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Brooks Boosts Bulls Past Sixers in Overtime

Alan Draper

Sports Editor

March 12 2015 4 min read

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By Sean Kennedy (@PhillyFastBreak)

Chicago 104, Philadelphia 95 (OT) – Box Score

The Sixers have become a team from whom you never quite know what to expect. In Wednesday night’s crazily exciting against Chicago, fans saw both sides of the team in the course of one half. Coming out of halftime tied, the Sixers went the first 7:40 of the third quarter without scoring. They missed their first 12 field goals of the period and when Nerlens Noel missed two free throws, it truly seemed like the fates might be conspiring something truly bad for them. However, Robert Covington finally broke the drought with a driving lay-up and thanks to consistently strong defensive play, the Sixers only found themselves down 7 points.

Then, after the Bulls stretched the lead to 14 and looked to have put the game to bed in the 4th quarter, the Sixers rallied with a 15-0 to go ahead 1 and set us up for a wild finish. Actually, I take it back, the one thing you know what to expect from this team is effort. Check out this play that finished off the 15-0 run.

That’s Exhibit A for any counter-argument that this team wasn’t trying to win games when they took the court.

Unfortunately for the Sixers players who poured so much into this game, they were denied victory in large part thanks to a one day earlier throwback Thursday from Aaron Brooks. Starting for Chicago recently due to Derrick Rose’s injury and Kirk Hinrich’s rapid descent to retirement, Brooks went off for 31 points, his most in a game since March of 2010. With the Sixers playing well down the stretch, Brooks dropped 11 of this points in the final 5:15 of the fourth quarter to keep Chicago in the game, including this high degree of difficulty game-tying three-pointer to help send the game to overtime.

Brooks also delivered the dagger in overtime, stretching the Chicago lead to 9 with another three with a minute left. A back-to-being ice-cold Sixers group did not have one more huge rally in them.

Still, there was a lot to be happy about from the Sixers’ perspective on the evening, much of which came from their new point guard tandem. With Isaiah Canaan feeling a little under the weather, Ish Smith replaced him in the starting lineup and both players appeared to benefit. Smith exploded for a career-high 23 points, going 3-7 from behind the arc. This stat says it all about the unlikelyhood of Smith shooting that well from the perimeter:

Before the #sixers, the most three pointers Ish Smith has ever made with a single team is 4. He has 3 tonight.

— Derek Bodner (@DerekBodnerNBA) March 12, 2015

Canaan also took well to the different role, hitting 3 threes in the first quarter to help the Sixers climb out of an early deficit, finishing 4-8 from three with 20 points.

The best news big-picture was the continued emergence of Nerlens Noel. The rookie big man recorded a juicy stat line of 8 points, 15 rebounds, 4 steals, and 2 blocks. His only blemishes on the evening including allowing Pau Gasol to have himself a 27-point, 16 rebound night, and Noel going 0-4 from the foul line himself.  Really though, Gasol is having himself an amazing season, and Noel has been shooting the ball much better lately at the foul line. I’m willing to look past those things for one night when he’s doing things like obliterating Tony Snell’s confidence.

It feels like it’s every game with another remarkable defensive stat from Nerlens, and Wednesday night’s thievery proved no different.

Another historic performance by @NerlensNoel3. pic.twitter.com/qGzaHy3htC

— Philadelphia 76ers (@Sixers) March 12, 2015

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This kid is going to be a perennial Defensive Player of the Year candidate. He’s slowly developing enough on the offensive end to not be a liability there and also showing much more confidence on the glass. I’m all-in with Nerlens and I can’t wait to see him match up with Boogie Cousins Friday night.

Other Game Notes:

• Thomas Robinson grabbed 15 rebounds in just 18 minutes of game action because I’m fairly sure his one goal in life is to grab a basketball whenever he sees one. I could picture Robinson walking by a pick-up game and just jumping into the fray to grab a loose ball.
• The Sixers set an arena record for shot attempts with 104. If they had made a few more of those, Aaron Brooks’ heroics would not have mattered. Alas, it was an especially poor shooting night for them with a 11-41 mark from three and a horrific 12-25 night from the foul line.