter-Williams was the only member of the starting five to exhibit a pulse on the evening. The rookie of the month for March scored a team-high 22 points on 10-18 shooting, but the rest of the starters shot just 34% combined, including an off-night from Thad Young who made just 4 of 13 shots. The team just looked noticeably out of sync, as there were a couple occasions early on where a pass was thrown out of bounds because the intended target wasn’t even looking. With the Sixers’ outside shooting regressing after some uncharacteristic hot shooting of late, they didn’t stand a chance of putting together a comeback. The team travels to Boston this weekend, one of the couple winnable games remaining on the schedule for Philadelphia. Hopefully, MCW can maintain his strong level of play and get some help from his friends. I want to hear Zumoff and Rose sing for joy at least one more time this season.
Notable Observations:
- In the latest edition of Malik Rose’s fantasy corner, we found out he told a friend to bench Charlotte’s Gerald Henderson in fantasy basketball behind the thinking that Henderson is a Philadelphia native and would be running around too much before the game. As with most of Rose’s fantasy stories, things didn’t work out quite as he predicted. Henderson had a very efficient night from the floor, shooting 5-8 for 14 points and recording 4 assists against zero turnovers. Fortunately for Malik’s pal, the Bobcats blowout helped keep Henderson on the pine in the second half and the counting stats weren’t all that impressive.
Tanking Implications:
19.9%. 12.3%. That first number represents the current odds the Sixers receive the first overall pick, while the second is the chances they slide all the way to 5th. Sadly, there’s not nearly enough of a gap between those two figures considering the amount of losing fans have dealt with over the course of this season. Milwaukee’s final 7 games are all either against current Eastern Conference playoff teams or Atlanta and Cleveland who are still right there in the mix. It’s difficult to imagine a scenario where the Bucks lose the 2 games necessary for the Sixers to sink to the worst overall record. So long Andrew Wiggins, you may be gone from our lives just as your Jayhawks were from the NCAA tournament: too soon. 3/5 tanks
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
