SIXERS NEWS

The Sixers traveled to Chicago tonight for a matchup with the Bulls. Once again they played well in the first half as the Andre's performed admirably, with Iggy posting 19 and 10 assists, and Miller dropping a game high 20. Alas, Miller and Iguodala, just don't appear to be the type of dynamic duo that can win games on their own. This was clear in the second half as again the Sixers couldn't sustain any scoring, without the threat of Thad spreading floor and creating baskets for himself. Dispirited and sluggish on D, they could only watch as Chicago handed them their 3rd consecutive loss. This could be a long Thadless last week or so of the season. Still it is not as if the Sixer's played poorly tonight. They actually shot 52% from the field and 63% from beyond the arc, but they allowed Chicago to shoot 52% from the field as well. That just won't cut it. Without Thad they can no longer outscore teams and must rely on their defense to win games. Thats' a scary proposition. Sure teams are averaging under 100 points per game against the Sixers this, which is good for a team that likes play an up tempo game. However, because they like to get out on the break, the Sixers can have a tendency to get a little too attached to their scoring, and get lax on D as they did tonight. With Thad they had enough scoring that they could afford to do that sometimes. Now they can't any longer, and they really haven't proven this season that they can play tough D consistently enough to rely on it night after night. So they are in the unenviable position of being a team where they could up their best effort every night the rest of the way, and still lose. If they are still somehow able to finish 5th in East it will have been because of an extraordinary effort down the stretch or because Thad pulls a Willis Reed and limps onto the court every game the rest of the way, inspiring the team to victory. Anyway to get back to what happened tonight let's just say this, at half time the game was tied at 50, by the 4th quarter the Sixers had fallen behind by 10 and they never recovered losing 113-99. So the Sixers drop to 40-38 overall, but because Miami was idle tonight, they are still just a game out of the 5th spot in the East, while of course maintaining the 6th spot.