Sixers Remain Undefeated Against Wizards

By Sean Kennedy

Another night, another playoff hopeful knocked down to size by the powerhouse Sixers. Against all odds, Philadelphia has come out this season and told the public at large to take their tanking talk and stuff it in a sack. However, early on Friday night, things looked like they might be following that script, with the team leaving Wizards shooters wide open outside the arc and being extremely careless with the ball. Specifically, Michael Carter-Williams’ express train to the Hall of Fame hit a detour as the rookie was badly outplayed by John Wall in the opening frame. MCW had 2 turnovers in the first 4 minutes, missed his first 5 shots, and could do nothing to slow down Wall defensively. The Cali Swag District aficionado dropped 15 points on 6-6 shooting in the first quarter, as Carter-Williams both repeatedly lost Wall on the perimeter and got beat off the dribble.

However, Philadelphia continued to hang around thanks to some inspired play from the guys tabbed as veteran leaders of this young Sixers squad. Thad Young was a monster around the rim, finishing with a game-high 29 points on 14-20 shooting. Spencer Hawes dropped a double-double and was the main perimeter weapon for the Sixers, hiiting 3-6 three-pointers. Evan Turner, who is just about the only player on the team who can create a shot for himself when things break down in the half court set, had his second straight efficient scoring night, with 23 points on 10-18 shooting.

While those three players held down the fort, Washington was obliging enough to shoot their way out of the lead. The Wizards kept settling for semi-contested outside jumpers, with Bradley Beal (4-18 shooting) and Trevor Ariza (5-15) doing the bulk of the brick-laying. The Sixers continued to chip away until MCW drained a stepback three in the fourth quarter to give Philadelphia its first lead of the game at 92-89. Things proceeded along that trajectory as Hinkie’s boys cruised to a surprisingly easy victory down the stretch.

Box Score

Notable Observations:

• First off, this contest was obviously a down game for Carter-Williams, who struggled with the sheer speed of John Wall in the open floor defensively and went back to his inconsistent shooting ways. However, a very encouraging sign was that he never lost confidence in his shot, stepping up to hit a pull-up three in the third quarter, and then later hitting that big stepback shot. It’s important to remember that MCW is still largely a work-in-progress and he’s going to have his ups and downs, but he still has yet to look out of place on the big stage.
• Tony Wroten may be out of control at times but I shudder to think what the Sixers bench unit would do without him around. Besides Turner, Wroten is the only other player on the roster that can break someone down off the dribble, and I’m not sure how the Sixers second unit would work its way into points without his frantic attacking style.
• That being said, Philadelphia’s frontcourt bench did have a surprisingly effective game. Daniel Orton once again did the type of dirty work down low that won’t show up on a box score, altering a number of shots. He also blocked three shots, including chasing down Kevin Seraphin from behind on a fast break. Lavoy Allen put forth his best performance of the year, including preseason, providing some much-needed scoring punch with 10 points on 5-6 shooting, and showing more energy on the offensive glass than usual.
• Early in the third quarter, Philadelphia ran a very pretty side-out of bounds play with Turner in-bounding an alley-oop to MCW that the rookie almost missed but saw it roll in nonetheless. Brett Brown drew up an extremely effective play to free Carter-Williams up off a back screen; it makes you wonder why out-of-bounds plays don’t work to great effect more often.

Tanking Implications: 

In the moment, it’s enjoyable to watch this team continue to fight and put forth spirited efforts. Big picture though, these wins count all the same at the end of the year when teams are jockeying for better draft position. Also, as opposed to Wednesday night when it was the rookie Carter-Williams stepping up and showing his long-term potential, tonight it was the old guard leading the way and carrying the team to victory. A victory propelled by big efforts from Young, Hawes, and Turner is fun as a fan, but a textbook one-tank game. 1/5 tanks