Noel Hammers Home a Sixers Win in Brooklyn

By Sean Kennedy (@PhillyFastBreak)

Philadelphia 90, Brooklyn 88 – Box Score

For one exciting sequence, the grand design first put into motion by Sixers management 18 months ago came into focus. Tie ball game in the closing seconds against a division rival. Michael Carter-Williams, the rookie of the year point guard the brass tapped to replace Jrue Holiday as the floor general of the future, drives the lane, drawing the attention of 3 defenders in the process. One of the those defenders leaves his former AAU teammate, two-way force Nerlens Noel, who calmly collects the dish and throws down the dunk to win the game. New York fans go home upset. What could be better as a Philadelphia sports fan?
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YD51tgWZJY]

Now, I’m not going to pretend it was all roses Friday night for the Sixers. Despite making the play on the game-winning possession, it was a fairly poor performance from Carter-Williams. The few possessions preceding that one basically involved him doing a similar thing, driving into traffic and leaving his feet. Except on those other occasions he didn’t find a wide-open Noel and basically passed the ball to no one. Then, in addition to playing poor defense on Jarrett Jack, who finished with 14 points and 10 assists, Carter-Williams also shot just 2-9 from the field. Although he hit his only three-point attempt, the Nets defense was not respecting his outside shot all game, clogging up the lane for his drives and other Sixers trying to make cuts. It’s becoming increasingly apparent that this is a long-term problem for MCW.

Noel’s performance also was a bit of a mixed bag. For the second straight game, he came out aggressive offensively in the first quarter, hitting his first three field goal attempts. However, his overall night could have been better as he botched two dunks and had his notorious bad hands fumble away a couple other easy buckets. Defensively, he recorded 2 blocks and there’s no denying the Sixers badly need his rim protection. Still, there were a couple plays where he was just bullied down low by Mason Plumlee (15 points and 15 rebounds), and there are plenty of guys in the league stronger than Plumlee for whom Noel’s thin frame is going to present difficulties in guarding. All in all though, Noel is playing much better basketball of late and the Sixers organization and fans have to be encouraged.

The best player on the court for the Sixers was a guy who wasn’t even on the roster to begin the season. Robert Covington scored a game-high 20 points, and did his usual damage in going 3-6 from behind the arc. However, it was the other areas of his game that really separated Friday night’s performance for Big Shot Bob. Covington was extremely active defensively, collecting a career-high 6 steals in addition to his 7 rebounds. He also made a couple strong dribble drives to the hoop, including one gorgeous reverse lay-in up-and-under Mason Plumlee. He’s incredibly valuable purely as a spot-up shooter, but if he also hones the other areas of his offensive game, watch out.

The win might have been against a Nets team resting Kevin Garnett and without an injured Deron Williams, but the Sixers played well and there’s no reason not to be thrilled with the effort they put forth. They’ll be back in action tonight at home against the Pacers. So enjoy this win, we’ll worry about the fact that they now firmly have a better record than both the Knicks and the Timberwolves and the corresponding lottery implications another time.