Sixers Blot Out the Suns

By Sean Kennedy (@PhillyFastBreak)

Philadelphia 113 , Phoenix 103 – Box Score

Pointing out his team’s complete lack of effort Sunday in a loss to Boston, Brett Brown said he didn’t even know what team he was coaching. It’s safe to say that Tuesday night against the Suns, he saw some familiar faces out on the Wells Fargo Center court.

#Sixers Brett Brown: 'I was embarrassed the other night against the Celtics. We wanted to respond differently and we did.'

— Tom Moore (@TomMoorePhilly) January 27, 2016

With two usual starters in Jahlil Okafor and JaKarr Sampson out due to illness, the Sixers needed a team-wide effort and received exactly that in dispatching Phoenix. None of the nine Philadelphia players that got into the game had a negative plus/minus; as a team, the Sixers committed just 12 turnovers.

Robert Covington stayed hot from the perimeter, especially in the early going to help the Sixers to a seven-point advantage after one quarter; RoCo finished 5-12 from three for 19 points on the game. Getting free rein back at the center position, Nerlens Noel was effective on both ends with 14 points, 9 rebounds, and 3 blocks. Meanwhile, Timothy John McConnell was productive again in limited action, recording 9 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals in just 16 minutes of play.

Still, Phoenix tried to make a game of it down the stretch, closing to within 7 with under 4 minute remaining. With Eric Bledsoe gone for the season, and Brandon Knight sitting out the Suns’ current road-trip with a groin injury, playmaking duties fell to Archie Goodwin, who responded with 18 of his game-high 26 points coming in the fourth quarter.

Yet again though, Ish Smith played the role of the closer, and might as well have been 2008 Brad Lidge. Following that Phoenix surge, Smith had 6 points, 2 rebounds, and an assist over the next three minutes to ice the contest. Ish finished with 20 points and 9 assists against just 1 turnover in the win.

The Sixers have a short turnaround, as they’ll travel to Detroit for a game Wednesday, in search of their first winning streak of the season. Ish Smith and Nerlens Noel will need to be in top form once more to stop the deadly pick-and-roll combination of Reggie Jackson and Andre Drummond. But when guys are chipping in up and down the roster like we saw Tuesday night, the Ish Smith-era Sixers can hang with just about anybody.