As much as Wednesday night’s game could have been construed as a ‘schedule loss’ ahead of time, Philadelphia had some trends on their side heading into play. Denver’s starting point guard Ty Lawson was ruled out with a bruised heel suffered in Tuesday night’s game at Oklahoma City, while key rotational player Wilson Chandler also sat out with a shoulder injury. For a while, it looked like the Sixers would pull off the unlikely and hand Denver only their fourth defeat at home this season. However, down the stretch, it seemed like the voices of a segment of Sixers fans calling for losses and a higher draft pick were finally heard. Or, Philadelphia was just interested in finding a new and exciting way to lose a game during this disappointing season. Either way, the final moments of the game were a painful look at how not to secure a win in the NBA.
Philadelphia was up eight with 2 minutes to play but allowed the Nuggets to chip away at that lead to bring the game within striking distance in the closing seconds. Leading by two with under ten seconds left, Evan Turner stepped to the line and promptly missed two free throws. On the ensuing posession, Corey Brewer threw up a wild three but Damien Wilkins made the boneheaded move to foul him on the follow-through. Brewer would sink all three free throws to put Denver ahead, 101-100. Doug Collins called a time-out to draw up a play for the game-winning shot; however, either the players didn’t execute properly or the play was for a Damien Wilkins 21-footer surrounded by two defenders. The partially blocked shot never even reached the rim as Philadelphia lost its 15th straight game on the road.
Prior to the catastrophic ending, the Sixers received some excellent efforts along the way. Spencer Hawes continued what has been a couple weeks of outstanding performances, putting up 17 points, 12 rebounds, 5 assists, and 4 blocks, before fouling out of the game with two minutes left. I think someone forgot to tell Hawes he signed a two-year deal because he’s playing out the end of this season like it’s a contract year. Jrue Holiday scored 18 points and recorded a career-high-tying 15 assists. Damien Wilkins actually played an excellent game, scoring a season-high 24 points, but all fans will remember from his night is the terrible foul on Brewer that ultimately cost the Sixers the game.
WIth the injury to Lawson, the starting backcourt for Denver was comprised of former Sixers as Andre Miller and Andre Iguodala both had solid outings with 21 and 13 points, respectively. Even so, the man that stole the show was Corey Brewer, who came off the bench to score a game-high 29 points and 5 steals. At one point, he was seen yelling to the Sixers bench ‘You can’t guard me’. Unfortunately for Sixers fans, those words were prophetic as Brewer hit a number of big shots down the stretch including the game-winning free throws.
Following the game, Comcast’s Molly Sullivan interviewed Andre Iguodala about his thoughts on the game; this interview was an odd change as usually she doesn’t interview a member of the opposing team. Maybe it was just due to the fact that Iguodala was a member of the Sixers for such a long portion of his career. Or maybe no Sixer wanted to put into words just how disappointing a loss he experienced tonight. Honestly, I hope it was the latter, at least that would show they cared.
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