Sixers Nearly Topple the Champs

By Sean Kennedy (@PhillyFastBreak)

Golden State 108, Philadelphia 105 – Box Score

People often say that life imitates art. For the Philadelphia 76ers, Saturday night was straight out of Rocky, or its latest incarnation, Creed. The Sixers went toe-to-toe with the world champion Golden State Warriors for 48 minutes, in a game nobody expected them to win, and although the final scorecard read 108-105 in favor of the Dubs, you couldn’t shake the feeling that the boys from Philly were winners.

Coming in as 17.5-point underdogs, it looked for most of the night as though the Sixers would be no match for the Warriors, another skid mark on Golden State’s road to history. Klay Thompson (32 points) and Steph Curry (23 points) were their usual brilliant selves from the perimeter, combining to shoot 9-21 on the evening from three as their Warriors entered the fourth quarter ahead by 19 points.

Credit once again to Brett Brown though, as is so often the case, he made sure his team never stopped playing hard. The Sixers kept fighting and chipping away at the lead, eventually placing themselves in the position for a frantic three and a half minute stretch at the end of the game, where they went on a 15-2 run to tie things at 105.

That finishing kick was thanks in large part to the much-maligned Isaiah Canaan, who came off the bench to hit 5-9 threes for a team-high 18 points, and also record 4 steals. Canaan hit a seemingly impossible-looking three from the corner (while getting fouled for a 4-point play) to bring the Sixers within two. Then, he played outstanding off-the-ball defense on Klay Thompson, knocking a Steph Curry pass away, which Ish Smith (16 points, 9 assists) scooped up and jammed home on the other end to tie the game and send the on-its-feet Wells Fargo Center crowd into a frenzy.

Unfortunately, the Warriors being the Warriors, they remained perfectly poised coming out of the subsequent timeout. Determined to not let Curry beat them, the Sixers double-teamed the star point far outside the arc. Curry calmly found Draymond Green at the foul line, and with three Sixers rushing toward the open Green, the all-star forward found a wide-open Harrison Barnes in the corner, who cold-bloodedly sent the ball through the net with less than a second remaining on the clock.

Despite the loss, it was obviously a tremendous performance from the home team. Per Derek Bodner, the 35 points allowed in the second half was the fewest the Warriors have scored in a half all season. The Sixers forced 23 Golden State turnovers, and remarkably did it without fouling, as the Dubs only attempted a total of two free throws on the game. I know moral victories are hollow, especially in Sixer-land, but you really got the sense that Saturday night was something this young team could build from going forward. As we saw in Rocky II, things can be different the next time around.