Sixers’ Late Surge Not Enough to Topple Brooklyn

By Sean Kennedy

Brooklyn 105, Philadelphia 101

Box Score

After recording the win in Boston Friday night, the Sixers looked to be a bit physically and emotionally drained at the outset of their contest against the Nets Saturday evening. Brooklyn made their first 8 shots of the game (which I’m told is a recipe for success), as the Sixers did a terrible job containing the Brooklyn point guard tandem of Deron Williams and Shaun Livingston as they gashed the defense out of pick-and-rolls and curling off pin-down screens. That poor start set the tone for the evening with the Nets playing the role of front-runner and the Sixers in perpetual catch-up mode to just try in hang around.

Brooklyn extended the lead to 21 in the third quarter, and it seemed like Philadelphia might just pack it in. However, on fan appreciation night, I’m sure the large Wells Fargo crowd in attendance appreciated the fact that the Sixers continued to fight, rallying back to cut the deficit to just one point with a minute remaining in the game. Naturally, Brooklyn hit a huge three (as Sixers opponents are wont to do) to seal the victory, but the Sixers young guys can take some lessons away from this losing effort.

Deron Williams gave the Sixers problems all evening, as he finishing with 19 points and 9 assists, continually able to get into the paint and either finish himself or find his big men for alley-oops or easy dump-offs for lay-ups. One of those big men was Kevin Garnett, who returned after missing 19 games with a back injury and looked spry out there. The Sixers continually tried to front him down low, but he did a good job sealing his defender and received easy entry passes from Williams to convert for 2. I thought the Sixers big men would have been better off staying behind Garnett and seeing if he had his legs back for those turnaround jumpers he likes after the long lay-off. The other Nets big men that did damage was Mason Plumlee. The young Duke alum ran the floor like a deer, continually beating Sims and Varnado down the court for uncontested buckets.

The Sixers have to be encouraged by the renewed play of rookie Michael Carter-Williams. For the second straight game, MCW had a fantastic assist-to-turnover ratio, this time recording 11 assists against zero turnovers. It was the first game this season the point guard kept a clean sheet in the turnover department; if he can develop as an efficient distributor in addition to what he can do on the defensive end, watch out NBA. Philly also hung around thanks to the hot shooting of both Thad Young and Hollis Thompson, who shot a combined 9-13 from behind the arc. Thompson hit a career-high 6 threes on 8 attempts for 18 points, and ranks as possibly the biggest success story among the Sixers’ undrafted/D-league finds with the way he’s shown he can shoot the basketball. Just five games remain on this strange season, and if all 5 remaining contests play out like this one did, Sixers nation will have nothing to be ashamed of.

Notable Observations: 

• When the Sixers fell behind during the first half of the game, they weren’t seeming to push the tempo, something they should have taken advantage of against a Brooklyn team with plenty of old legs. Once they turned up the dial late in the game, they made their surge to make a game of things. It seemed to me that this was a recent trend; they hadn’t seemed to be making as much of a concerted effort to get the ball up court as they did in the beginning of the year. The numbers back that up, as their pace is only 97.56 over the past 10 games (just the 8th-highest in the NBA), well off their season mark of nearly 102. I wonder if this was a shift coming down from the coaching staff to try and cut back on turnovers.
• Henry Sims was saddled with foul trouble much of the evening but still managed to record a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds. However, what I really want to bring up is a stat I heard regarding his Friday-night performance. The 18 free throws he attempted in the way against Boston were the most by any Sixer in a game since Allen Iverson in 2006, and the most by a Sixers center since Moses Malone. I just tied Henry Sims into an achievement with Allen Iverson and Moses Malone; this season is crazy.

Tanking Implications: 

Milwaukee lost another close one as they continue to tank when it really matters. They really went about things perfectly from a tanking perspective, flying under the radar without having any historically bad losing streaks, all the while continuing to have the worst overall record and still avoid the negative media coverage that surrounded the Sixers. Only thing is that the Bucks wanted to make the playoffs this season, so there’s that. As for the Sixers, they showed a lot of character finding back to make a game of things in the second half Saturday night. MCW did another great job taking care of the basketball, which is huge for him, and Hollis Thompson continues to turn heads with his shooting. 5/5 tanks.