Hawes Shot Ignites Sixers to OT Victory

By Sean Kennedy

“He’s Hawesome baby, with a capital H!” – Dick Vitale, if he announced Sixers games and enjoyed poor puns.

Facing a Milwaukee team riddled with injuries and rotation questions, it looked early on as though the Sixers were going to coast to a rare easy victory. However, after leading by easy many as 15 points in the second quarter, the Sixers started turning the ball around left, right, and any other dimension possible on a basketball court, only going into halftime up two.

It was more of the same in the second half and with the team down 10 with two minutes left, it looked like the Sixers could toss another game into the tanking pile. But as he often does, Sixers big man Spencer Hawes had other ideas. Hawes drained three triples in the final 90 seconds, including a fall-away turn-around shot off one leg right in front of the Milwaukee bench to tie the game with 2 seconds left in regulation. The Wells Fargo crowd broke into pandemonium and after the game, Coach Brett Brown started comparing Hawes to Big Shot Bob himself, Robert Horry. Huge Shot Hawes has a nice ring to it in my opinion.

Still, there was work to be done in overtime. Despite getting absolutely torched by Caron Butler for a season-high 38 points, Evan Turner stepped up in overtime, scoring 8 of his team-high 27 points during bonus basketball. On a night with such heroics from Big Spence, how could Philadelphia not emerge victorious? The team sent the crowd home happy (aside from those cold-hearted folk who only want the team to lose every game to improve draft position), with a 115-107 overtime win.

Box Score

Notable Observations:

• Michael Carter-Williams looked back to his old self after looking rusty in his first game following the foot injury. He looked much more active defensively, swiping 5 steals, and nearly had a triple-double with 12 points, 8 rebounds, and 11 assists before fouling out near the end of regulation. MCW spoon-fed Hawes for a couple easy buckets, and generally looked confident stepping into his outside shot and driving the lane. The five turnovers were a concern but were just dumb rookie mistakes more than anything, which should be corrected with time.
• Hollis Thompson had easily his best game as a professional, finishing with 16 points and 7 rebounds. Not only did Thompson bring the house down with an crazy alley-oop, but playing with a ton of confidence, he made some nice cuts to the basket and hit a number of outside jumpers (although he hit at least three shots with a foot on the three-point line, got to work on spatial awareness, rook). His dagger three to seal the game in overtime was a perfect ending to his night.
• Everyone’s favorite bench dynamo Tony Wroten left the game with a lower back strain. No word yet on his availability going forward but hopefully he’s back on the court in no time, because a Sixers game without Wroten is barely a game at all.

Tanking Implications:

While getting the win following what looked like a sure loss toward the end of regulation is bad for tanking business, there were some positive signs from some of the young guys. Carter-Williams looked to be back in first week form while Thompson showed off his potential. Still, Turner and Hawes carried the load for the Sixers in the win, and they’re the poster boys for the team’s anti-tanking efforts. 2/5 tanks.