Sixers Crown Themselves Kings in Sacramento

By Sean Kennedy

Somebody break up the Sixers! Philadelphia continued their run through the bottom half of the Western Conference, defeating the Kings 113-104 to earn their second-straight three-game winning streak of the year. Something tells me the Sixers still won’t be on top of every media outlet’s power rankings this time, but with Thad Young continuing to play like a man possessed, the wins might be less few and far between going forward.

Young topped the 25-point mark for the 5th time in 6 games, consistently blowing past Sacramento’s slower forwards to finish at the rim or get to the foul line for a team-high 28 points. Thad also finished with a career-high 6 steals, really taking advantage of the trapping defense in the corners the Sixers have been using to great effect of late. He even made a behind-the-back move on the fast break followed by an underhand shovel pass to Lavoy Allen for the lay-up that had Marc Zumoff making Magic Johnson comparisons.

The other Sixers carrying the scoring load were Evan Turner and Tony Wroten, with 24 and 21 points, respectively. Turner has accrued 20+ points and 6 assists in each of the Sixers’ last three games, doing a better job of finding teammates off his dribble penetration rather than keep getting blocked at the rim. Wroten abused the Kings guards all night, as he could consistently finish over Isaiah Thomas who he had a 9-inch height advantage on, and Jimmer Fredette might as well have been playing on skates when he tried to stay with Wroten.

While watching the Sixers continue their strong play, viewers also had the opportunity to experience the full scope of DeMarcus Cousins basketball. First, there was the good, as Cousins is an absolute monster on the interior, finishing with a game-high 33 points and 14 rebounds. Then, there was the bad, as he committed multiple offensive fouls on his way to 5 turnovers, and starting arguments with Sixers players, the refs, and probably the guy selling polish water ice in the stands as well. He picked up his league-leading 10th technical and has such a bad reputation among the league at this point with the officials, that even sometimes when it doesn’t seem like he did anything, the calls go against him. There reaches a point where all the talent in the world doesn’t make up for character issues, and I feel like Sacramento will regret the recent 4-year contract extension they gave Cousins for that very reason.

Box Score

Notable Observations:

• Spencer Hawes was booed by on every touch by his former Kings fans, stemming from comments he made last year regarding being happy about a potential Kings franchise move to Seattle, his hometown. The big man definitely looked overeager to show the crowd up, taking some ill-advised stepback threes and awkward running hooks in the lane as part of a 4-11 shooting performance.
• Brandon Davies did not open his mouth to alert Tony Wroten to a bone-crushing screen by Quincy Acy that leveled the Sixers guard. Davies then allowed an offensive rebound and Kings putback on the same possession; all and all, a pretty awful sequence for the rookie who tallied zero points or rebounds in 9 minutes. Wroten drained a three on the Sixers’ next possession because you can’t phase a pure ball of energy with a hard screen.
• Daniel Orton saw meaningful minutes for the first time in a while and did the best job of slowing down his former Kentucky teammate Cousins on the defensive end. Orton had a great sequence where he snuffed Boogie at the rim and ran the floor, getting fouled on a dunk attempt on the other end. Orton also had a hellacious block of Isaiah Thomas later in the game; just imagine a 5’9″ guy trying to shoot up over a 6’10” tree and you have a good picture of what happened. Orton is really the only guy on the roster that provides that tough defensive presence, which is why I’m surprised he fell out of Brett Brown’s rotation.

Tanking Implications:

Another win furthers Milwaukee’s pole position in the ping pong ball sweepstakes. Did you know the Sixers are now only 2 games out of a playoff spot, how bad is the Eastern Conference? A couple of the young guys had nice performances, most notably Wroten and Orton, but mainly it was Thad Young and Evan Turner carrying the squad in Northern California. 1/5 tanks