Who would have guessed that the Sixers would win more games in December then the Eagles. With a victory in Orlando Sunday night the Sixers now have 3 wins in the month of December, even though the plan all season long has been for the Sixers to ‘tank’ for a high draft pick for the second season in a row.
Don’t tell the players that they are supposed to be tanking. Two of the team’s leaders Michael Carter-Williams and Nerlens Noel got into a heated discussion in the 1st quarter Sunday night with the team trailing 16-13. The team was able to take control and win the game 96-88.
‘Whatever it takes to get us going, whatever needs to be said should be said,’ Carter-Williams said. ‘I think it definitely turned into a positive and I think we bounced back from it.’
I don’t think there is any question that despite a 3-23 record the team is going to compete each night.
The discussion started during a timeout as the players walked to the bench. ‘We had a miscommunication like any competitive players would,’ said Noel. ‘We talked it out and we even played better. It helped the team in a positive way.’
In the locker room after the game neither player would discuss what the ‘miscommunication’ was about. Noel and Carter-Williams have been playing together since AAU basketball in Boston.
‘They grew up together,’ Sixers Head Coach Brett Brown said. ‘It is not like they just met each other and they have issues. It is healthy issues. It is real. That is what families go through. It’s not always pretty. They talked it through and off we go.’
Whatever the issue was it was resolved quickly. Shortly after the timeout Noel even helped Carter-Williams up from the court after he was knocked to the floor by a hard foul.
‘We’ve got into it before. This isn’t the first time,’ said Carter-Williams. ‘It’s not anything negative. We got into it, and it’s over after that. It’s not like we are little kids and we are going out there not passing each other the ball. It’s over and done with, and we move on.’
The fact that these two guys were able to move on and win the game shows that this team is going in the right direction. Carter-Williams and Noel are two of the building blocks this project is being built around.
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