Philanthropic Sixers Give it Away

By Vince Rota

‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness.”  Okay, so it isn’t quite ‘The Tale of Two Cities’, but Wednesday night’s matchup against the Timberwolves certainly was a tale of two halves.  The MCW-Less Sixers ( Carter-Williams missed his fourth straight game due to a skin infection) came out of the gates at a blistering pace.  The Wolves seemed sluggish and disinterested early on, and the young Sixers took full advantage by jumping out to an 8-2 lead and ending the quarter with a 16-0 run ( in a little more than 3 minutes) to enjoy a 39-20 advantage at the end of one.  The NBA’s 4^th ranked fast break offense was on full display, 15 points on the break in the quarter, and 18 in the half compared to only 7 for the Wolves.  Evan Turner had 10 points (13 pts total) and James Anderson had 9 points in the quarter to help build the 19 point lead that seemed to awaken the listless Wolves.  The Wolves chipped away, winning the second quarter by 8, despite the Sixers shooting an outstanding 64% in the half.  The positives end there for the Sixers whose erratic pace that created chaos early on would ultimately be their undoing.  Turner led all Sixers with 9 of the teams 26 turnovers that ultimately allowed Minnesota back in the game.   Kevin Love finished with 26 points, 15 rebounds and 5 assists his fifth such game of  (25/15/5) this year.  Love, like most of the Wolves, struggled finding his shot in the early goings finishing 9-21 for the game including 1-6 from three.  Minnesota as a team shot a measly 38% from the field for the game, but the charitable contributions from the philanthropic backcourt of Turner, Wroten, and Brown (17 combined turnovers) invited the likes of Robbie Hummel and Ricky Rubio to finish off the Sixers for good.  It was Hummel who gave Minnesota their first lead at the 6:30 mark of the fourth and it was Hummel’s 10 points in the quarter that ensure a 106-99 victory for the T-Wolves.

Notable Observations

November 1^st was the last road win for the Sixers who have now lost nine straight away from Wells Fargo.

Spencer Hawes continued to be the Sixer’s best three-point shooter 4/5 for the game finishing with 20 points.  Hawes had three blocks on the defensive end as well, further adding to his potential trade value or even some All-Star buzz.

Tony Wroten was slightly more efficient in this contest, shooting 8-13 and 3-4 from the charity stripe to finish with 20 points in only 28 minutes.  As we continue to enjoy the unpredictable nature with which Tony plays, Wednesday night’s game was plagued by foul trouble in addition to another poor turnover ratio. (4 assists/3 turnovers)